-
Access Our
Most Anticipated
Books of 2025!
Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Book Reviewed by:Not since The Book Thief has the character of Death played such an original and affecting part in a book for young people.
Flora and Henry were born a few blocks from each other, innocent of the forces that might keep a white boy and an African American girl apart; years later they meet again and their mutual love of music sparks an even more powerful connection. But what Flora and Henry don't know is that they are pawns in a game played by the eternal adversaries Love and Death, here brilliantly reimagined as two extremely sympathetic and fascinating characters. Can their hearts and their wills overcome not only their earthly circumstances, but forces that have battled throughout history? In the rainy Seattle of the 1920s, romance blooms among the jazz clubs, the mansions of the wealthy, and the shanty towns of the poor. But what is more powerful: love? Or death?
Brockenbough's imagining of Love and Death as living, breathing characters is nuanced and thoughtful and endlessly fascinating. The story builds with perfectly placed obstacles, and suspense hangs on every page. Love and Death, like Henry and Flora, are inextricably entwined; they are a tender couple that fill, for one another, what the other so desperately needs. The Game of Love and Death is a young-adult novel, suited for kids in Grade 6 and up, but it is equally compelling for anyone who has experienced love, at any age...continued
Full Review
(847 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by Tamara Ellis Smith).
Flora Saudade, one of the primary protagonists in Martha Brockenbough's The Game of Love and Death is an aviatrix. The novel takes place in 1937, a year that was full of aviation inventions and adventures. Here are a few highlights:
March 17 – Early in 1936 Amelia Earhart began to plan her trek across the world. It would not be the first flight of its kind but the plan was for it to be the longest. Earhart would take an equatorial route, which would be 29,000 miles. Funded by Purdue, where she was working, a Lockheed Electra 10E airplane was built to ...This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked The Game of Love and Death, try these:
by Melanie Crowder
Published 2016
The inspiring story of Clara Lemlich, whose fight for equal rights led to the largest strike by women in American history
by Jandy Nelson
Published 2015
A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell. Winner of the BookBrowse 2014 Award for Best Young Adult Novel.
Everywhere I go, I am asked if I think the university stifles writers...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Gabrielle Zevin, author of Elsewhere and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
The Game of Love and Death is a unique love story, and yet, it is also the love story of all humans through time. Martha Brockenbrough is a compassionate observer of many worlds–airfields, jazz clubs, baseball diamonds, newspapers, and Hoovervilles to name a few –and the beautiful, doomed human types that dwell in them. This is an exceptional novel.
