Rating: 3 stars
Cover Rating: 3.5 stars (It's okay, but not fantastic.)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: May 30, 2002
Publisher: Counterpoint
Page Count: 250 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon
Add it: Goodreads
When Ernessa comes to the boarding school, Lucy and her become very close. Becca doesn't like this new development at all. This was supposed to be a year all about Lucy and Becca. Ernessa is also...strange. She doesn't eat and she always says odd things. No one but Becca seems to notice that she's off, at first. A couple of the other girls start to notice that there is something not quite right with Ernessa, but things don't end well for those who notice. As her allies leave, she is left watching Lucy change. No one will believe her about Ernessa, so she'll just have to solve the problem herself.
I remembered liking this a lot more when I first read it. Maybe I'm just more well read now and so found things more irritating this time around. The hardest thing for me, was that this book just seemed confusing. Realistic, but confusing. Becca's thoughts jumped around way too much to be able to pay attention to what is happening. She also draws conclusions very early on, with little evidence to support the claims. There is certainly something odd about Ernessa, but even after finishing this novel, I am unsure that Becca's deductions were correct.
I do enjoy novels written in diary-form, but I think it didn't quite work for this story. Becca wrote about a lot of useless things, that took away from the main story a little. It made her into a more rounded character, but they changed the tone of the novel. Her daily observances of life just seemed misplaced alongside her depression and detective work.
Another thing that was sort of strange was the relationship between Becca and Mr. Davies. What is going on there. It seemed a bit disjointed and weird. One situation they had between them was the most awkward thing I've read. Really most of their interactions were awkward. I feel like it could have been a bit more decisive one way or another.
Ernessa was such a weird character. I wish that we got to learn more truths about her. She has a lot of conflicting situations surrounding her. I did love that you never really knew for sure what was going on with her or if it was maybe just Becca's jealousy giving her delusions about the whole thing. As much as that was enjoyable, I still wished there was some sort of definitive answer.
This was an interesting, mysterious, gothic tale and as long as you don't mind books that don't have official answers, then you should check this one out. It's a fascinating read to say the least.
First Line:
"When Dr. Karl Wolff first suggested publishing the journal that I kept during my junior year in boarding school, I thought I hadn't head him correctly."
Favorite Line:
"'I used to say 'Books, my food.' But now all my food has been poisoned.'"
This sounds like a very intriguing but strange story. It's a shame it lagged a bit due to some of the diary entries and that it was a bit confusing but I am still keen to read it!
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