Find Layla

Name: Find Layla
Brand: Brilliance Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Meg Elison
ISBN: 9781799769699

Author: Meg Elison

Narrator: Jesse Vilinsky

Unabridged: 6 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Published: 09/01/2020

Categories: Young Adult Fiction, Technology, Social Themes

Synopsis

A neglected girl’s chaotic coming-of-age becomes a trending new hashtag in a novel about growing up and getting away by an award-winning author.Underprivileged and keenly self-aware, SoCal fourteen-year-old Layla Bailey isn’t used to being noticed. Except by mean girls who tweet about her ragged appearance. All she wants to do is indulge in her love of science, protect her vulnerable younger brother, and steer clear of her unstable mother.Then a school competition calls for a biome. Layla chooses her own home, a hostile ecosystem of indoor fungi and secret shame. With a borrowed video camera, she captures it all. The mushrooms growing in her brother’s dresser. The black mold blooming up the apartment walls. The unmentionable things living in the dead fridge. All the inevitable exotic toxins that are Layla’s life. Then the video goes viral.When Child Protective Services comes to call, Layla loses her family and her home. Defiant, she must face her bullies and friends alike, on her own. Unafraid at last of being seen, Layla accepts the mortifying reality of visibility. Now she has to figure out how to stay whole and stand behind the truth she has shown the world.

About Meg Elison

Meg Elison is a high school dropout and a graduate of UC Berkeley. Her debut novel, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, won the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award. It was followed by The Book of Etta and The Book of Flora in Meg’s Road to Nowhere trilogy. The author lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and writes like she’s running out of time. For more information, visit www.megelison.com.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Reading_ on October 06, 2024

It's sad, heartbreaking but really beautiful. I love you, dear author. The book is so real. Trigger warnings: Bullying, drug addiction, violence, abuse YouTube. Twitter. Viral on the net Neglected kids. Coming of age. Abusive parents. Foster parents. I cannot stop crying. Layla, you need better people in your......more

Goodreads review by Sheena on September 12, 2020

I read Find Layla in one sitting. It's not an easy read as it deals with topics such as abuse, neglect, and bullying but I just couldn't stop reading and it helps that it is relatively short. It is heart breaking and the ending made me cry. Layla is a strong character but I wish we got a little more......more

Goodreads review by Goth Gone on August 02, 2020

Self-medicating with science in the midst of squalor This is not an easy read. The narrator and lead character, Layla, warns us of this early on: "Life is hard and complicated and messy. Life is parasites that live in your gut and brilliant scientists teaching a gorilla to use sign language. Life is......more

Goodreads review by S.G. on December 07, 2021

My Latest Book Recommendation: Find Layla This was not an easy read. It's sad but beautiful, and deals with hard topics like abuse and mental illness. It's wonderfully written and not what I usually gravitate toward, but I gobbled it up. I was a bit conflicted by the ending (I won't say why to av......more

Goodreads review by Rae (Rachel) on March 17, 2020

Find Layla is a story that needs to be told and read and reread and shared. It’s a story of neglected children and absent parents and hope. This story belongs in libraries and spoken about in classrooms and discussed at dinner tables. This story deserves to be shared because we all know someone who......more

Quotes

“Sharply observed and well-written, Layla’s story is both accessible and resonant, deftly tackling issues of poverty, neglect, and resilience. To get to know Layla is to understand the myriad challenges that many young people face behind closed doors and the fortitude required of them to survive against odds that are stacked against them. A powerful voice that is bound to make an indelible impact on readers.” —Kirkus Reviews“With grace and respect, Elison depicts an intense and, sadly, accurate view on how a child survives in spite of neglect, embarrassment, and humiliation. The characters are as real as the people readers see in their own schools and communities. Overall, this necessary book allows for teachable moments for adults and children alike, who may know a person like Layla.” —School Library Journal“Elison’s young-adult debut is packed with emotion…Harsh elements such as the condition of Layla’s home, her mother’s behavior, and the lengths Layla goes to for survival make this a tough read, but a heartfelt message of survival and resilience wins out.” —Booklist