Book Review: We Were Restless Things

Author: Cole Nagamatsu

Narrators: Sophie Amoss and Tom Picasso

Publication Date: October 6, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Book Review

We Were Restless Things by Cole Nagamatsu is a very unique novel.

Link drowned in the forest not near any water. Nobody can explain this strange accident. Noemi knows what really happened. Noemi knows there is a lake in the woods that only she can find. Noemi starts receiving texts from an unknown number claiming to be Link. Noemi with Jonas, her housemate, and Amberlyn, Link’s little sister, uncover what happened to Link.

We Were Restless Things took me a while to get into, but once I got into it I was hooked. This is a very unique story. There is the mystery of what actually happened, the complicated relationship between the characters and so many revelations. One of the characters is asexual, which is a topic that isn’t usually discussed. I found this very interesting especially being in that character’s head.

We Were Restless is told from multiple points of view which really added to the story.

I listened to the audiobook. Sophie Amoss and Tom Picasso did a good job narrating. At first the narration seemed pretty dry, but as the book went on they used more emotion so I enjoyed the audiobook. I think based on the story I would’ve preferred it not in audiobook.

Thank you NetGalley and Recorded Books/RB Media for We Were Restless Things.

About the Author

Cole Bucciaglia Nagamatsu writes fiction. Her short stories have been featured in West Branch, Tin House, cream city review, Bartleby Snopes, PodCastle, Gingerbread House, Timber Journal, and other print and online publications. She is the editor-in-chief of Psychopomp Magazine, a journal of genre-bending prose, and she works as a visiting assistant professor of creative writing at St. Olaf College. Cole resides in Minnesota with her partner and their cat, Kalahira. Her first novel, We Were Restless Things, was published by Sourcebooks Fire on October 6, 2020.

In case you were wondering, Bucciaglia is pronounced Buchaya. Kind of like papaya.

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