Where I got it: Princess Bookie's Around the World ToursRating: 1.5 stars
Cover Rating: 4 stars (It's fitting)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: April 27, 2010
Publisher: Atheneum Books For Young Readers
Page Count: 181 (ARC)
Nola just wants to be on her own. She doesn't want to be defined by her sister's cancer. Nola doesn't want to stay in Boston so she heads to Maine to waitress for the summer. On the way she meets Carly, then Carly infects her life. Is Carly a true friend or something else?
I really wanted to like this book, but I didn't. The characters were flat, hardly any emotion and no development beyond what was happening right then. I could not relate or empathize with any of them because they were names on paper, not characters. Another thing I did not like was the way the story just jumped from chapter to chapter without much explanation of where people were now. They would be in the middle of something, and then all of a sudden cut scene. In chapter 3 Carly and Nola meet Nola's boss and he invites them to dinner and they all have a good time. This didn't seem realistic at all to me. Who actually acts that relaxed and easy going with people you have never met? Even if you're outgoing I think this had too much of a comfortable feel to it to actually be realistic. Another unrealistic thing is what teenage girl travels across two states to waitress for the summer? That doesn't make any sense, especially her parents letting her go when they have a sick daughter to begin with. I did like the Haiku and I liked chapters 30 (the Slam haiku session) and 31 but then the ending killed me. Many reasons for this, including the "sum up the story in a moral" part. So unfortunately I really could not appreciate this book at all. I do not recommend reading it, but if you do I hope you like it much better than I did. At least it was a fast read.
First Line:
"Song is hanging off my arm, afraid I'm going to slip onto the bus and out of her life as quickly as I made the decision to go."
Favorite Line:
"Do not define me
By anything other than
What I choose to be"
I like your review, very honest and you have expalined why you dind't like the book.
ReplyDeleteThough I would have expected the book to be funnier..
Ah, that sucks. :(
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review! I've been wanting to know what this book was about seeing as I had a difficult time coming across a summary.
Its my first time hearing about this book and thanks for the honest review
ReplyDeleteInteresting review. It sounds really interesting. I like how you gave a good honest review.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other comments, I appreciate honest reviews. I hadn't heard of this book before today - I'm not sure I'm very interested in reading it. Although I did like the favourite line you picked out!
ReplyDeletetoo bad you didn't like it, i want to read it though! :)
ReplyDeleteNice honest review. I love seeing how others differ from me! I just finished it tonight and actually really enjoyed it. But I've also been through the breaking out/discovering who I am over many years (and still counting!) so I think I really related to Nola in that aspect!
ReplyDeleteDrea
bookblather.net