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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
I found this incredibly confusing, and just not really enjoyable, to be honest. Perhaps the film will be better, or I just read it at the wrong time, but...no. Not for me.
Beautiful. Poignant. Exquisitely written. Trigger warning that has left me upset long after I finished reading: violence to animals.
Not necessarily my cup of tea, but incredibly raw with an intensity rarely seen in YA fiction.
There’s a lot going on in a slim, slight, short book here. Many things never have room to be explained or resolved as a result. Everything is viewed through a damaged teen girl with an eating disorder, who barely questions things like psychic abilities. Given her psychological history this, in a narrative with no other supernatural elements, and no confirmation from other characters that the mindreading is going on, made her unreliable for me. I half expected the underbalanced short Part Two to reveal that the whole, longer Part One had been a psychotic break. Maybe there was no war, maybe there were no cousins, maybe the whole sweaty romance was an eroto-maniacal fantasy?
I liked the whole ‘I Capture The Castle’ early part with the quirky English cousins and the countryside. There were inaccuracies which bothered me (there’s no London Airport — was it Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead...? — I’ve lived half a century in England without once meeting a Piper or Osbert, a fourteen year-old might drive round their farm but they’d definitely be arrested on the motorway), but then there were lots of funny little British details Rosoff got right. It wasn’t quite stereotypical American misconceptions about Brits, but it came close. I liked the slow build of romance between the cousins — though the plot wouldn’t have failed if they’d not been close blood relatives (though, yes, cousin marriage is legal here and I’ve known cousins who married), had been a couple of years older, hadn’t had full penetrative sex, had talked more than they screwed etc.
I then also liked the almost separate following story about two children surviving an occupation, escaping and having their dystopian carless road trip. It worked for me that fighting for survival cured the eating disorder.
What didn’t work for me was the structure, timing, arc. Some things happened too quickly and easily, but there was also a lot of waiting around. We got details of too many blackberry & hazelnut meals, not enough of mental decline, healing, actual war. And then the last part was rushed, uninhabited, and left too much inadequately explained or skated over.
I liked the whole ‘I Capture The Castle’ early part with the quirky English cousins and the countryside. There were inaccuracies which bothered me (there’s no London Airport — was it Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead...? — I’ve lived half a century in England without once meeting a Piper or Osbert, a fourteen year-old might drive round their farm but they’d definitely be arrested on the motorway), but then there were lots of funny little British details Rosoff got right. It wasn’t quite stereotypical American misconceptions about Brits, but it came close. I liked the slow build of romance between the cousins — though the plot wouldn’t have failed if they’d not been close blood relatives (though, yes, cousin marriage is legal here and I’ve known cousins who married), had been a couple of years older, hadn’t had full penetrative sex, had talked more than they screwed etc.
I then also liked the almost separate following story about two children surviving an occupation, escaping and having their dystopian carless road trip. It worked for me that fighting for survival cured the eating disorder.
What didn’t work for me was the structure, timing, arc. Some things happened too quickly and easily, but there was also a lot of waiting around. We got details of too many blackberry & hazelnut meals, not enough of mental decline, healing, actual war. And then the last part was rushed, uninhabited, and left too much inadequately explained or skated over.
Initially I wanted to read this book because I saw the trailer for the movie. What drew me in was that the book starts out as a story of a messed-up teenager falling in love, a story that's been told thousands of times. But the book really takes off when WWIII starts, separating the main characters and showing their struggle to reunite.
Overall, awesome book.
Overall, awesome book.
I really like the way this was written. I enjoyed her voice & the characters & imagery & perfection in describing a house in the English countryside. The kissing cousins thing was so strange. They were a good couple...but they were also first cousins. I will now go find author interviews about this.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a very strange book, that seemingly wanted to do a lot, but didn't pull any of it off. Also, the relationship between the cousins is very strange.
this had a lot of five star moments, but the ending was a bit of a three, so i guess it gets four stars total. really good at showing normal life break down in a war and suddenly having to survive some really nasty stuff. very moving at times. didn't like the ending at all, though. some might disagree.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes