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3.14 AVERAGE
3.14 AVERAGE
I usually try to stay away from reading too much about a book before I read it. I have been let down so many times by book reviews and the expectations I mentally build from them that years ago, I started a personal policy that I won't read reviews until after I've finished reading the book. That's why I was very surprised that after reading the book flap description for this novel, I essentially had the ENTIRE plot of the novel (except for a couple of spoilers). So, if you're reading this and haven't read the book, I urge you...GO AWAY. Go away now because the spoilers are about to begin.
Ordinarily, I'd try to see past the spoilers, but this book is intended as a mystery and the building tension that should have been there never quite formulated. I kept waiting and waiting for resolution instead of trying to solve the puzzle and follow the tension to its inevitable conclusion. This is by no means Zhang's fault, the publisher should have made the book flap description much more vague. So, if you've read nothing about this novel, keep it that way until you're done. Because I can't say this enough as a reader: I really wish I would have read this story with no prior knowledge of the plot.
The story is told from two perspectives: that of Janie and Micah, secret best friends who live and breath for each other but keep their relationship hidden to the rest of the world. Janie is the free-spirited popular girl who stops just shy of being a manic pixie dream girl. Much of her story is told from the pages of her journal. Micah is her best friend, hopelessly dorky (and cute) trying to reconcile their public and private lives. At the beginning of the novel, he is trying to remember what has happened.
The biggest plus of this book is that it was beautifully, exquisitely written. Here are some excerpts:
From the soul-stirring dedication: "To the girls with matches in their fists and fire in their hearts."
To the Micah's confusion: "My brain is liquid. They press and press information but my brain is liquid. They touch the surface, it ripples and it goes blank again."
To Janine's Metaphor: "She stacked the matches higher and higher until the teachers huffed and puffed that little girls shouldn't play with dangerous things. Besides, they told her, it was against school rules. So the little girl put her matches in her pocket and went on to build a house out of rocks. Her parents and her teachers and the whole town huffed and puffed, but no one could knock this house down and no one could keep her away. She named the house of rocks The Metaphor and spent every moment she could there with a boy who never huffed and never puffed."
And some other beauties because Zhang's writing can not be complimented enough:
"I remember forgetting and there's more."
"We balance the world accidentally."
The story is told from two perspectives: that of Janie and Micah, secret best friends who live and breath for each other but keep their relationship hidden to the rest of the world. Janie is the free-spirited popular girl who stops just shy of being a manic pixie dream girl. Much of her story is told from the pages of her journal. Micah is her best friend, hopelessly dorky (and cute) trying to reconcile their public and private lives. At the beginning of the novel, he is trying to remember what has happened.
The biggest plus of this book is that it was beautifully, exquisitely written. Here are some excerpts:
From the soul-stirring dedication: "To the girls with matches in their fists and fire in their hearts."
To the Micah's confusion: "My brain is liquid. They press and press information but my brain is liquid. They touch the surface, it ripples and it goes blank again."
To Janine's Metaphor: "She stacked the matches higher and higher until the teachers huffed and puffed that little girls shouldn't play with dangerous things. Besides, they told her, it was against school rules. So the little girl put her matches in her pocket and went on to build a house out of rocks. Her parents and her teachers and the whole town huffed and puffed, but no one could knock this house down and no one could keep her away. She named the house of rocks The Metaphor and spent every moment she could there with a boy who never huffed and never puffed."
And some other beauties because Zhang's writing can not be complimented enough:
"I remember forgetting and there's more."
"We balance the world accidentally."
Very strong writing, some would compare to John Green but this is much more mature and more suited to older teenage readers. It was very confronting at times, but I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style and the overall story. Was very emotional reading, could be triggering for those with mental illness or survivors of sexual assault. But overall a very informative and great insight into the hierarchy of the teen years and the social structure.
I love Amy Zhang's writing but this didn't blow me away like Falling into Place did.
Yeah, I mean, this was alright. I was really hoping to find comfort in this one and relate to it, as someone who has been in a couple really toxic/bad friendships/relationships, however, the protagonists were hard to get along with, which made this book difficult. It also felt a little flat to me, like there wasn't a whole lot of substance to hold the story together. I enjoyed Zhang's prose, but the story itself was just kind of meh. #bookworm #bookish #bookstagram #thisiswheretheworldends
mm, no, this just wasn't executed well... the idea of "before" and "after" in telling the story is alright, but it feels messy.
10/04/2016
My Thoughts
Have you ever had a book linger in your thoughts after finishing it? Or have it throw you around and upside down and make you feel things that you’ve never felt. Or had a book that just made you appreciate life more and make you want to take care of your friends and really, REALLY be there for them? Or just makes you feel like swearing at the world to pull itself together? “This is Where the World Ends” does exactly that. It was one of those books that was written beautifully and ‘lyrically’ that it just stuck with you after finishing it.
“This is Where the World Ends” is like Looking for Alaska, but bigger and better and way more interesting. I mean, I remember finishing Looking for Alaska and thinking “but what was the whole point? What was this book supposed to make me feel?”. But walking away from “This is Where the World Ends” I was left with heavy emotions that ate away at my heart, that hacked pieces of my exterior and made me feel vulnerable. That’s what Amy does, she makes you vulnerable and makes you feel emotions you’ve yet to experience in life.
The book was a light read, I devoured it in one day. It was dark as well and just terrifyingly realistic. We have teenagers swearing, drinking, crushing on people and so much more! It was such a fantastic read, I might re-read it as we speak because I don’t want to forget this wonderful story.
(Next paragraph is *kinda* spoilery)
The writing is just amazing with Amy exposing the lives of Janie and Micah. At one point of the book, Amy writes about a rape. It shouldn’t really be a spoiler because you have the phrase “Liar, Liar, Liar, you were asking for it” written on the cover. I knew it was coming. I knew it was implemented in the story line, yet, I didn’t see it coming. I thought Janie was safe and then, she wasn’t and that was messed up. I didn’t want to read further but I had to, for Janie, to understand Janie and when the moment came, I wanted to save her, protect her, do whatever I could to save that fire in her, the sunshine, that drive to be alive. The events afterward wear tear worthy, they wrecked me. I wanted to burn down her damn house too.
(End of spoiler)
Micah and Janie, Janie and Micah were meant to be, but they were inevitably different people. They were never together in public but in private their souls came together, like puzzle pieces. Micah was the ‘uncool’ kid. Janie, the exact opposite. They didn’t interact in public because of this and I kind of understand the logic. Janie didn’t want her rep being rendered by Micah. Janie was stubborn and ‘wild’. She was the heart of Micah and Micah balanced her. But overall, their friendship was everything anyone could ask for but at the same time toxic and just really complicated.
The plot was ‘problematic’ at times because I didn’t know what was going on. Then other times the flashbacks were confusing, but I soldiered on, because Amy’s writing is dazzling, hypnotic and just so worthy to be ink on paper.
The ending of the book was something I could just dwell on, something I could think about. I knew what was going to happen. But I didn’t prepare for it. I didn’t know it’d be so tragic and soul crushing. I loved the ending better than “Looking for Alaska”. I don’t mean to compare the two books together whilst I review, but it reminds me so much of “Looking for Alaska”. “This is where the World Ends” wraps up the story better the “Looking for Alaska” and it allows the reader to interpret and imagine Micah’s life onward.
The reactions to the ‘actions’/’events’ were predictable. But the story of the ‘actions’/’events’ and the reason why Janie did what she did was dark and terrifyingly real.
I think the only thing we really didn’t get to explore is Penny. Her actions could had changed the whole storyline, could have changed everything. I wanted to know more about what happened the day after with her and how she really coped with it. Even having thoughts from her after the incident after the fire would have been great to read about.
The Verdict
Overall, I am a ball of feels. I am utterly memorised by Amy Zhang’s writing and I want more. She weaves her way into your heart and takes you apart piece by piece. Amy Zhang will forever push the boundaries of the classic YA contemporary novel. I think I also just LOVED this book because in some ways I could connect with the characters. Amy might have named the book "This is Where the World Ends" but she has created a new one for me !
I gave it 5 stars because it deserves 5 stars, nothing less nothing more. For Micah and Janie.
Thank you Harper Collins for the review copy !
More reviews, discussions and hauls @ Endless Pages
Bookish photos at The Aus Library
-------------------------------------------------------------
02/04/2016
I LOVED IT. REVIEW TO COME. SO MANY THINGS TO TALK ABOUT. SO MANY.
My Thoughts
Have you ever had a book linger in your thoughts after finishing it? Or have it throw you around and upside down and make you feel things that you’ve never felt. Or had a book that just made you appreciate life more and make you want to take care of your friends and really, REALLY be there for them? Or just makes you feel like swearing at the world to pull itself together? “This is Where the World Ends” does exactly that. It was one of those books that was written beautifully and ‘lyrically’ that it just stuck with you after finishing it.
“This is Where the World Ends” is like Looking for Alaska, but bigger and better and way more interesting. I mean, I remember finishing Looking for Alaska and thinking “but what was the whole point? What was this book supposed to make me feel?”. But walking away from “This is Where the World Ends” I was left with heavy emotions that ate away at my heart, that hacked pieces of my exterior and made me feel vulnerable. That’s what Amy does, she makes you vulnerable and makes you feel emotions you’ve yet to experience in life.
The book was a light read, I devoured it in one day. It was dark as well and just terrifyingly realistic. We have teenagers swearing, drinking, crushing on people and so much more! It was such a fantastic read, I might re-read it as we speak because I don’t want to forget this wonderful story.
(Next paragraph is *kinda* spoilery)
The writing is just amazing with Amy exposing the lives of Janie and Micah. At one point of the book, Amy writes about a rape. It shouldn’t really be a spoiler because you have the phrase “Liar, Liar, Liar, you were asking for it” written on the cover. I knew it was coming. I knew it was implemented in the story line, yet, I didn’t see it coming. I thought Janie was safe and then, she wasn’t and that was messed up. I didn’t want to read further but I had to, for Janie, to understand Janie and when the moment came, I wanted to save her, protect her, do whatever I could to save that fire in her, the sunshine, that drive to be alive. The events afterward wear tear worthy, they wrecked me. I wanted to burn down her damn house too.
(End of spoiler)
Micah and Janie, Janie and Micah were meant to be, but they were inevitably different people. They were never together in public but in private their souls came together, like puzzle pieces. Micah was the ‘uncool’ kid. Janie, the exact opposite. They didn’t interact in public because of this and I kind of understand the logic. Janie didn’t want her rep being rendered by Micah. Janie was stubborn and ‘wild’. She was the heart of Micah and Micah balanced her. But overall, their friendship was everything anyone could ask for but at the same time toxic and just really complicated.
The plot was ‘problematic’ at times because I didn’t know what was going on. Then other times the flashbacks were confusing, but I soldiered on, because Amy’s writing is dazzling, hypnotic and just so worthy to be ink on paper.
The ending of the book was something I could just dwell on, something I could think about. I knew what was going to happen. But I didn’t prepare for it. I didn’t know it’d be so tragic and soul crushing. I loved the ending better than “Looking for Alaska”. I don’t mean to compare the two books together whilst I review, but it reminds me so much of “Looking for Alaska”. “This is where the World Ends” wraps up the story better the “Looking for Alaska” and it allows the reader to interpret and imagine Micah’s life onward.
The reactions to the ‘actions’/’events’ were predictable. But the story of the ‘actions’/’events’ and the reason why Janie did what she did was dark and terrifyingly real.
I think the only thing we really didn’t get to explore is Penny. Her actions could had changed the whole storyline, could have changed everything. I wanted to know more about what happened the day after with her and how she really coped with it. Even having thoughts from her after the incident after the fire would have been great to read about.
The Verdict
Overall, I am a ball of feels. I am utterly memorised by Amy Zhang’s writing and I want more. She weaves her way into your heart and takes you apart piece by piece. Amy Zhang will forever push the boundaries of the classic YA contemporary novel. I think I also just LOVED this book because in some ways I could connect with the characters. Amy might have named the book "This is Where the World Ends" but she has created a new one for me !
I gave it 5 stars because it deserves 5 stars, nothing less nothing more. For Micah and Janie.
Thank you Harper Collins for the review copy !
More reviews, discussions and hauls @ Endless Pages
Bookish photos at The Aus Library
-------------------------------------------------------------
02/04/2016
I LOVED IT. REVIEW TO COME. SO MANY THINGS TO TALK ABOUT. SO MANY.
Way too much manic pixie dream girl. The only good thing about this book was that it was short.
3.5 stars
I would have liked less underage drinking. Overall, it was interesting and the amnesia element worked well.
I would have liked less underage drinking. Overall, it was interesting and the amnesia element worked well.
I stumbled upon this book while searching OverDrive for a new audiobook. This was so compelling and (one of my favorite things) melancholic.