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elizabig's review against another edition
4.0
In this unflinching look at Portland forty years from now, Ruth Tenzer Feldman tackles issues like global warming, homelessness, and institutionalized racism all while following the journey of a teenage girl who's life has been rocked by tragedy. Seven Stitches launches you into two beautifully intricate worlds - Portland in the near future and Istanbul in the far past - while weaving them together seamlessly through global and timeless issues of morality and justice. Meryem Zarfati is an endearing and dynamic protagonist with well paced and heartbreakingly honest development. Her journey of discovery and healing is an inspiring tale filled with diverse characters and perspectives. This is a must-read during this spring's unusually(!) warm weather.
For clarification: I haven't read the first two books in this saga. Since they're simply companion novels, I started with this one, but I'll definitely be picking up the first two books soon!
For clarification: I haven't read the first two books in this saga. Since they're simply companion novels, I started with this one, but I'll definitely be picking up the first two books soon!
juliedswearingen's review against another edition
5.0
Although this is a continuation of the characters and family story from Blue Thread and The Ninth Day, you do not need to read them to follow the beautifully written story of Seven Stitches--though I would highly recommend it.
Ruth Tenzer Feldman has crafted a Portland that doesn't look much different than the present-day--residents are concerned with air quality, urban gardening, and displaced members of society. The major difference? The Big One has come and gone and Portland is in a state of rebuilding. Meryem Zarfati is learning to rebuild after the earthquake devastated her city, and her family. Just as she's accepting her changed life, two strangers enter her life and make more drastic changes. While this book is classified as YA, readers of all ages will appreciate Meryem as the heroine so many of us are looking for.
Ruth Tenzer Feldman has crafted a Portland that doesn't look much different than the present-day--residents are concerned with air quality, urban gardening, and displaced members of society. The major difference? The Big One has come and gone and Portland is in a state of rebuilding. Meryem Zarfati is learning to rebuild after the earthquake devastated her city, and her family. Just as she's accepting her changed life, two strangers enter her life and make more drastic changes. While this book is classified as YA, readers of all ages will appreciate Meryem as the heroine so many of us are looking for.
monicahay's review
4.0
I loved the writing in this book. Just the first sentence in the prologue brings all my senses awake. The premise is also fascinating, as I haven't read a book about the "big one" earthquake. All Portlanders have been told that this earthquake is coming – the one that will change everything. I usually stay away from books like that because it brings me anxiety about what the future might hold, but this book worked. It has everything I love: some magic, some sci-fi, and some time-travel.
While I did love the writing, I felt that this book packed a lot in at once. Of course, a lot of books can do that effectively... if they're longer. I think this book could have used another 50 pages to make things a little less rushed. As a fantasy reader, I often want my books a little longer because it makes them more epic, and I think this book could have used a little more at the end.
I admit that I didn't realize this was the third installment of something. Perhaps I wouldn't have thought it was so rushed if I'd read the other books. It's possible that I wanted it to be longer so that more magic could have been incorporated.
Overall, I enjoyed it. 4 stars.
While I did love the writing, I felt that this book packed a lot in at once. Of course, a lot of books can do that effectively... if they're longer. I think this book could have used another 50 pages to make things a little less rushed. As a fantasy reader, I often want my books a little longer because it makes them more epic, and I think this book could have used a little more at the end.
I admit that I didn't realize this was the third installment of something. Perhaps I wouldn't have thought it was so rushed if I'd read the other books. It's possible that I wanted it to be longer so that more magic could have been incorporated.
Overall, I enjoyed it. 4 stars.
leighkaisen's review
The third companion to Ruth Tenzer Feldman’s Blue Thread saga, Seven Stitches imagines a future Portland in the aftermath of the Cascadia subduction zone earthquake. The story centers on Meryem, a young girl still in search of her mother as their community begins to rebuild itself. She receives a prayer shawl connected to her maternal Jewish ancestry, and its unusual powers land Meryem in sixteenth-century Istanbul where she works to free a girl trapped in slavery. With many elements unfolding in this novel, what stands out is the strength of its female characters and the interweaving of disaster recovery, history, and specifically, Jewish heritage and Meryem’s journey with identity. Although some pieces of this collage fell a bit flat at times, the resonating theme that remains is the delicacy that comes with navigating disaster and the preservation of hope unearthed.
hybridpubscout's review
3.0
Seven Stitches is the third book in the Blue Thread series by Ruth Tenzer Feldman, a series that combines both science fiction and historical fiction in a way that celebrates female power and Jewish heritage. Each of the women in the Blue Thread series are related to each other by blood, but they also share a bond with a time traveling daughter of Jacob (the one with the coat of many colors) named Serakh.
In many ways, this book is very unique and different from the other two in the trilogy. It takes place in Portland after the Cascadia subduction zone earthquake that the Pacific Northwest has been warned about for years. It's set about fifty years into the future and has to project the way these problems will be dealt with. Portland still faces a major homeless crisis (just like it does now) and Meryem is trying to help be a responsible citizen and work with social justice causes while searching for her mother, who went missing when "the Big One" struck. In the midst of the drama, Meryem is also brought back in time to Turkey in the 1500s and is called upon to help a young girl escape a life of slavery.
I do think there may have been a little bit (maybe too much) of a utopian element combined with the dystopia of an earthquake-wrecked Portland. First, there were references to social changes enacted in the near future after the Obama administration that, knowing what we know now, are extremely far fetched. Since this book would have been written before the rise of Trump, those touches feel a bit dated. On that same note, Feldman gives an image of a near-future Portland that is extremely racially diverse, with many people of mixed race living together with relative nonchalance. I think this ironically whitewashes some of the political realities of Portland's own embarrassing past (and, if I'm honest, present).
For most, however, this will be an exciting mix of action, history, and fun sci-fi elements.
In many ways, this book is very unique and different from the other two in the trilogy. It takes place in Portland after the Cascadia subduction zone earthquake that the Pacific Northwest has been warned about for years. It's set about fifty years into the future and has to project the way these problems will be dealt with. Portland still faces a major homeless crisis (just like it does now) and Meryem is trying to help be a responsible citizen and work with social justice causes while searching for her mother, who went missing when "the Big One" struck. In the midst of the drama, Meryem is also brought back in time to Turkey in the 1500s and is called upon to help a young girl escape a life of slavery.
I do think there may have been a little bit (maybe too much) of a utopian element combined with the dystopia of an earthquake-wrecked Portland. First, there were references to social changes enacted in the near future after the Obama administration that, knowing what we know now, are extremely far fetched. Since this book would have been written before the rise of Trump, those touches feel a bit dated. On that same note, Feldman gives an image of a near-future Portland that is extremely racially diverse, with many people of mixed race living together with relative nonchalance. I think this ironically whitewashes some of the political realities of Portland's own embarrassing past (and, if I'm honest, present).
For most, however, this will be an exciting mix of action, history, and fun sci-fi elements.
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