Book Bites: 3 Sentence Intro About What This Story Is

Ryn gets stuck in the Denver International Airport on New Year’s Eve and she’s anxiously waiting to get out of the airport and back home. As she clutches her phone for security, she’s reminded that there is one unread text message from her best friend that has haunted her for the past year. With the help of friends she meets on this one adventure-filled night at the airport, Ryn learns to overcome her fears and builds up the courage to finally confront the lingering message.

*As usual, to see the official book teaser/summary of this, go to anywhere books are found and read up more about what this book is about.

Now on to My Commentary (**May Contain Spoilers: Read at Your Own Risk)

Next stop on the Jessica Brody book binge, The Chaos of Standing Still. From my brief glance at the reviews and amount of people buying or borrowing this book, The Chaos of Standing Still seemed to be a well-received book. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the story! But it didn’t resonate with me as much as The Geography of Lost Things (check my review for that book here). Regardless, let’s get to my comments about this, shall we?

Overall, this book follows the same format as The Geography of Lost Things where Brody smoothly parallels scenes from Ryn’s past to the present scenes of her stuck at the airport to reveal why present Ryn is the way she is. This book has a much darker and mysterious feel for me compared to the other two books I’ve already read by Brody that felt more light-hearted. Maybe the fact that the whole time the characters were trapped at Denver International due to a snowstorm contributed to a darker, moodier atmosphere in the story. To me, it read more like the mystery, suspense book. Oh yeah, plus the spirit of Lottie, Ryn’s deceased best friend, follows her around. And Ryn holds regular mental conversations with Lottie’s spirit for comfort. This element definitely made me curious.

Survivor’s Guilt – Who Really Is Ryn Gilbert?

Over the past year, Ryn’s been battling with the grief of losing Lottie in a tragic car accident. This shakes up Ryn’s whole world and whole being. She was always the quiet sidekick to Lottie’s bolder, sparkling personality. Ryn was comfortable with this arrangement as the two childhood friends balanced each other out. Now with Lottie gone, who was Ryn? Her name isn’t even Ryn! Not exactly. It’s the nickname Lottie suggested for her. As Ryn reflects on the last moments she shared with her best friend, she realizes that Lottie’s wealthy lifestyle and sparkling personality was hiding a hurt, lonely soul inside. And for the first time, Ryn has to face life alone. She has to figure out who she is other than being Lottie’s best friend. And a few unexpected friends help her with this.

Xander and the Other Strangers Friends from the Airport

Ryn meets Xander when they bumped into each other on one of the walkways and accidentally switched phones. He is first introduced to us as this relaxed, upbeat guy wearing a Muppet shirt. When the two reunite with each other to trade back phones, Xander helps distract Ryn’s unease by finding ways to enjoy their time trapped at the airport. They go train surfing, help play human bingo, engage in cafeteria performances, and attend a hurriedly-put-together-yet-surprisingly-fun New Year’s party. As the hours pass, we learn there’s more to Xander that even Ryn wasn’t aware of in the beginning. That he has some ghosts of his own past that he has to confront as well.

By the way, all the friends Ryn makes at the airport were so funny! I loved how they all uniquely contributed to helping Ryn start to move past Lottie’s death and enjoy life again. Especially Xander, who helped Ryn (maybe indirectly), to see herself as special. And that Lottie wasn’t the only life of the party. He allowed Ryn to really let her personality shine by giving her the right amount of push, encouragement, and support. Go Xander! Even Ryn, who at first reluctantly followed Xander’s invitations to explore Denver International, started warming up to the cast of kooky personalities they met along the way.

You Never Know Where Life Will Take You – Chaos Doesn’t Have to be Bad

Ryn has tried so hard to maintain control – the little control she believed she had left – after Lottie’s tragic abrupt death. We see this through her habit of obsessively organizing everything on her phone, to Google searching answers to every question her mind comes up with (no matter how insignificant), and her avoidance of looking at the clock at 10:05 A.M. – the time of Lottie’s death. Her phone basically served as her security blanket because it contained her perceived last connection to Lottie: one unread message from her.

But as she experiences the people and the situation at the Denver International Airport, she learns that releasing some control is exactly what she needed in order to finally start moving on from her grief. She needed to stop searching for answers to everything. To be okay with things on her phone being disorganized. To being okay to seeing the time 10:05 A.M. and knowing that life doesn’t just stop then.

And the most important of all was what Troy explained to Ryn that if a situation was to be isolated for a long time, eventually energy will build up and chaos will break out. That it was a natural part of life that couldn’t – shouldn’t – be avoided.

Final Thoughts

Ryn wasn’t also in the brightest of places, mentally and emotionally, because of what happened with Lottie. The quirky characters that Ryn meets are so iconic! I’m really glad they help Ryn move forward from her trauma and reduce talking to herself (well talking to Lottie, more specifically).

One of the things that bothered me was the conspiracy theory that was embedded towards the end of the book. Brody did drop minor hints about it throughout the book, but I found it to be a throwaway scene that I didn’t feel was resolved. I mean this isn’t a mystery book per se so I didn’t expect there to be a deep dark secret that’s unveiled at the end of the book. However, I wasn’t exactly sure why the conspiracy theory subplot was included in the book other than for the purposes of expanding Ryn and Troy’s relationship. Maybe I read through that scene too much and didn’t make the connections. Though I guess the main point of that scene was so Troy could tell Ryn that sometimes, as a scientist (which Troy was), you have to be okay with not having a definitive answer for everything in life or research.

If you ever thought that being stuck at the airport (whether during a layover or snowstorm) was boring, think again! Clearly there are ways to fill up with time, enjoy yourself, and also maybe find a way to face your ghosts. You never know the places you’ll travel to when you’re stuck at the Denver International Airport (or any airport).

Check out this book if it piques your interest. Hope you enjoy it as your next read or a re-read!

And remember, “Every story is worth the read. Someone (some poor, overworked, ink-stains-on-the-clothes lovely soul) took the time to write it.”