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chantaal's review
4.0
Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
In a genre crowded with the same old stories over and over, Fury is a fresh breath of air. Australian writers seem to be kicking ass lately, and I kind of want to move down there just so I can get their books easily because it’s a pain in my ass trying to get them. Fury was hard enough to get, I just want to read and get excited about Gracie Faltrain the way everyone else is, is that so much to ask??
Fury is one of those novels that seemed to grew in popularity solely by word of mouth on Goodreads from many reviews I trust. Though it wasn’t a full five star novel for me, it definitely lived up to the hype and was a fast, enjoyable read. Being immersed in Eliza’s life was like being caught up in Mean Girls, only you actually like Regina and hate Cady. But it’s not just about that.
Eliza isn’t exactly a Mean Girl, but everything about her, from her incredibly rich life and her relationship with her friends to her worries about her social standing, everything about what she stands for is something I instinctively hate. But there’s more to her life than meets the eye, as could be said for anyone. She doesn’t have a father, has a mother who’s barely around, there’s a boy she’s completely confused about, she has to deal with a new girl who joins their pack, and yeah, there’s the whole murder charge thing.
The novel see-saws between Eliza in the police station in the present and flashbacks as she tells the story of how she got there. How she got there was sort of the weakest link of the novel. Eliza is unapologetic about who she is, and it’s refreshing to see that as we learn more about her life and her friends. You could take out the whole murder plot and Fury would still be a great novel with some great insight on Eliza as a character alone. But throw in a thread of plot that grows larger as the flashbacks move on, and things kind of start to fall apart – both for Eliza, and for the reader. At least, for me it did.
The reason for the murder and the way it plays out makes sense, and I won’t give anything away, but it almost felt too safe. I wanted Eliza to be an unapologetic murderer just because she could be, you know? I wanted Fury to feel a little more unsure, I wanted it to make me feel a little less comfortable. I wanted some CRAZINESS, man.
I absolutely loved everything else about Fury, that aside. The insight on Eliza’s friendships, her strange relationship with her childhood friend Nick, the even meaner Mean Girls and the social politics of her school, it’s all fantastic. Shirley Marr’s written a smart, intelligent book that somehow manages to make me like the hell out of Eliza Boans and want to root for her even though, you know, she killed someone.
That’s talent.
In a genre crowded with the same old stories over and over, Fury is a fresh breath of air. Australian writers seem to be kicking ass lately, and I kind of want to move down there just so I can get their books easily because it’s a pain in my ass trying to get them. Fury was hard enough to get, I just want to read and get excited about Gracie Faltrain the way everyone else is, is that so much to ask??
Fury is one of those novels that seemed to grew in popularity solely by word of mouth on Goodreads from many reviews I trust. Though it wasn’t a full five star novel for me, it definitely lived up to the hype and was a fast, enjoyable read. Being immersed in Eliza’s life was like being caught up in Mean Girls, only you actually like Regina and hate Cady. But it’s not just about that.
Eliza isn’t exactly a Mean Girl, but everything about her, from her incredibly rich life and her relationship with her friends to her worries about her social standing, everything about what she stands for is something I instinctively hate. But there’s more to her life than meets the eye, as could be said for anyone. She doesn’t have a father, has a mother who’s barely around, there’s a boy she’s completely confused about, she has to deal with a new girl who joins their pack, and yeah, there’s the whole murder charge thing.
The novel see-saws between Eliza in the police station in the present and flashbacks as she tells the story of how she got there. How she got there was sort of the weakest link of the novel. Eliza is unapologetic about who she is, and it’s refreshing to see that as we learn more about her life and her friends. You could take out the whole murder plot and Fury would still be a great novel with some great insight on Eliza as a character alone. But throw in a thread of plot that grows larger as the flashbacks move on, and things kind of start to fall apart – both for Eliza, and for the reader. At least, for me it did.
The reason for the murder and the way it plays out makes sense, and I won’t give anything away, but it almost felt too safe. I wanted Eliza to be an unapologetic murderer just because she could be, you know? I wanted Fury to feel a little more unsure, I wanted it to make me feel a little less comfortable. I wanted some CRAZINESS, man.
I absolutely loved everything else about Fury, that aside. The insight on Eliza’s friendships, her strange relationship with her childhood friend Nick, the even meaner Mean Girls and the social politics of her school, it’s all fantastic. Shirley Marr’s written a smart, intelligent book that somehow manages to make me like the hell out of Eliza Boans and want to root for her even though, you know, she killed someone.
That’s talent.
stephasaurusss's review
1.0
Fury was a book I was fully prepared to love. I have high expectations for any book with a badass looking redhead on the cover. I have spent many years lamenting the fact that I am not, in fact, a badass redhead. Any chance I have to live vicariously through a literary character to attain my Ginger dreams is a chance I am eager to take.
Unfortunately, the contents of the book did not live up to the cover for me. Perhaps I am a little burnt out on books that use high-school as a setting, which is why I am gravitating more towards YA set in the Fantasy genre lately. I have been out of high-school for several years now and I tend to relate more to characters in YA that come across as older. The characters in Fury were very immature and catty. Girls vs. Girls. It annoyed me and did not endear me to them. The biggest issue for me in books is not feeling connected to the characters, and unfortunately that was the case here. I couldn’t care about the outcome because I didn’t like any of the characters.
One thing I liked was the idea of girls taking things into their own hands. It was sad to me that this was often overtaken by the girls fighting amongst themselves and competing for status. There were some nice moments when Eliza was thinking about what had happened to her friend. I thought a lot of the quotes about were spot on. I was happy to see that was a large part of the plot and wasn’t just inserted as a throwaway incident, which too often happens in books, and always angers me.
Another thing that really bothered me throughout the book was the dialogue. I thought that it was strangely wooden and it didn’t feel to me like things people would actually say. I also didn’t think there was a good balance between the dialogue and Eliza’s thoughts. Chunks of dialogue would often take up a lot of space with nothing in between and girls would be in the middle of cat fights for no reason before I even knew what was going on.
I also didn’t think that the way Eliza’s case was handled was entirely realistic. I don’t think subjects of a murder investigation would get to walk around in bloody evidence and go out to dinner at diners. It just made the whole thing too implausible for me.
I hate to say that this book wasn’t for me as Shirley is a lovely person and very respectful of reviewers. Everyone knows we need more authors like that these days. But no book is going to be liked by everyone and this just wasn’t one I can say I enjoyed.
Check out some different perspectives on Fury: The Midnight Garden & Cuddlebuggery Book Blog
This book was provided as a touring copy by The Midnight Garden. For more information about the tour click here.
Unfortunately, the contents of the book did not live up to the cover for me. Perhaps I am a little burnt out on books that use high-school as a setting, which is why I am gravitating more towards YA set in the Fantasy genre lately. I have been out of high-school for several years now and I tend to relate more to characters in YA that come across as older. The characters in Fury were very immature and catty. Girls vs. Girls. It annoyed me and did not endear me to them. The biggest issue for me in books is not feeling connected to the characters, and unfortunately that was the case here. I couldn’t care about the outcome because I didn’t like any of the characters.
One thing I liked was the idea of girls taking things into their own hands. It was sad to me that this was often overtaken by the girls fighting amongst themselves and competing for status. There were some nice moments when Eliza was thinking about what had happened to her friend. I thought a lot of the quotes about
Spoiler
rapeSpoiler
the rapeAnother thing that really bothered me throughout the book was the dialogue. I thought that it was strangely wooden and it didn’t feel to me like things people would actually say. I also didn’t think there was a good balance between the dialogue and Eliza’s thoughts. Chunks of dialogue would often take up a lot of space with nothing in between and girls would be in the middle of cat fights for no reason before I even knew what was going on.
I also didn’t think that the way Eliza’s case was handled was entirely realistic. I don’t think subjects of a murder investigation would get to walk around in bloody evidence and go out to dinner at diners. It just made the whole thing too implausible for me.
I hate to say that this book wasn’t for me as Shirley is a lovely person and very respectful of reviewers. Everyone knows we need more authors like that these days. But no book is going to be liked by everyone and this just wasn’t one I can say I enjoyed.
Check out some different perspectives on Fury: The Midnight Garden & Cuddlebuggery Book Blog
This book was provided as a touring copy by The Midnight Garden. For more information about the tour click here.
lena_taco's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
eli53s's review
3.0
This book was a nice & easy read, the first sentence of the book had me hooked and took me right back to what it was like to be in high school. I was a little disappointed with the ending, after the who, what, where and how was revealed, but maybe sometimes it's nice to be able to draw your own conclusions.
ireniam's review
5.0
Me encantó!! Con decir que lo leí en menos de 24 horas :D
La protagonista es una chica rica y malcriada que se encuentra envuelta en un crimen, la historia es narrada por ella. Es un personaje que no busca gustar a los lectores, pero según va avanzando el libro, uno comienza a sentir empatía por ella. Sin mencionar que el misterio se va desvelando poco a poco y cada vez uno quiere saber mas.
Un libro que engancha desde sus primeras páginas. La historia, los personajes (principalmente la protagonista) y la forma en como es contado el relato, hacen a este libro una joya. Muy recomendado.
La protagonista es una chica rica y malcriada que se encuentra envuelta en un crimen, la historia es narrada por ella. Es un personaje que no busca gustar a los lectores, pero según va avanzando el libro, uno comienza a sentir empatía por ella. Sin mencionar que el misterio se va desvelando poco a poco y cada vez uno quiere saber mas.
Un libro que engancha desde sus primeras páginas. La historia, los personajes (principalmente la protagonista) y la forma en como es contado el relato, hacen a este libro una joya. Muy recomendado.
marta97's review
5.0
4.5/5 Furious stars.
I liked the concept of this book and how it was a mistery book, I haven't read one in a while and now it felt like such a great idea. I loved Eliza, even though I never liked the very rich girl who thinks she deserves it all type, but I don't know...She was different, I liked the fact that it was more to her than you saw at first glance. She was hurt by how her dad let her down and how her mom didn't care enough and all she could do was lean on her friends, Marianne and Lexi. I loved all the girls because they were different and special in their own ways. And I also loved Neil and I liked him with Eliza. I felt let down when I hadn't see it coming what happened to him.
I liked the concept of this book and how it was a mistery book, I haven't read one in a while and now it felt like such a great idea. I loved Eliza, even though I never liked the very rich girl who thinks she deserves it all type, but I don't know...She was different, I liked the fact that it was more to her than you saw at first glance. She was hurt by how her dad let her down and how her mom didn't care enough and all she could do was lean on her friends, Marianne and Lexi. I loved all the girls because they were different and special in their own ways. And I also loved Neil and I liked him with Eliza. I felt let down when I hadn't see it coming what happened to him.
britttobegorey94's review
5.0
Holy crap, where do I begin?
This book has been sitting on my shelf since its publication (I found it in an independent bookstore when it was first released), and I've been 'getting around' to reading it. Finally, only a few short days ago, I decided that it was time to give it a go. I had a lot of reservations. This was a debut novel, from a new author I had never heard of. It was young adult and I was concerned about the maturity of the characters, as I hate reading about 14 year olds 'in love'. Plus the last book I read before this had turned out to be very disappointing. Looking back, I guess there was nowhere to go but up.
The first few pages I was still unsure, but by the end of the first chapter I was hooked. This book is book is frustrating in a beautiful way - All you really want to do is find out if Eliza Boans has killed someone (you don't even know who it is until the last few chapters) but as a vapid but fiercely protective 16 year old, you have to sort through the daily dramas and life of Eliza before you get to the murder but on reflection, without those daily dramas, the murder would have no context.
After finishing the second chapter I was snooping through previous readers reviews of this book on here, trying to sort out the tangle that is "Fury". I read a lot about Neill who never seemed to me like an important character. Now, I have finished the book, like everyone else I have a lot of love for Neill. Although I tend to disagree with people who are saying he should have been it more. I think if he had, he would have become a suspect. But his involvement in the story makes sense and I love that he and Eliza have this whole past that we only get glimpses of. I'm also happy that the author did not turn this book into a love story that also has some murder in it, like so many others in its genre. It stayed true, the story was about murder.
I also loved the ending. In a strange way it reminded me of the ending of "Wolf of Wallstreet". To my mind, it was a smart ending because it reflected so well what this book encapsulates: power, money and justice; you have three concepts but you can only ever have two of them at the same time. Eliza certainly reflects them all, but she can never have all 3. By keeping her money and her justice, she loses her power to the judicial system. By losing her money she relies heavily on Dr Fadden to trust in her version of the truth and for him to buy her stuff, which he does a lot of (was that going to be a subplot that never came to fruition because weirdly I get that). And by losing her sense of justice the book makes it very clear that Eliza can reach out to her mother and leave anytime she wants. It makes for an interesting dynamic that no doubt I will be wrestling with for the next few days, as this book is definitely one that makes you think about everything. Twice.
I have two tiny little nitpicking things.
1) As I find in a lot of Australian novels, a lot of grammatical errors were present and words were simply left out. It's definitely not the worst case in a book I've seen, but it was still enough to occassionally pull me out of the story.
2) Why was Eliza's nickname "Lizzie"? Isn't Eliza short enough?
Overall, I can't believe I waited 5 years to read this book. I mean, in a way I'm glad I didn't read as soon as I got it because despite being Young Adult, there are some very Adult themes, which perhaps I would not have been able to fully grasp 5 years ago. But, despite that, I wish I could have read it sooner. And I know it's definitely on my reread list. It is well written and honestly one of the best books I have read all year. Now I will be on the hunt for Marr's second book "Preloved". Can't wait!
This book has been sitting on my shelf since its publication (I found it in an independent bookstore when it was first released), and I've been 'getting around' to reading it. Finally, only a few short days ago, I decided that it was time to give it a go. I had a lot of reservations. This was a debut novel, from a new author I had never heard of. It was young adult and I was concerned about the maturity of the characters, as I hate reading about 14 year olds 'in love'. Plus the last book I read before this had turned out to be very disappointing. Looking back, I guess there was nowhere to go but up.
The first few pages I was still unsure, but by the end of the first chapter I was hooked. This book is book is frustrating in a beautiful way - All you really want to do is find out if Eliza Boans has killed someone (you don't even know who it is until the last few chapters) but as a vapid but fiercely protective 16 year old, you have to sort through the daily dramas and life of Eliza before you get to the murder but on reflection, without those daily dramas, the murder would have no context.
After finishing the second chapter I was snooping through previous readers reviews of this book on here, trying to sort out the tangle that is "Fury". I read a lot about Neill who never seemed to me like an important character. Now, I have finished the book, like everyone else I have a lot of love for Neill. Although I tend to disagree with people who are saying he should have been it more. I think if he had, he would have become a suspect. But his involvement in the story makes sense and I love that he and Eliza have this whole past that we only get glimpses of. I'm also happy that the author did not turn this book into a love story that also has some murder in it, like so many others in its genre. It stayed true, the story was about murder.
I also loved the ending. In a strange way it reminded me of the ending of "Wolf of Wallstreet". To my mind, it was a smart ending because it reflected so well what this book encapsulates: power, money and justice; you have three concepts but you can only ever have two of them at the same time. Eliza certainly reflects them all, but she can never have all 3. By keeping her money and her justice, she loses her power to the judicial system. By losing her money she relies heavily on Dr Fadden to trust in her version of the truth and for him to buy her stuff, which he does a lot of (was that going to be a subplot that never came to fruition because weirdly I get that). And by losing her sense of justice the book makes it very clear that Eliza can reach out to her mother and leave anytime she wants. It makes for an interesting dynamic that no doubt I will be wrestling with for the next few days, as this book is definitely one that makes you think about everything. Twice.
I have two tiny little nitpicking things.
1) As I find in a lot of Australian novels, a lot of grammatical errors were present and words were simply left out. It's definitely not the worst case in a book I've seen, but it was still enough to occassionally pull me out of the story.
2) Why was Eliza's nickname "Lizzie"? Isn't Eliza short enough?
Overall, I can't believe I waited 5 years to read this book. I mean, in a way I'm glad I didn't read as soon as I got it because despite being Young Adult, there are some very Adult themes, which perhaps I would not have been able to fully grasp 5 years ago. But, despite that, I wish I could have read it sooner. And I know it's definitely on my reread list. It is well written and honestly one of the best books I have read all year. Now I will be on the hunt for Marr's second book "Preloved". Can't wait!
ninni1821's review
This is a DNF but it's through no fault of it's own. Probably because I started it during Finals as a distraction but it didn't really help much where that was concerned. I will reread this. That's a promise.
missusb21's review
might have to think about this one for a while. and go back and reread. then maybe think some more.
daisyoh's review
4.0
I loved this book. The ending was amazing. I didn't see it coming at all! I wasn't sure about this book when I first started reading it; I was just eager to know what had happened to Eliza and wanted to find out more quickly. But back story is important.
Eliza is a spoilt, rich girl who has everything she could ever wish for. She is stubborn and very controlling. As horrible as she is to her friends sometimes, she loves them to death and would do anything for them. I didn't like Eliza very much at the beginning of the story, she was just so horrible to her friends and bossy and controlling and I didn't like that. But throughout the course of the story, as you learned more about her character, she became more likable, you could understand why she is the way that she is.
I really enjoyed this book. I don't know what else to say about it. It was well written, switching between the events that have lead Eliza to where she is now, and her present where she is telling Dr Fadden her story. This was a great debut and I would definitely recommend this book, it was very interesting :)
This review is also on my blog The Confessions of a Book Nerd :)
Eliza is a spoilt, rich girl who has everything she could ever wish for. She is stubborn and very controlling. As horrible as she is to her friends sometimes, she loves them to death and would do anything for them. I didn't like Eliza very much at the beginning of the story, she was just so horrible to her friends and bossy and controlling and I didn't like that. But throughout the course of the story, as you learned more about her character, she became more likable, you could understand why she is the way that she is.
I really enjoyed this book. I don't know what else to say about it. It was well written, switching between the events that have lead Eliza to where she is now, and her present where she is telling Dr Fadden her story. This was a great debut and I would definitely recommend this book, it was very interesting :)
This review is also on my blog The Confessions of a Book Nerd :)