What do you think?
Rate this book
Outside
10-year old Lee lives with her family and about a hundred thousand others in a dome that keeps them safe from all the dangers of the Outside.
Usually, every day in the dome is pretty much exactly like all the others, but lately, Lee has been feeling restless and unsettled in a way she has never experienced before. Finding out that she is about to become a big sister adds to the disturbances of her usually strict routines, and one night, Lee sees something she was not supposed to.
A yearning for something different leads to Lee being forced to spend an entire day in the dangerous and toxic Outside. Can she survive all alone in the wilderness? And what would be worse, being all alone or discovering that she is in fact not alone at all?
Usually, every day in the dome is pretty much exactly like all the others, but lately, Lee has been feeling restless and unsettled in a way she has never experienced before. Finding out that she is about to become a big sister adds to the disturbances of her usually strict routines, and one night, Lee sees something she was not supposed to.
A yearning for something different leads to Lee being forced to spend an entire day in the dangerous and toxic Outside. Can she survive all alone in the wilderness? And what would be worse, being all alone or discovering that she is in fact not alone at all?
- GenresScience Fiction
140 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2016
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 16, 2017
While the book does not cover new ground, it does a decent job presenting its story.
Lee, a ten-year old girl, lives with her mothers in a dome that keeps them sheltered from the 'Outside'. Believing that the Outside is poisonous, the women inside the dome (no men! Lee doesn't even know what that would be) live a sheltered, predictable, controlled life where nothing is a surprise and food comes as tablets. When one day the dome is breached by a fallen tree, Lee's curiosity leads her to the Outside. There, she not only discovers real nature, but also a boy, and through him she learns a lot - about the false history of her kind that she was taught and that her dome is not the only one. But, most importantly, she learns that she won't be able to survive on the outside. Going back home reluctantly, Lee vows to forever keep the memories of this day in her heart...
There are tons of books out there about people living cut of from the outside world for whatever reason, so the basic concept is not new. However, the author expertly depicted Lee's thoughts and feelings, and her naive wonder at discovering simple things that are most common to us but utterly new to her. The ending of the book was really sad, but fitting (sometimes, a Happy End would just spoil the atmosphere). A short, but nevertheless satisfying in-between read.
(Thanks to librarything, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own)
Lee, a ten-year old girl, lives with her mothers in a dome that keeps them sheltered from the 'Outside'. Believing that the Outside is poisonous, the women inside the dome (no men! Lee doesn't even know what that would be) live a sheltered, predictable, controlled life where nothing is a surprise and food comes as tablets. When one day the dome is breached by a fallen tree, Lee's curiosity leads her to the Outside. There, she not only discovers real nature, but also a boy, and through him she learns a lot - about the false history of her kind that she was taught and that her dome is not the only one. But, most importantly, she learns that she won't be able to survive on the outside. Going back home reluctantly, Lee vows to forever keep the memories of this day in her heart...
There are tons of books out there about people living cut of from the outside world for whatever reason, so the basic concept is not new. However, the author expertly depicted Lee's thoughts and feelings, and her naive wonder at discovering simple things that are most common to us but utterly new to her. The ending of the book was really sad, but fitting (sometimes, a Happy End would just spoil the atmosphere). A short, but nevertheless satisfying in-between read.
(Thanks to librarything, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own)
December 6, 2016
I read this in a little over an hour. While short, it was a very good read!
Lee is a 10 year old girl who lives in a dome. It is completely self contained, with none of the women who live in the dome having any knowledge of what lays outside the dome. They believe Earth is a toxic wasteland where nothing exists but them and their dome.
Lee is bored with the sameness of life in the dome, though she doesn't know how to express that. Every day things are exactly the same. All she knows is that she's agitated without seemingly having a reason, and that she'd really like a glass of blue water.
The story stands one very intense day for Lee, and is definitely worth reading.
Beautifully written, with a very short time frame to become attached to the characters I found I had no problem whatsoever loving Lee and the other characters in the book.
Definitely give it a try!
Lee is a 10 year old girl who lives in a dome. It is completely self contained, with none of the women who live in the dome having any knowledge of what lays outside the dome. They believe Earth is a toxic wasteland where nothing exists but them and their dome.
Lee is bored with the sameness of life in the dome, though she doesn't know how to express that. Every day things are exactly the same. All she knows is that she's agitated without seemingly having a reason, and that she'd really like a glass of blue water.
The story stands one very intense day for Lee, and is definitely worth reading.
Beautifully written, with a very short time frame to become attached to the characters I found I had no problem whatsoever loving Lee and the other characters in the book.
Definitely give it a try!
May 6, 2017
I really enjoyed this imaginative book. There was enough intriguing interest for me right from the start when Lee, the main character, is feeling a little bored with her “perfect life” inside an enormous dome. Slowly we learn that she has two mothers and the conditions inside the dome are automatically controlled regarding nutrition, temperature etc so that all of the people in it will live to a particular age, each able to fulfil their daily tasks in safety and comfort. Lee’s adventure begins when she takes a chance and sneaks outside the dome and risks all kinds (to her) of unusual conditions and meets another young human. This boy human, Hardy, is of a gender that Lee has never heard of previously and he has plenty to tell her.
Anyone, adult or child, reading this excellent tale will want to keep turning the pages in order to find out what happens next. The author is able to feed the reader with just enough information and questions that come across as the sort of thing you would imagine are filling the heads of both children as they spend more and more anxious time together. It is a well-written story that is cleverly ended, leaving one wanting more. The tale is not fraught with extreme violence or danger but has plenty of believable conversations and situations. Hopefully the sequel exists or is on its way because the author leaves lots of unanswered questions for the reader; for example: Why are there only women and girls in the dome? And what catastrophe occurred many years ago to cause the building of domes?
Highly recommended. I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Anyone, adult or child, reading this excellent tale will want to keep turning the pages in order to find out what happens next. The author is able to feed the reader with just enough information and questions that come across as the sort of thing you would imagine are filling the heads of both children as they spend more and more anxious time together. It is a well-written story that is cleverly ended, leaving one wanting more. The tale is not fraught with extreme violence or danger but has plenty of believable conversations and situations. Hopefully the sequel exists or is on its way because the author leaves lots of unanswered questions for the reader; for example: Why are there only women and girls in the dome? And what catastrophe occurred many years ago to cause the building of domes?
Highly recommended. I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
April 17, 2017
In some ways this is more a window into a life than it is a story. The reader gets to live the life of a girl and a community that are isolated from the outside world. I loved it, even if the end of the story is ambiguous.
May 3, 2017
Lee lives a regulated life in a self-contained dome in which there are only women. One day, the dome is breached accidently, and Lee walks into the real world.
This is a well-written book and flows well but the story has several plot holes.
***Spoiler Alert ***
1. Why are there only women in the domes? Hardy’s father says a selection was made from people who were destitute and incapable of changing their destiny, and were of value to the gene pool and scored high on psychological tests. He doesn’t say they were all women.
2. The doming was supposed to be for hundred years until the environment ‘righted’ itself. What happens during that time? Do the people outside the domes die? If they do, who takes care of the domes? Because life in the domes depends on the programmers who live in the outside world.
3. The dome has existed for seven hundred years and there are only women living in it. Where are the babies coming from?
4. Most important, why are the domes being maintained? Are they of any use to the world? Mankind has always existed on trading of goods and services. Why have programmers for 700 years worked to keep the domes going on?
I thank the author for providing me with a free copy of the book. This has not influenced my review in any way.
This is a well-written book and flows well but the story has several plot holes.
***Spoiler Alert ***
1. Why are there only women in the domes? Hardy’s father says a selection was made from people who were destitute and incapable of changing their destiny, and were of value to the gene pool and scored high on psychological tests. He doesn’t say they were all women.
2. The doming was supposed to be for hundred years until the environment ‘righted’ itself. What happens during that time? Do the people outside the domes die? If they do, who takes care of the domes? Because life in the domes depends on the programmers who live in the outside world.
3. The dome has existed for seven hundred years and there are only women living in it. Where are the babies coming from?
4. Most important, why are the domes being maintained? Are they of any use to the world? Mankind has always existed on trading of goods and services. Why have programmers for 700 years worked to keep the domes going on?
I thank the author for providing me with a free copy of the book. This has not influenced my review in any way.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews