Fighting Silence by Aly Martinez

There are books that no matter how hard you try they just defy description, this is one of those books.  

And as much as I am about to give a review, please accept it is opinion and nothing more because to be quite honest I don’t think I am capable of anything else because this is a book that has me grasping for the words to do it justice.

Till and Eliza are two of the most perfect characters I have read in a very long time, from the minute these two lonely kids met in the squalor of an abandoned apartment. I have my heart set on them finding happiness, in whatever form they could. Neither of them had any form of parental support or love, they were expendable to the folks that brought them into the world, disposable children that were an inconvenience on the lives that they lived- I can’t bring myself to call these people parents because they were completely undeserving of the title and definitely undeserving of the children that they neglected.

But Eliza and Till had found each other and they were determined to keep their friendship to themselves – people can’t take what they don’t know about!

I loved the fact that the book took us on their journey and that we got to see sacrifices and developments that they were experiencing and I also loved the fact that they never deviated from each other. Eliza has set her heart on college and it is her means of escape from the hell that is home. Till on the other hand doesn’t have that luxury, he has siblings – two younger brothers that are reliant on him. He is grafting is backside off working two different jobs trying to make sure there is enough food on the table and house they can call home, no matter how useless his mother is.

Needing something for himself he joins an after school club, run by Slate Andrews – This pro boxer is someone that Till can aspire to be – The Silent Storm may just be the guiding light that he needs.

But when Eliza graduates, Till misses out and takes it hard, believing that no matter how he feels about Eliza, he isn’t good enough for her. Thinking that what she needs is far more than he will ever achieve– I was in tears by this point! This boy had so much going for him he had a heart the size of Texas and enough love to fill it – I just grieved at the fact that he thought he was not good enough for anyone let alone Eliza.

Eliza on the other hand has a decision to make, she wants and needs to be in Till’s life but she has to make him see that. She wears her heart on her sleeve to some extent and it is slowly tearing her apart the thought of losing him. All the while Till is dealing with his own conflict – caring for his brothers and holding down a job is enough to bring him to his knees but he is fighting so hard to make it in the boxing ring that he is struggling to see the wood for the trees- and to top it all off he has his hearing to worry about.

I wanted to shout out loud at the pair of them to just get on with it – I wanted their forever but I also understood what they had to lose, they had spent so long being the only people they had to rely on that taking the leap from friendship to romance was one that if it went wrong could cost them what they feared most, losing each other.