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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Maybe I'm being too harsh as I think I'm older than the target audience. But I thought the book was predictable and the characters not relatable. Not convinced that this was a helpful portrayal of grief. The resolution of the book was surprising and somehow even less satisfying than what I was expecting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Be warned, this is a young adult novel. I may have liked it much more if I was an adolescent or young woman.
I really enjoyed reading Belzhar. This book is primarily realistic fiction, with some magical elements. The relationships between the students are realistic and believable, but the journals add a little bit of fantasy. At first, I didn't know what to expect. I thought I was going to be reading solely realistic fiction, which I love, so I was a little surprised with how the plot progressed. I really liked the personalities of all the students, and it was easy to tell how their backgrounds affected their current lives. In the end you learn that Jam's whole story of her boyfriend was a lie and she actually made his death up in her head, because thinking that he died was easier than knowing he didn't want her. This to me didn't seem at all realistic, mostly because Jam wasn't diagnosed with having a mental illness. It also didn't make sense to me that her parents couldn't get her out of bed because she was so depressed, but as soon as she got to the special school, her roommate (who she just met) could after the first day. It made me a little angry that Jam was comparing her problem (a boy not liking her) to everyone else's (a brother being kidnapped, and a girl losing the ability to use her legs.) After seeing past a couple issues I had with the book, I was able to enjoy it and would rate it four out of five stars!
The protagonist is sent to a "crazy" school to recuperate from a trauma (her crush dying, in her mind) and where she discovered, together with her group, a magical world of writing in her journal.
Not a too exciting book.
Not a too exciting book.
Fair to middling... the character is somewhat of a drip and the twist of her story was too obvious from the start, I also had more sympathy for the other characters harsh mistakes. The plot on the other hand is intriguing and the slight supernatural step in the right direction for each of them was a nice quirk but why teenagers??? Gahhh!!! Not bad but am glad it’s over
The writing was overall good, but the concept of the book is what made me write 3 stars instead of 5. Maybe is because I haven't experienced intensifying love first hand, but from what other people have told me, it isn't suppose to be like the way it was described in the book. Maybe some suffered through what Jam went through and completely shut down, but I found it kind of annoying the way she threw everything away because of her "boyfriend's death". Maybe I am taking the wrong way but it felt like the book was glamorizing depression.
One positive thing that came out of reading this book was that now I'm interested in reading some poems from Sylvia Plath
One positive thing that came out of reading this book was that now I'm interested in reading some poems from Sylvia Plath
Very irresponsibly written for a topic dealing with grief and loss. I wanted to shelve this book on a number of occasions, but decided to see it through to its very disappointing, delusional end. This book caused me to finally appreciate Bridge to Terabithia for carefully approaching a sensitive subject with young adults. So one star for that and besides, Goodreads will not allow me to give null stars.
I wanted to know more about the journals. That portion of the storyline disappointed me.
If you're reading this book because you're a Sylvia Plath fan, don't. Thats why I started this book. The references to Sylvia Plath were juvenile at best. The idea of the book is great. It was a great story and this Belzhar place is quite an interesting concept. SPOILER ALERT! I grew to love this character named Jam. She is a heartbroken teenager whose English boyfriend passed away and devastated her. I read the whole damn book waiting to find out how he died. And guess what?! He didn't die. They weren't even dating! She turns out to be this delusional girl who hooks up with a drunk guy and then somehow believes that he's in love with her. Really?! I was so disappointed and when the book ended I absolutely hated Jam. What a mockery of love, poetry and literature.