Reviews

Troublemakers by Catherine Barter

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katykelly's review against another edition

5.0

Trouble in the family, the city... the past

Alena is 15 and does not remember her mother, who died when she was a baby. Since then she has been cared for by her older brother Danny and his boyfriend Nick in London.

While an unknown bomber threatens the city, Alena finds explosive material of her own within her own family, as she tries to expose her brother's long-held knowledge of her activist mother. Socialist Nick's coffee shop (Ground), and Danny's right-leaning mayoral candidate boss all bring about a mixture of political and social instability and tension.

It was a remarkably seamless set of situations that meshed together into a cohesive plot. The theme pulls each storyline strand in, and each character was rather intriguing. Danny is frustrating but admirable, a responsible guardian still mourning his mother and unable to be open with Alena. Nick is the more relaxed of the pair and you are meant to sympathise with him more easily. Alena herself I found read a little younger than 15, not only do her parents treat her as a younger teenager but she herself doesn't sound quite her age, a little too 'good'. The minor characters as well were memorable and had a lot to say for themselves.

The combination of stories kept my interest throughout, I've not read any YA books with activism and bombs featured. I really wanted to find out more about Alena's family, and to see how Danny's job promoting the dubious-seeming candidate went.

I admit to having a tear in my eye once or twice, revelations were quite emotional. And I applaud the author for featuring a less-common family, with a sibling guardian and his partner shown in a sympathetic light and as excellent, caring parents.

A lot to think about here, and with no inappropriate context, this would make a suitable and appealing group read for book clubs as well as readers aged 13+.

roe_'s review

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One of the only "young adult" books I've ever really wholeheartedly liked. People complaining over lack of driving plot do not seem to realise it's meant to be baby's first literary fiction. Warm, flawed and endearing cast of characters. I'm fond of this one. I only wish the cover wasn't so bloody ugly

tagging this to reread soon

1madchild's review

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3.0

3.5.

complex,

kinda kept waiting for the plot to develop more.

satisfying ending.

aimeesbookishlife's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed this character-driven story, it was refreshing and very different to other contemporary YA books I've read recently. The story was compelling and revealed bit by bit which makes you want to keep reading.

Alena is a compelling character and very relatable. I love the way she knew when she was being unreasonable or over-reacting but she just found herself saying things she didn't mean - that felt very real to me. The dialogue was very well-written, especially between Alena and her friends Ollie and Teagan, who talked and acted like real teenagers. Minor spoiler about Ollie:

Spoiler

I kept expecting some romance between Ollie and Alena, perhaps with a love triangle element in the form of Teagan, but this never materialised and I was glad because the book focuses on so much else that a romance storyline would have made it too cluttered.

It's a very well-written coming-of-age/identity story, and one I'd recommend to all fans of contemporary YA books.

I was given a free ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

janearlo's review against another edition

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2.0

Unfortunately, I read this book after reading an absolutely amazing book so I'm not sure how to gauge my reaction towards this book. First of all I gave it 2 stars because that's supposed to mean "it was ok" and it was. If your a teenager possibly verging on young adult you may get along quite well with this book as it is mostly about finding your identity during this difficult stage of your life and dealing with typical issues that a 15 year old would deal with. It was probably extremely reminiscent of my stream of consciousness and inner monologue at that time. However, 3/4 of the way through I was wondering whether there would be a true plot line or a specific direction and after finishing the book there isn't really one. And that's not bad I guess, it's not a bad book. But I felt like there was so much potential and yet is was quite simplistic. If you're looking for a book that won't require you to think too much and is easy to read then I would recommend this as I do believe it can serve that purpose quite well. I just don't think this book was for me unfortunately.

irrelahvant's review against another edition

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2.0

I feel bad for giving it a pretty low rating when majority of those who read the book seem to enjoy it. The story revolves around 15-year-old Alena Kennedy. Lena's brother, Danny, has been her guardian, alongside his partner, Nick, eversince their mother passed away when she was three-years-old.

Overall, I found the plot to be very draggy, especially in the first quarter. Later in the story, tension starts to rise between the characters but that was it. The ending was abrupt and rushed (Or maybe it's just me).

In all honesty, I was not able to connect with Lena. I found her to be very frustrating and bratty. She had this 'My needs and emotions are more important than yours.' The way she treated Danny was straight up rude. She can not be trusted with emails like the Will and Jacob incident. Like????? Did she not think about it? The impact of it? She had to do what's ~~~~ morally right ~~~~~ It would have taken her like two minutes to call her brother like "Uh. Hi. Just to let you know that we're still continuing this argument like I'm still mad but I think your boss is lowkey shady."

Sometimes when I read her intentions or motivations that causes her to act a certain way, I cannot comprehend how she thought it was okay - like how she didn't possibly wonder that she had done had the possibly of her brother to lose his job. Like, she's fifteen! When I was fifteen, I didn't go snooping around people's business - I wanted to marry Logan Henderson.

ANYWAY - the ending was unsatisfying since the beginning portion had taken up alot of time that the buildup had lost its impact and suspense. So, when all have been revealed, it didn't feel rewarding. It didn't really answer the questions that were running around in my head.

Why was Lena excused for her negative and frustrating behaviour?
What happened to Mike?
What about Colombia and Nick?
WHAT WAS THE POINT OF OLLIE?

I'm being too picky about this but it was alot to take it and in the end, it still left me empty. Again, if you enjoy the book, that is great. Maybe I missed the symbolism or subtext of the story or I didn't get the characters fully. Maybe I'm missing something.

All in all, I didn't get the book.