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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
This book is what I feared. Some adult authors should not write teen books. The language seemed dumbed down and was honestly a bit annoying. There was a fantasy element to the story, but even the realistic parts were contrived and unrealistic. Blah.
Wolitzer's take on teen fiction was well-handled, and an intriguing premise.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. Despite there being some significant quotable passages, I was a little underwhelmed with the overall premise. I wanted more magic, more depth; both from the plot and from the characters. I thought Belzhar was a unique concept; I thought it was interesting and apropos that they couldn't move forward but I would have liked to see more exploration into it. I want to be more disappointed that Jam seemed to get over Reeve only after she started getting closer to Griffin, except that when you're that age that's EXACTLY how it works, so I can't really complain.
Bizarre book. Compelling moments, but overall poorly written and overly foreshadowed.
Really more of a YA novel. I liked her other books better.
the premise of this book is FINE, but wolitzer picked the worst protagonist to guide us through it. jam's despondence at the death of her boyfriend lands her at a school for troubled teens. everyone's got a horrific story as to why they're there but still, jam treats her experience as the most horrible of them all and won't share. well, that's a narrative choice for a big reveal which although surprising...made her even worse. the conclusion was far too pat (seeing the truth sets her free?). i get that wolitzer is trying to make a point about perception, but i think this would have been stronger had jam just found the journal or something--her being at this school (and thriving! within like four days!) forces comparisons to the other teens and she's just so unsympathetic. i loved [b:The Interestings|15815333|The Interestings|Meg Wolitzer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363979873s/15815333.jpg|21541829], where wolitzer wrote about teens much better, IMO. also:
one detail i did like is that while visiting belzhar, everyone could only do whatever they'd done in life. a nice commentary on the power of memory and how, if one keeps living in the past, eventually...you'll get bored.
Spoiler
did anyone else think the reveal would be that jam murdered reeve somehow? ha.one detail i did like is that while visiting belzhar, everyone could only do whatever they'd done in life. a nice commentary on the power of memory and how, if one keeps living in the past, eventually...you'll get bored.
Interesting, well-written points marred down by far-too-frequent deviations into the near-schizophrenic episodes of an unlikeable protagonist. Certain revelations should have happened much earlier in the book. Gets better towards the end, but a struggle at times—and this is a young adult book!
A lot of people have issues with this book, and while I disagree with most of the ones mentioned in the comments (for example, the bastardization of mental illness and depression, though Jam's story certainly can be viewed as a cop-out), even I can admit that this story is far from perfect. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I think that was only because of all the information on Plath and the ties to her works. After all, Plath was the draw for me initially, combined with the concept of the world these characters escaped into to. Did I expect Belzhar to be more... poignant? Absolutely. Regardless, this quick little read was not a waste of my time. That being said, if you're looking for something powerful, meaningful, and moving, then this definitely isn't the book for you.
Like most of Meh Wolitzer's work. Slightly better than some of her other pieces in that there were some likeable characters, except for the main protagonist. The story took some predictable turns, and I guessed the big "reveal" well before.