The World I Found
Description
Fifteen-year-old Quinn is dragged to Campbell Island by her mother, a scientist who studies birds. Quinn doesn’t expect much will happen on remote Campbell Island – just a year of boredom away from her friends and her normal life.
She doesn’t expect the appearance of the beautiful and mysterious Jeroen or the massive storm that hits the island and devastates the scientists’ base, forcing them to leave.
Quinn and Jeroen find themselves back on the mainland and discover that everything in the world as they knew it has changed. The power is out, the phones aren’t working, and everyone seems to have vanished …
How do you survive in this new world and who can you trust?
Published by Black Giraffe Press, 2023. ISBN Paperback 978-0-473-68026-8
Reviews
“There are some lovely moments of thoughtful reflection and communication that give a genuine tone to the characters and their relationships. I expect conversations will be generated around sustainability. How would you survive in these circumstances? This is Wellington author Latika Vasil’s first YA novel, and she’s included a lot of her local landscape here. She’s had a number of short stories published, and I look forward to seeing her fiction repertoire grow and develop.” Crissi Blair, Kete books, September 2023
“The World I Found is a really good read. It’s a Young Adult novel seen through the eyes of 15-year-old Quinn. Latika Vasil does a great job of showing the world through Quinn’s eyes. She’s brave, resourceful, but also impetuous and at times beset by doubt. She’s a very realistic protagonist – I enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes. If you enjoy YA fiction as so many of us do, or if you’re a high school teacher looking for a well-written book that touches on important issues and tells a strong story through the eyes of a relatable protagonist, The World I Found is for you.” Tim Jones, author, www.timjonesbooks.co.nz
“Thanks to COVID-19, we have all had first-hand experiences of a pandemic, and Vasil’s portrayal of the post-apocalyptic world felt scarily possible. The depiction of a virus that takes out every response team and decimates the planet was like reading an alternate reality. The novel is split into five sections, and each opened with an image of a bird which mirrored the circular cover artwork. Organising the story this way contributed to my experience and wonderfully demarcated the steps in Quinn’s journey. The World I Found is set in New Zealand and I enjoyed the location references, from Quinn’s Campbell Island journey to her quest across the Remutaka Range to reach Wellington and find her mum. I really liked how the author dives deep into what our world would look like if most of the population was wiped out. During Quinn’s journey, she discovers pockets of community who have been forced to reshape how they live. Some are hostile, others appear welcoming, and danger is always lurking. Are you brave enough to join Quinn in her post-apocalyptic journey to Wellington? Denika Mead, The Sapling, October 2023
Oscar Sweetman reviews The World I Found on his youtube channel HeHatesBooks
Rising to the Surface
Description
- A businessman meets a tattoo artist on a plane and finds his world beginning to unravel.
- A desperate real estate agent has one last chance to make a sale.
- A rock star lookalike postie steals a postcard and has a change of luck.
- An eccentric boy with an interest in Winston Churchill’s parrot receives a diagnosis – but will his mother accept it?
- A lonely woman befriends the boy next door, who shares his love of pyrotechnic experiments and letters from Africa from his missionary mother.
These are some of the characters that form the cast of these short stories by Latika Vasil. Her portraits of disengaged and often idiosyncratic individuals, out of step with their worlds, are sketched with insight, compassion and humour.
Published by Steele Roberts Aotearoa, 2013. ISBN Soft cover: 978-1-927242-12-4, ePub: 978-1-927242-33-9, Kindle: 978-1-927242-34-6
Reviews
“Vasil’s stories are peopled by folk either swimming in circles or floating adrift in their own lives. The stories begin when someone or something unexpectedly knocks a character out of the deeper tides and compelling currents of habit, offering them a chance to change tack, change stroke, even to completely change ponds. In story after story I could almost hear the rust creaking as personalities began to stretch. Vasil writes this tension well, taking the question to the wire: will the person break or adapt? She has an eye for the harmless enough eccentricity which can end up, for better or for worse, dictating the course of a person’s life. Many of her characters are doomed by their particular peculiarities of character to live a life other than the one they once imagined for themselves. How like most of us, then! Vasil, knowing this, writes with kindness. She can be funny and witty, but she is not cruel about failure or disappointment; she does not mock. The reader warms readily to the characters, even the ones with the obviously very annoying or self-destructive habits. My heart lifted and fell alongside every character’s own rise and fall, a sure sign that I was hooked.” Sue Wooton in takahē Review Online, August 2014.
“Vasil’s stories evoke sensitive amusement and enjoyment, and promote a positive regard for personal difference. They immerse the reader in a realm of creative curiosity. Underwater immersion, diving beneath the surface of social etiquette and expectations, is what Latika Vasil offers us. Rising to the Surface grants us a privileged opportunity to float into unique private worlds, with the sensation of being unencumbered by the weight of judgement, or the passing of time.” Jenny Powell in Landfall Review Online, July 2014.
“…Like seemingly simple but ultimately challenging puzzles, the pieces of these stories fit together in the end with surprising satisfaction, never failing to elicit a knowing smile.” Cheryl Pearl Sucher, New Zealand Listener, January 25 2014.
Asperger Syndrome, Adolescence and Identity
Description
How do teenagers with Asperger Syndrome view themselves and their own lives?
This book is based on extensive interviews with adolescents diagnosed with AS. It includes six life stories, written in collaboration with the teenagers themselves. These present an authentic and fascinating look at the lives of the teenagers and how AS has shaped their growing identities. The stories provide the basis for a discussion of common themes and issues facing teenagers with AS. Asperger Syndrome, Adolescence, and Identity also questions the medicalised deficit approach to Asperger Syndrome and discusses the social repercussions of labeling teenagers as having AS.
Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2004. ISBN: 978-1-843-10126-0
Reviews
“This is a welcome addition to the growing library about Asperger Syndrome. Compared with most books, this takes a slightly different approach to the subject by using a narrative approach and more specifically a combination of life stories as told by five teenagers and one almost teenager plus some additional life history material contributed by their parents. The authors used a guided (but not structured) interview technique that combined freedom with the coverage of certain specific areas that they wanted to highlight. Books like this are so useful to parents, teachers, and, of course, those who have AS. Knowing how other people cope, how positive they can be and what heights of achievement they scale is a tremendously valuable contribution, this is a very worthwhile addition to the literature on the subject.” Metapsychology
“I found the stories compelling. So many of them reminded me of my own son and others I know. The reader is led to understand his parents frustration within the constraints of mainstream schooling. The most important thread I found from all the stories is that the label Asperger syndrome is useful for others in identifying a social difference between them and their peers, but they are still all individuals.” Children Now
LATIKA VASIL 