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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
It kept my interest. It was very different and not at all formulaic. Kids are exploring bad things that have happened to them and seeing life as it really is, and in the meantime making some good friends. Interesting!
Super-bizarre premise - "emotionally fragile" students are sent to a special psychiatric school in Vermont. Five of them are specially selected to participate in a magical English class where they can participate in a magical world where all of their problems are righted - at least for a little while.
After going to "Belzhar" - the magic world - for the last time, and reliving their terrible experience (which is what happens when you go the last time), everyone is miraculously okay. Like seeing it, AGAIN, makes everything perfect instead of deepening their trauma.
The main character, Jam, is entirely unappealing and delusional. She talks about her boyfriend dying the entire book, and literally forces her family to change around her multiple times, because she is so pathetic and never comes out of her room for a whole damn year. She's irritating and selfish to read about. And then... Her "boyfriend" is not even dead. He's just "dead to her." Not only is he not dead, THEY NEVER EVEN DATED.
what.
What
WHat
WHAt
WHAT
YOU ARE IN A CLASS with a girl paralyzed from drunk driving, a boy who's family was destroyed by a sex tape he discovered, another boy who accidentally killed every goat on his farm, and a girl who feels responsible for her baby brother's ABDUCTION. And both Jam and the author seem to feel that her fictitious relationship equates to the level of trauma her classmates have endured. Not only is the boyfriend not, as you have been led to believe through the entire book, actually dead, but they were never in a relationship. She knew him, as she frequently repeats, for 41 days. They were "together" for 26. That's about three and a half weeks of a relationship that she literally cooked up in her head. Then she grieves about his "death" for what, a year? Actually, she's just entirely too conceited to believe that she was actually rejected, and as a result, makes her family miserable and mopes around for a year +.
Boo. There's a big difference between a good Agatha Christie murder, where the narrator is able to hide that they're actually the killer, and a book where the narrator just lies to you.
After going to "Belzhar" - the magic world - for the last time, and reliving their terrible experience (which is what happens when you go the last time), everyone is miraculously okay. Like seeing it, AGAIN, makes everything perfect instead of deepening their trauma.
The main character, Jam, is entirely unappealing and delusional. She talks about her boyfriend dying the entire book, and literally forces her family to change around her multiple times, because she is so pathetic and never comes out of her room for a whole damn year. She's irritating and selfish to read about. And then... Her "boyfriend" is not even dead. He's just "dead to her." Not only is he not dead, THEY NEVER EVEN DATED.
what.
What
WHat
WHAt
WHAT
YOU ARE IN A CLASS with a girl paralyzed from drunk driving, a boy who's family was destroyed by a sex tape he discovered, another boy who accidentally killed every goat on his farm, and a girl who feels responsible for her baby brother's ABDUCTION. And both Jam and the author seem to feel that her fictitious relationship equates to the level of trauma her classmates have endured. Not only is the boyfriend not, as you have been led to believe through the entire book, actually dead, but they were never in a relationship. She knew him, as she frequently repeats, for 41 days. They were "together" for 26. That's about three and a half weeks of a relationship that she literally cooked up in her head. Then she grieves about his "death" for what, a year? Actually, she's just entirely too conceited to believe that she was actually rejected, and as a result, makes her family miserable and mopes around for a year +.
Boo. There's a big difference between a good Agatha Christie murder, where the narrator is able to hide that they're actually the killer, and a book where the narrator just lies to you.
Pales in comparison to all of the really memorable, well-written YA books out there. Writing is too amateur and bland even for this genre and the characters are so wooden i never really bought into them as people.
I really loved this book. It was very different from a lot of other stuff that I've read. The book that it reminded me of somewhat was Glory O'Brien's History of the Future because it was dark & had somewhat of a supernatural twist to it. It was also kind of weird. I loved the connections that the students made in Special Topics of English class. The character DJ kind of annoyed me, but she ended up being ok. Reeve and Jam not really being in a relationship threw me for a loop. Also the fact that Reeve wasn't really dead surprised me as well. I'm glad that Jam was able to move on with Griffin although he wasn't the nicest at first, but they ended up warming up to each other. This book was a great read.
Started off a little slow but, overall, I enjoyed it.
The ending was a little odd but I enjoyed the story overall. I didn't expect it to go the direction it did, but it was enjoyable & had some interesting insights.
Initrial Impressions 9/20/14 Actual rating: 3.75 stars
In truth, I can't give it four full stars for REASONS, but it was an enjoyable read so I'm a bit torn.
HEY, remember the time I didn't read synopses? (Oh wait, that's always) so clearly I did not know what I was heading into when I started this book. Yes, it is contemporary but it has a weird twist and I still can't decide if I liked it or not.
Finding out the end of Jam's story... I get it. I really do. But I still in a way felt turned off by it.
Oh well. It was a good read, but another book that I wished had been more realistic than I thought it was going to be. (Like Landline)
Full review posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 11/3/14: Belzhar is a difficult book for me to review. While I enjoyed the book as I was reading it, a few things just didn’t sit right with me in the end and it left me feeling a bit confused about what I had just read and how I felt about it. (Then again, if I actually read synopses through thoroughly AND even remembered what they were before I read the book, I’m sure I wouldn’t have had such big issues. This is, however, a THING I do since I try to leave as many twists alive in a book as possible before I start reading.)
Well, BELZHAR (the “zh” pronounced like the “J” in Jacques, for those who didn’t know!) is a bit of magical realism, which is always hit or miss for me. I’ve loved books like FAIRYTALES FOR WILDE GIRLS which has quite a bit of magical realism, but doesn’t shy away from the fantastical elements and then I find myself on the fence about books like BELZHAR which tend to stick to a mostly realistic world with a specific magical element — and I think that’s the part of magical realism that doesn’t quite work out for me. I love fantasy and I love contemporary but to mix the two in one book is a bit difficult for me. I’m more inclined to believe in the fantasy part of a story if there is more fantasy in it. If it feels too realistic, the magical elements feel too unbelievable. This of course has nothing to do with how the book was written — it was simply an element that was an important part of the book that I just couldn’t connect with as I was reading.
That being said, I actually enjoyed the contemporary romance/realistic fiction aspect of this. I actually had a lot of sympathy for Jam (well, in the beginning) because she had lost her boyfriend and she was going through such a rough time. As the book progressed, I really enjoyed getting to know her, but honestly, I liked some of the secondary characters more than I did Jam. Her despair became a bit taxing for me as I continued to read and as much as I wanted to continue to sympathize for her, by the end of the book (once we really find out the whole story with Jam and her boyfriend since she chooses not to reveal everything to her friends all at once), I was just really frustrated with the whole situation.
I just feel so CONFLICTED. I enjoyed the book as I was reading and yet, once I finished, I felt like I had all of these emotions that I didn’t feel while I was reading. It was a very confusing situation and ultimately, that really changed my overall view of the book. Those little things that just didn’t sit right with me were actually very big things once I really started to think about it so I came off totally torn.
In truth, I can't give it four full stars for REASONS, but it was an enjoyable read so I'm a bit torn.
HEY, remember the time I didn't read synopses? (Oh wait, that's always) so clearly I did not know what I was heading into when I started this book. Yes, it is contemporary but it has a weird twist and I still can't decide if I liked it or not.
Finding out the end of Jam's story... I get it. I really do. But I still in a way felt turned off by it.
Oh well. It was a good read, but another book that I wished had been more realistic than I thought it was going to be. (Like Landline)
Full review posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 11/3/14: Belzhar is a difficult book for me to review. While I enjoyed the book as I was reading it, a few things just didn’t sit right with me in the end and it left me feeling a bit confused about what I had just read and how I felt about it. (Then again, if I actually read synopses through thoroughly AND even remembered what they were before I read the book, I’m sure I wouldn’t have had such big issues. This is, however, a THING I do since I try to leave as many twists alive in a book as possible before I start reading.)
Well, BELZHAR (the “zh” pronounced like the “J” in Jacques, for those who didn’t know!) is a bit of magical realism, which is always hit or miss for me. I’ve loved books like FAIRYTALES FOR WILDE GIRLS which has quite a bit of magical realism, but doesn’t shy away from the fantastical elements and then I find myself on the fence about books like BELZHAR which tend to stick to a mostly realistic world with a specific magical element — and I think that’s the part of magical realism that doesn’t quite work out for me. I love fantasy and I love contemporary but to mix the two in one book is a bit difficult for me. I’m more inclined to believe in the fantasy part of a story if there is more fantasy in it. If it feels too realistic, the magical elements feel too unbelievable. This of course has nothing to do with how the book was written — it was simply an element that was an important part of the book that I just couldn’t connect with as I was reading.
That being said, I actually enjoyed the contemporary romance/realistic fiction aspect of this. I actually had a lot of sympathy for Jam (well, in the beginning) because she had lost her boyfriend and she was going through such a rough time. As the book progressed, I really enjoyed getting to know her, but honestly, I liked some of the secondary characters more than I did Jam. Her despair became a bit taxing for me as I continued to read and as much as I wanted to continue to sympathize for her, by the end of the book (once we really find out the whole story with Jam and her boyfriend since she chooses not to reveal everything to her friends all at once), I was just really frustrated with the whole situation.
I just feel so CONFLICTED. I enjoyed the book as I was reading and yet, once I finished, I felt like I had all of these emotions that I didn’t feel while I was reading. It was a very confusing situation and ultimately, that really changed my overall view of the book. Those little things that just didn’t sit right with me were actually very big things once I really started to think about it so I came off totally torn.
Honestly, this book is an insult to mental illness and hardships.
I liked the idea of writing as therapeutic, and even appreciated the magical realism aspect, but Jam was an idiot and I really didn't sympathize with her at all.
I liked the idea of writing as therapeutic, and even appreciated the magical realism aspect, but Jam was an idiot and I really didn't sympathize with her at all.
Being a huge Sylvia Plath fan, I had been looking forward to this book for a while.
Even though I didn't really like Jam, the story was compelling and kept me reading. I did begin to sense something was off regarding the traumatic event between Jam & Reeve - I actually began to wonder if she accidentally killed him or something. Once the secret was revealed, everything made a lot more sense (foreshadowing!) but it made me dislike Jam even more than before. The other characters faced so much more tragedy (not to get all "who has it worse?") and I am still not sure how ill Jam truly was, especially compared to someone like Sierra. I definitely see the comparisons to We Were Liars, considering that left me with a similar feeling at the end of the book.
Also, still kind of confused about the journals. I felt like it was left unexplained for the most part; I didn't need it wrapped up nicely but still, was it all mental or was there magic?
The cover's still pretty neat.
Even though I didn't really like Jam, the story was compelling and kept me reading. I did begin to sense something was off regarding the traumatic event between Jam & Reeve - I actually began to wonder if she accidentally killed him or something. Once the secret was revealed, everything made a lot more sense (foreshadowing!) but it made me dislike Jam even more than before. The other characters faced so much more tragedy (not to get all "who has it worse?") and I am still not sure how ill Jam truly was, especially compared to someone like Sierra. I definitely see the comparisons to We Were Liars, considering that left me with a similar feeling at the end of the book.
Also, still kind of confused about the journals. I felt like it was left unexplained for the most part; I didn't need it wrapped up nicely but still, was it all mental or was there magic?
The cover's still pretty neat.