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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
This is one of the sweetest books of all time. Switching stories back and forth I was hooked from chapter one. This book had me laughing one moment then crying the next. This was so meaningful and sweet. One of the best romances too!
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
this was entertaining and easy to read. i loved sam and riddle and thought their parts of the book were the most interesting. i wish we got more of the relationship between sam and emily because i didn’t believe it. bobby was annoying and i didn’t care about him at all. this also turned into much more of a survival story than i expected
This review was written for The Review Diaries: http://reviewdiaries.blogspot.com/2011/07/review-ill-be-there-by-holly-goldberg.html
This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The first two thirds were stunning – the language was deceptively simple but really beautifully constructed, the tension was high, and everything about it was just brilliant. However, after this point something lost me. I’m not sure if I was tired, or whether the style shifted – but around the point where YET ANOTHER BAD THING HAPPENED, and continued to happen (there was a string of really bad things happening to the boys for a while) the book lost me. It just reached a point where it seemed too insane to even contemplate, not that I stopped caring about the awful things happening to the two boys.
It was still interesting, and it wasn’t to the point that I gave up and put the book down for the night, but my attention definitely wavered, and I regarded the more bad things as a bit ludicrous, rather than upping the ante on the stress factor. It was like watching the film ‘Serendipity’ – where you just want to scream at how close it all comes to being all right so many times, and they just miss each other!
Then the book picks up a bit, and it swept me up into the action again – although I wasn’t quite as taken as the first part of the book, it was still great to get lost in the story again. But then the end did something horrible. And I’m not talking about the end of the book what happens, I mean the style in which it’s covered. It was like one of those movie montages where you freeze frame on each character and get a summary of what happens to them. It just felt so disjointed, and after such a beautiful start to the book it made me want to cry that it didn’t get the ending I felt it deserved.
Which made me start thinking, why was I left so dissatisfied? Except obviously for the ending, which I’ve already explained. And I started to realize that it was partly the characters. In the first part of the book I was so swept up in how gorgeous and brilliant it all was that I didn’t really think about it, but my mind started to wander later on, and it felt like some of the characters weren’t given enough depth to make me really care. They were just there as tools, not as people.
For example Bobby Ellis starts out not all that bad – little bit creepy I grant you, but essentially an alright kind of guy. Then he turns into the comedic caricature where really ridiculously bad things happen to him because he’s such a bad person. Only it just seemed out of place and ridiculous because there was no build-up of bad person, it just suddenly happened.
Which made me look at the rest of the characters, and with the exception of Sam, Riddle and to some extent Emily, they all seemed to be there as flat plot devices – they had no depth to make me care about them. They had backstory and other little bits, but it didn’t seem to be enough. They were more cut out silhouettes with a specific purpose than people that I cared about.
However the writing was for the most part simplicity at its best – an array of perfect pieces of prose that made you really feel for the two brothers in their unfair world. I loved the connections, the points of meeting for a multitude of characters, although at times it felt like there wasn’t enough time to get to know each of them properly – and this was where they turned into cut outs. There to further the story and serve a purpose rather than being there in their own right.
So as I said, I’m torn. I wanted to love this book. In fact I started out loving this book, but somewhere along the way it lost me. And that’s just me and my personal preferences, but I’m really disappointed that we broke up part way through. However, the first half was completely spot on, and I’m going to remember that when I look back on this.
This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The first two thirds were stunning – the language was deceptively simple but really beautifully constructed, the tension was high, and everything about it was just brilliant. However, after this point something lost me. I’m not sure if I was tired, or whether the style shifted – but around the point where YET ANOTHER BAD THING HAPPENED, and continued to happen (there was a string of really bad things happening to the boys for a while) the book lost me. It just reached a point where it seemed too insane to even contemplate, not that I stopped caring about the awful things happening to the two boys.
It was still interesting, and it wasn’t to the point that I gave up and put the book down for the night, but my attention definitely wavered, and I regarded the more bad things as a bit ludicrous, rather than upping the ante on the stress factor. It was like watching the film ‘Serendipity’ – where you just want to scream at how close it all comes to being all right so many times, and they just miss each other!
Then the book picks up a bit, and it swept me up into the action again – although I wasn’t quite as taken as the first part of the book, it was still great to get lost in the story again. But then the end did something horrible. And I’m not talking about the end of the book what happens, I mean the style in which it’s covered. It was like one of those movie montages where you freeze frame on each character and get a summary of what happens to them. It just felt so disjointed, and after such a beautiful start to the book it made me want to cry that it didn’t get the ending I felt it deserved.
Which made me start thinking, why was I left so dissatisfied? Except obviously for the ending, which I’ve already explained. And I started to realize that it was partly the characters. In the first part of the book I was so swept up in how gorgeous and brilliant it all was that I didn’t really think about it, but my mind started to wander later on, and it felt like some of the characters weren’t given enough depth to make me really care. They were just there as tools, not as people.
For example Bobby Ellis starts out not all that bad – little bit creepy I grant you, but essentially an alright kind of guy. Then he turns into the comedic caricature where really ridiculously bad things happen to him because he’s such a bad person. Only it just seemed out of place and ridiculous because there was no build-up of bad person, it just suddenly happened.
Which made me look at the rest of the characters, and with the exception of Sam, Riddle and to some extent Emily, they all seemed to be there as flat plot devices – they had no depth to make me care about them. They had backstory and other little bits, but it didn’t seem to be enough. They were more cut out silhouettes with a specific purpose than people that I cared about.
However the writing was for the most part simplicity at its best – an array of perfect pieces of prose that made you really feel for the two brothers in their unfair world. I loved the connections, the points of meeting for a multitude of characters, although at times it felt like there wasn’t enough time to get to know each of them properly – and this was where they turned into cut outs. There to further the story and serve a purpose rather than being there in their own right.
So as I said, I’m torn. I wanted to love this book. In fact I started out loving this book, but somewhere along the way it lost me. And that’s just me and my personal preferences, but I’m really disappointed that we broke up part way through. However, the first half was completely spot on, and I’m going to remember that when I look back on this.
I really liked this book, some of it seemed far fetched but if you look at it in context (like the Odyssey or As easy as falling off the face of the earth) it makes more sense. Told from many points of view
This book demands the reader suspend disbelief.In my mind, there wasn't enough suspension in the world to keep me from rolling my eyes and exclaiming "Are you SERIOUS?" in utter disbelief.
The first half of the book was compelling. The second half felt like a forced comedy of errors with every plot device known in literature thrown in just because the author could.
The first half of the book was compelling. The second half felt like a forced comedy of errors with every plot device known in literature thrown in just because the author could.
(Trigger warning: violence, abusive parent, stalking, paranoia, neglect, etc.) The only reason this isn't 5 stars is that I didn't like reading from Bobby's POV. I loved everything else about this book. The last parts of this book made me cry a lot. I'm now emotionally exhausted but also grateful I found the 2nd book at a Goodwill so I had a reason to read this book [until I figured out it was a sequel I didn't know about it]. I mostly had an interest because I really enjoyed reading Counting By 7s. Honestly, I loved this book more. It's hard to put into words everything I loved about it without spoiling things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Abandonment
More like 2.5.
Okay I had a very negative reaction when I finished this book but that was a few hours ago and I have mellowed a little since then however I felt that the book was about 20-30% too long. I also thought it read like a Caroline B Cooney novel which is not a criticism because I am very fond of Cooney's books.
Two things which I will spoiler
Instalove. Oh my goodness such instalove. I get the idea that this book is supposed to be a fairytale type thing but still. Come on.
The 100 or so pages (I read the Kindle version so I don't know how many pages it was) after Sam and Riddle go down in the kayak. I felt like that entire section was totally unnecessary. I mean why not have them rescued by Search and Rescue and they could have been re-united with the Bells a lot sooner without all that extra angst.
Okay I had a very negative reaction when I finished this book but that was a few hours ago and I have mellowed a little since then however I felt that the book was about 20-30% too long. I also thought it read like a Caroline B Cooney novel which is not a criticism because I am very fond of Cooney's books.
Two things which I will spoiler
Spoiler
Instalove. Oh my goodness such instalove. I get the idea that this book is supposed to be a fairytale type thing but still. Come on.
The 100 or so pages (I read the Kindle version so I don't know how many pages it was) after Sam and Riddle go down in the kayak. I felt like that entire section was totally unnecessary. I mean why not have them rescued by Search and Rescue and they could have been re-united with the Bells a lot sooner without all that extra angst.
A cute book. The writing style was not my norm, so I had a hard time staying interested. The second half was definitely more interesting than the first half. Bobby in particular became quite the comic relief which was great. I also really liked that Emily wasn't dumb. She felt like a real person. The reason for the three star rating was how the first half dragged on. I finally decided to power through and once I hit the halfway point it was so much easier to want to find out what happens. Interesting themes and great characters, just not my favorite writing style.