This book was a disappointment, yet it exceeded expectations
in some ways. Despite not liking certain aspects of this novel, it was still an
enjoyable read. I think if I had read this book a few years ago, I would have
liked it more for the tension in it and the constant wondering if Cait and
Lucas would be a couple, even if only for a short while. However, as I am now
older, I feel like that sort of thing doesn't appeal to me as much. Also, the
language did become over simple in places. However, I think that the events at
the end at the novel boosted my feelings surrounding this book. It was
unexpected and slightly sad. For that, I like this book a lot more.
***
At certain points, this book became extremely 'tell don't show',
which is the opposite of what keeps the reader engaged. I would rather learn
about characters throughout the novel than have a page dedicated to their life
story near the beginning. It meant that I knew exactly what to expect from each
character, so certain events which were supposed to be surprising weren't. For
example, if, near the beginning of the novel, when Jamie almost attacked Cait
on the beach there hadn't been a page dedicated to how bad and horrible Jamie
was, then I would have been able to learn that from the event that was taking
place at the time and from the events later in the novel when Jamie's character
is shown. It made the book much more boring as a whole because I didn't want
descriptions like that, I wanted to learn about the characters through their
actions. That could have so easily been done by simply taking out the pointlessly
long descriptions of the characters when they were first introduced.
On the other hand to that, I found the descriptions of the
landscapes that were visited in this book amazing. I felt like I was actually
there in Cait's body, experiencing what she experienced in perfect clarity. I
am a big fan of lengthy descriptions of the places where characters go and this
book really ticked all my boxes in those terms. I think that this is an area in
which Brooks excels and reading through the descriptions of the landscapes was
one of my favourite aspects to this novel.
The storyline of this book became quite intriguing at
certain points. I started to feel nervous for the characters that I liked and
concerned for their safety, while also
wishing that events that I knew were coming wouldn't happen. There were quite a
few points of tension within this book and others where in wanted to shout at
the characters through the pages. This book did well on making me experience a
range of emotions through the events that happened within it, but I feel like
if the writing within the book was to be improved then it would make the
rollercoaster of emotions reach higher.
In terms of the writing within this book, I understand why
it was written in such a way, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I like it.
By reaching the end of the book and experiencing Lucas' death, it means that
everything starts to make sense in terms of why Cait wrote everything down, but
the continual first person chattiness of the book meant that it felt like the
book was trying to be too friendly. With a story written from the first person,
I feel that I should read the book as if I am the main character, but in
certain points of the novel, it felt like Cait was addressing me, which
shouldn't be happening in terms of who I was supposed to be. Still, I feel that
it was important to have the novel from Cait's perspective as the events affected
her so deeply.
This novel tried to touch on what it is like to be a teen
and trying to stay on the right path, while others fall off the rails. However,
I feel like it was dealt with almost immaturely. It made being a teen seem as
if every night someone offers to get high with you or that teens just work their
way through an endless supply of alcohol. Speaking from my own experience, that
is not what happens. While the 'cool kids' do go to parties now and then, they
certainly don't live it up in the way that this book says they do. I felt that
this inaccuracy put me off the book a little. As a side-note, I also didn't
like that almost every character smoked and that the smoking was described in a
confusing way. One moment they were halfway through a cigarette and the next
moment they were lighting up another. It all started my head spinning and then
I would look back and figure out that they hadn't finished their last one; is
smoking two at once some new craze?
Overall this book wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing. There
were a lot of things that could have been improved, but it was still enjoyable.
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