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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
With a blurb from Rebecca Stead, Eventown was a highly anticipated book for me. However, I found it too slow-paced for its climax, which hinges on a reveal of information that is only hidden because of narrative manipulation.
Eventown is narrated by Elodee, a sixth-grader who bakes cookies for people based on their personalities. She has a twin sister, Naomi, who likes gymnastics so much she does cartwheels almost as much as she walks. They have a dad who likes to garden and a mom who... not quite sure what she does.
The family is leaving their town of Juniper because of some sort of unspoken trauma. Elodee, the narrator, knows what happened to her family, she just decides not to tell the reader about it. The family decides to move to Eventown, a homogenous community that I wanted to be more Eerie, Indiana but is really more like Pleasantville but boring. Everyone is happy in Eventown, and you know that because every single chapter for half the books ends with how perfect Eventown is.
Almost halfway through, the girls are "welcomed" in a ceremony that's part The Giver but mostly Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Elodee then forgets the unspoken family trauma. With the trauma going unspoken and finally, the trauma is revealed. It's exactly what you think it is. Then there's cake. The end.
Haydu has a gift for vivid descriptions, and I did appreciate Elodee as a character with anger-management issues, but I didn't feel there was enough meaty content in this book to sustain it for 300+ pages when I could read only the first and last sentence of each chapter and understand exactly what was going on.
Also, my copy of the book has a huge typo in which Chapter 2 is titled "The Only Pretty Thing in Jupiter" but the town is called Juniper making me think my dyslexia flared up.
Eventown is narrated by Elodee, a sixth-grader who bakes cookies for people based on their personalities. She has a twin sister, Naomi, who likes gymnastics so much she does cartwheels almost as much as she walks. They have a dad who likes to garden and a mom who... not quite sure what she does.
The family is leaving their town of Juniper because of some sort of unspoken trauma. Elodee, the narrator, knows what happened to her family, she just decides not to tell the reader about it. The family decides to move to Eventown, a homogenous community that I wanted to be more Eerie, Indiana but is really more like Pleasantville but boring. Everyone is happy in Eventown, and you know that because every single chapter for half the books ends with how perfect Eventown is.
Almost halfway through, the girls are "welcomed" in a ceremony that's part The Giver but mostly Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Elodee then forgets the unspoken family trauma. With the trauma going unspoken
Spoiler
the family's transplanted rosebush takes over the townHaydu has a gift for vivid descriptions, and I did appreciate Elodee as a character with anger-management issues, but I didn't feel there was enough meaty content in this book to sustain it for 300+ pages when I could read only the first and last sentence of each chapter and understand exactly what was going on.
Also, my copy of the book has a huge typo in which Chapter 2 is titled "The Only Pretty Thing in Jupiter" but the town is called Juniper making me think my dyslexia flared up.
I should have liked this more than I did; the magical elements and ending are both things that resonate with me usually. BUT. I spent this entire book with dread in my stomach waiting for the other shoe to drop. And removing children’s memories without their consent is seriously messed up! Those two things prevented me from enjoying the story as much as I expected to.
I'm torn on this one. Ask my husband- I made him listen to me babble incoherently about it last night and then again this morning. The good: I liked the Pleasantville-like uptopia vibe of Eventown. A place where your memories are kept safe in return for a chance to start fresh. The not-so-good: the story was repetitive and slow. It reminded me of my daughter when she tells a story- she keeps dancing around the real topic and takes forever to get there. When my inner dialogue screams "Get to the point already!" ☺️
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I knew there was going to be a big reveal, but it too far too long to get there. At page 280 of 320. Once we got there it felt very heavy handed and underdeveloped. The reveal is significant, and to be honest, I was surprised to see it in a middle grade book. With that in mind I wish it had been handled with more care and intention.
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All that aside- I do think this would be an interesting book to read with the young readers in your life. There are some worthwhile themes to explore.
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I knew there was going to be a big reveal, but it too far too long to get there. At page 280 of 320. Once we got there it felt very heavy handed and underdeveloped. The reveal is significant, and to be honest, I was surprised to see it in a middle grade book. With that in mind I wish it had been handled with more care and intention.
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All that aside- I do think this would be an interesting book to read with the young readers in your life. There are some worthwhile themes to explore.
A powerful, well done novel. Do we really want everything to be even? Is life really better with the mess removed? A novel that will stay with readers for a long time after reading.
Elodee & her twin, Naomi, are 11 years old. Their family has been through a traumatic year and Elodee is lost in the torrent of strong emotions raging inside her. Mom gets a new job in Eventown and everyone hopes it will be the "fresh start" they need--individually and as a family.
Eventown was a 3.5/5 star read for me. I tried twice to read this book earlier this year because it kept showing up on Newbery buzz lists and I put it aside; I just could not get into the story--for whatever reason. Third time's the charm I guess, because this time I did feel engaged with Elodee's character. The way Elodee grapples with overwhelming emotions is beautifully written and makes it clear to me why so many people have been talking about this book. There are tangible, realistic examples of the complicated journey of grief and how it differs for everyone. It's a beautiful story that expounds the well-known theme from Alfred Lord Tennyson's work: 'It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.'
I had one issue throughout the story and that was the author's keeping the traumatic event that set everything into motion unexplained until page 295 of 326. Now, I realized what the event was before this point in the book, but it is not expressly related until this point in the book. This bothers me because I feel manipulated by the author: it feels to me like the author is saying 'something happened but I'm not going to tell you what it is because I want to do a big reveal later in the book.' The fact that this reveal didn't happen until the last 10% of the book annoyed me. Because it had been obliquely referred to so many times, by the time I reached it on page 295 I didn't care as much as I did earlier in the book. Related to this point, I felt that from the time the traumatic event is revealed until the end of the book Elodee's voice no longer sounds genuine; it begins to sound like the voice of an adult narrator who is trying to close her story by making sure you understand the thematic points she has been trying to make.
So, overall, I did enjoy Eventown. I did not like the structure or language of the ending and that last 10% lowered--for me--the pleasure of the reading experience I was having. Eventown is a wonderful example of a character-driven middle-grade novel. If you know a young reader who enjoys that type of structure and story, then Eventown is probably a good pick for him/her.
Eventown was a 3.5/5 star read for me. I tried twice to read this book earlier this year because it kept showing up on Newbery buzz lists and I put it aside; I just could not get into the story--for whatever reason. Third time's the charm I guess, because this time I did feel engaged with Elodee's character. The way Elodee grapples with overwhelming emotions is beautifully written and makes it clear to me why so many people have been talking about this book. There are tangible, realistic examples of the complicated journey of grief and how it differs for everyone. It's a beautiful story that expounds the well-known theme from Alfred Lord Tennyson's work: 'It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.'
I had one issue throughout the story and that was the author's keeping the traumatic event that set everything into motion unexplained until page 295 of 326. Now, I realized what the event was before this point in the book, but it is not expressly related until this point in the book. This bothers me because I feel manipulated by the author: it feels to me like the author is saying 'something happened but I'm not going to tell you what it is because I want to do a big reveal later in the book.' The fact that this reveal didn't happen until the last 10% of the book annoyed me. Because it had been obliquely referred to so many times, by the time I reached it on page 295 I didn't care as much as I did earlier in the book. Related to this point, I felt that from the time the traumatic event is revealed until the end of the book Elodee's voice no longer sounds genuine; it begins to sound like the voice of an adult narrator who is trying to close her story by making sure you understand the thematic points she has been trying to make.
So, overall, I did enjoy Eventown. I did not like the structure or language of the ending and that last 10% lowered--for me--the pleasure of the reading experience I was having. Eventown is a wonderful example of a character-driven middle-grade novel. If you know a young reader who enjoys that type of structure and story, then Eventown is probably a good pick for him/her.
I'd give this book a 3.5
This was a great juvenile fiction filled with so much emotion. I am always impressed when books geared toward younger readers can talk about hard things in a way that won't overwhelm them. I could definitely relate to the idea of Eventown. I think there are some things that keep us up at night that we wish we would forget, but that would be like forgetting a part of ourselves.
This was a great juvenile fiction filled with so much emotion. I am always impressed when books geared toward younger readers can talk about hard things in a way that won't overwhelm them. I could definitely relate to the idea of Eventown. I think there are some things that keep us up at night that we wish we would forget, but that would be like forgetting a part of ourselves.
2019 Summer Book-a-Day #1
A book that reminds the reader about the importance of story, of memory, and about the glorious messiness of love. (Plus, the baker in me loved all the cakes and foods!!)
A book that reminds the reader about the importance of story, of memory, and about the glorious messiness of love. (Plus, the baker in me loved all the cakes and foods!!)
The ending bothered me. The town’s existence seems to depend on everyone giving up their memories forever, but after the memories come back, Elodee and her family leave while everyone else remains — how does that work? What were the stakes, if the system could be destroyed but the town endures? What happens to kids who grow up and want to go to college?
The big idea of grief and memory and the cost of “feeling good” all the time works well, but it starts to fall apart under scrutiny.
The big idea of grief and memory and the cost of “feeling good” all the time works well, but it starts to fall apart under scrutiny.
Like a 3.8*
The concept reminded me of Shyamalan's movie The Village...wherein the Dad reveals that a bunch of people got together to create their own utopia because they were victims of violent crimes, so they isolated themselves and made their own rules and went to a simpler way of life to protect their kids.
OKAY.
BUT LET'S DO SOMETHING RADICAL.
LET'S TELL PEOPLE THIS IS THE PLAN.
I know, call me crazy. But I feel like it would've been a thousand times easier to just EXPLAIN to adults who are moving in that they are gonna have to exchange almost everything from their old life (including memories) so they can get this new, closer-to-perfection one instead. And then the adults could...again, call me crazy, EXPLAIN IT TO THEIR KIDS.
Then the kids could make -gasp!- INFORMED decisions. I find it to be incredibly selfish if the parents in the book had the mindset of, this is better for us and the kids no discussion necessary, because it clearly wasn't better for Elodee. And part of being a family is compromise. Maybe if she had known the ins and outs she would've gone along with it anyway.
I also found it ridiculous that she couldn't get creative in the kitchen and her dad couldn't bring in different flowers. Because THAT is gonna ruin everything...ok sure.
However, it was a cute book and I found Elodee very relatable. I didn't like Naomi. The way Elodee would explain away Naomi's meanness reminds me of the victims of abusive relationships. "She doesn't mean it. She wants me to be like her. She wants me to fit in." But then again, I don't have siblings so maybe that is normal.
Would I live in Eventown? I'd like to give it a try.
The concept reminded me of Shyamalan's movie The Village...wherein the Dad reveals that a bunch of people got together to create their own utopia because they were victims of violent crimes, so they isolated themselves and made their own rules and went to a simpler way of life to protect their kids.
OKAY.
BUT LET'S DO SOMETHING RADICAL.
LET'S TELL PEOPLE THIS IS THE PLAN.
I know, call me crazy. But I feel like it would've been a thousand times easier to just EXPLAIN to adults who are moving in that they are gonna have to exchange almost everything from their old life (including memories) so they can get this new, closer-to-perfection one instead. And then the adults could...again, call me crazy, EXPLAIN IT TO THEIR KIDS.
Then the kids could make -gasp!- INFORMED decisions. I find it to be incredibly selfish if the parents in the book had the mindset of, this is better for us and the kids no discussion necessary, because it clearly wasn't better for Elodee. And part of being a family is compromise. Maybe if she had known the ins and outs she would've gone along with it anyway.
I also found it ridiculous that she couldn't get creative in the kitchen and her dad couldn't bring in different flowers. Because THAT is gonna ruin everything...ok sure.
However, it was a cute book and I found Elodee very relatable. I didn't like Naomi. The way Elodee would explain away Naomi's meanness reminds me of the victims of abusive relationships. "She doesn't mean it. She wants me to be like her. She wants me to fit in." But then again, I don't have siblings so maybe that is normal.
Would I live in Eventown? I'd like to give it a try.