A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier

A Death-Stuck Year is a historical novel about a young teen girl named, Cleo who volunteers to help patients who have fallen ill during the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic.

Lucier has obviously done research on the epidemic and gives the reader insight into this period of time without overwhelming one with details. The facts are easily woven into the storyline but it lacks drama, emotion and intrigue.

The author tells rather than shows the story, so you aren't able to fully grasp the fear or loss that that characters were undergoing.  People are dying and the flu is spreading yet character are nonchalant about the events, which makes makes this story border on unrealistic.

I love the historical aspects of the story, the  idea of a young girl joining the Red Cross to help those in need but the story needed so much more --- and it had the potential to go from average to amazing.

Grade: C+