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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I was—am—head over heels for this conceptually: an alternate-universe story in which the heroine's options are a hyper-competitive school or a normal school life. (I'd be even more enthusiastic if we were talking hyper-competitive boarding school, but oh well.) And this was a fun, easy read. But two things have stuck with me since I read this.
First, the vast majority of the book is devoted to the prep-school version of Kennedy's life. There's not really a back-and-forth—it's more a leap into Kennedy's alternate-universe, incredibly stressful life, and, eventually, Kennedy wishing that she were back in her 'average' life. I'm a lot more interested in alternate universes with grey area: ones in which, if there is a choice to be made, there are multiple pros and cons to each choice. Here it sort of seems like the prep school's only 'pro' is that it's very prestigious, and literally every other thing about it is much much much worse, from family life to stress levels to relationships. It's less interesting to me when it's so clear which life will turn out to be preferable.
And second...alternate-life stories have basically two options at the end: the different universes can take them in really genuinely different directions, or they can end up with the exact same place no matter what they do. To me, the former is way more interesting, because it means that the choices characters make have actual consequences, for better or for worse. But this is another one in which not only do things end up pretty much the same one way or the other, but Kennedy gets away with a ton (gets away with expellable offenses) in order for this to happen.
Even if I'd known all this going in, I'd have leapt for a (library) copy, and I'm not sorry I read it. But I'd have loved to see a version of this where Kennedy's choices mattered, where when push came to shove there wasn't an easy choice for her to make.
First, the vast majority of the book is devoted to the prep-school version of Kennedy's life. There's not really a back-and-forth—it's more a leap into Kennedy's alternate-universe, incredibly stressful life, and, eventually, Kennedy wishing that she were back in her 'average' life. I'm a lot more interested in alternate universes with grey area: ones in which, if there is a choice to be made, there are multiple pros and cons to each choice. Here it sort of seems like the prep school's only 'pro' is that it's very prestigious, and literally every other thing about it is much much much worse, from family life to stress levels to relationships. It's less interesting to me when it's so clear which life will turn out to be preferable.
And second...alternate-life stories have basically two options at the end: the different universes can take them in really genuinely different directions, or they can end up with the exact same place no matter what they do. To me, the former is way more interesting, because it means that the choices characters make have actual consequences, for better or for worse. But this is another one in which not only do things end up pretty much the same one way or the other, but Kennedy gets away with a ton (gets away with expellable offenses) in order for this to happen.
Even if I'd known all this going in, I'd have leapt for a (library) copy, and I'm not sorry I read it. But I'd have loved to see a version of this where Kennedy's choices mattered, where when push came to shove there wasn't an easy choice for her to make.
Rating: 3.5 stars
This is a book that unitentionally made me question life, and how a single choice can create a snowball effect in multiple people’s life.
Kennedy is a girl who is very ambitious, overworked, and she lives for it. In ways, she’s the stereotypical alternative girl with her lack-of-girly-tastes and quirky moments. She, alike many, has a younger sibling, best friend, boyfriend, and an — almost — perfect life. The only thing that’s wrong is that she never went to her dream school: Windsor Academy. Other than that, she has no regrets, and keeps up with the insane pace her life keeps to.
That is until she sees her best friend kissing her boyfriend, and she freaks out. After a drive to what her life could’ve been — what girl really throws the chance away at such a prestigious school for a boy she has a crush on? Cliché girls in contemporary books, all of the time — she hits her head, and swaps bodies with Other Kennedy. Other Kennedy whom didn’t choose her boyfriend, Austin, over Windsor. Other Kennedy who is at the top of her class, in an impossible amount of AP classes and clubs, and has the poster-girl of Windsor — Seqiona, aka CoyCoy55 — as her best friend.
What isn’t perfect about this Other Kennedy’s life? To Kennedy, nothing — she has everything she ever wanted. Or so she thought.
As the story progresses, it shows that it’s not all smacked up to what it would supposedly be. Other Kennedy smuggles tests to other students so that she can pay back her parents, as she feels guilt. Instead of having an at-home Father who loves his photography job with his collection, she has a Father who did the one thing he said he wouldn’t do — working for soulless corporate companies to shoot cat food commercials, diaper box images, etc.
She also is an alter ego of “real” Kennedy. “Real” Kennedy wouldn’t use gender roles like use makeup, wear dresses, etc. No, “real” Kennedy uses no makeup, hates the color pink and glitter, and wears jeans and tee shirts every single day. I had issues with how heavily this enforced gender roles — I get the author was trying to do a complete difference, but, it negatively effects many girls. She could’ve had some subtle differences, but it didn’t need to be what it was. At least, not to the extent I find a tad bit ridiculous.
Her brother, Frankie, was probably my favorite character; between being a consistent between the two parallel universes, and being an eleven-year old nerd who has studied more theory than ninety percent of us, his character I found hard to look away from. Instead of some magical bullshit that often is the reason for why there was a parallel universe, there was an actual reason — quantum theories.
Lastly, the ending: it was predictable, and it proved a point; you didn’t need to be in a huge, prestigious school to get into your dream college. Kennedy — both Other Kennedy and “real” Kennedy — got into their dream school, and promptly fainted, causing them to switch into each other’s correct parallel universe. Laney and Austin ended up a thing — with Kennedy embracing it, seeing how they were so perfectly matched. Dean ended up being expelled from Windsor, and showed up at Kennedy’s high school, to allow them to be a thing, too.
It was all a little too perfect, honestly.
Overall, I found Kennedy — especially Other Kennedy — to be too perfect; she was stretched too thin. I wanted a flaw more than giving out test answers. Yet, unfortunately I didn’t get that. At the end of the day, everything worked out perfectly, and life was on the pathway it was supposed to be again. I wonder, could there of been permanent effects?
I wish there was, I really do. But, I don’t care about this story enough to need a sequel — honestly, to me that would be filler.
This is a book that unitentionally made me question life, and how a single choice can create a snowball effect in multiple people’s life.
Kennedy is a girl who is very ambitious, overworked, and she lives for it. In ways, she’s the stereotypical alternative girl with her lack-of-girly-tastes and quirky moments. She, alike many, has a younger sibling, best friend, boyfriend, and an — almost — perfect life. The only thing that’s wrong is that she never went to her dream school: Windsor Academy. Other than that, she has no regrets, and keeps up with the insane pace her life keeps to.
That is until she sees her best friend kissing her boyfriend, and she freaks out. After a drive to what her life could’ve been — what girl really throws the chance away at such a prestigious school for a boy she has a crush on? Cliché girls in contemporary books, all of the time — she hits her head, and swaps bodies with Other Kennedy. Other Kennedy whom didn’t choose her boyfriend, Austin, over Windsor. Other Kennedy who is at the top of her class, in an impossible amount of AP classes and clubs, and has the poster-girl of Windsor — Seqiona, aka CoyCoy55 — as her best friend.
What isn’t perfect about this Other Kennedy’s life? To Kennedy, nothing — she has everything she ever wanted. Or so she thought.
As the story progresses, it shows that it’s not all smacked up to what it would supposedly be. Other Kennedy smuggles tests to other students so that she can pay back her parents, as she feels guilt. Instead of having an at-home Father who loves his photography job with his collection, she has a Father who did the one thing he said he wouldn’t do — working for soulless corporate companies to shoot cat food commercials, diaper box images, etc.
She also is an alter ego of “real” Kennedy. “Real” Kennedy wouldn’t use gender roles like use makeup, wear dresses, etc. No, “real” Kennedy uses no makeup, hates the color pink and glitter, and wears jeans and tee shirts every single day. I had issues with how heavily this enforced gender roles — I get the author was trying to do a complete difference, but, it negatively effects many girls. She could’ve had some subtle differences, but it didn’t need to be what it was. At least, not to the extent I find a tad bit ridiculous.
Her brother, Frankie, was probably my favorite character; between being a consistent between the two parallel universes, and being an eleven-year old nerd who has studied more theory than ninety percent of us, his character I found hard to look away from. Instead of some magical bullshit that often is the reason for why there was a parallel universe, there was an actual reason — quantum theories.
Lastly, the ending: it was predictable, and it proved a point; you didn’t need to be in a huge, prestigious school to get into your dream college. Kennedy — both Other Kennedy and “real” Kennedy — got into their dream school, and promptly fainted, causing them to switch into each other’s correct parallel universe. Laney and Austin ended up a thing — with Kennedy embracing it, seeing how they were so perfectly matched. Dean ended up being expelled from Windsor, and showed up at Kennedy’s high school, to allow them to be a thing, too.
It was all a little too perfect, honestly.
Overall, I found Kennedy — especially Other Kennedy — to be too perfect; she was stretched too thin. I wanted a flaw more than giving out test answers. Yet, unfortunately I didn’t get that. At the end of the day, everything worked out perfectly, and life was on the pathway it was supposed to be again. I wonder, could there of been permanent effects?
I wish there was, I really do. But, I don’t care about this story enough to need a sequel — honestly, to me that would be filler.
Kennedy's life was just odd? I feel like this would be a high school required reading or something. Then you should write a paper on how a decision could have gone in a different direction. Which funnily enough was in the story ( no that's not a word, but I like it). In the end it was happy and you thought about your decisions but beyond that I really wasn't impressed.
For all that [b:Save the Cat! Writes a Novel|32805475|Save the Cat! Writes a Novel|Jessica Brody|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1544544130l/32805475._SY75_.jpg|53403184] (by the same author) is amazing, Jessica Brody doesn't seem to have used the skills she writes about so well. :( Even objectively, In Some Other Life is terrible.
Not recommended.
Not recommended.
I really liked this concept! While some of it was predictable, I did really enjoy the story and characters, and I liked how it was done in a new way. The characters could have been really stereotypical, but they weren't - which I appreciated! And while the plot was out of this world, once you suspended your disbelief, it was all done in a realistic way.
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Found this book to be really slow in the beginning, but it started to pick up pace and become enjoyable after the parallel universe switch happened. Though it takes place during Kennedy's senior year of high school, I think the writing would have appealed to me more when I was younger, around Middle Grades or very early Young Adult.
3.5 stars. Even though the main character annoyed me a bit because she was a little slow on the uptake, I ended up enjoying this one! There were some really good twisty aspects toward the end that I didn't expect. I looooove parallel life books and I'd definitely recommend it if you like them too.