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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
Ray and Sasha have an unusual family, they share a summer house, sleep in the same room, have three sisters in common and have never met. Ray's mom and Sasha's dad used to be married, the divorce was not amicable--they separated their times with their three daughters and with the summer house neither was willing to part with. The two teens (Ray and Sasha) were both born after the divorce to the second spouses. They have lived lives carefully curated to keep their parents away from each other.
Emma, Quinn and Mattie, are the three daughters to the said parents and they are in their early twenties spending the summer at the summer house and learning who they are and how they fit into the world.
It's a wonderful and bizarrely believable coming of age story, but I did have a bit of a problem differentiating the four sisters even though they all have different personalities, but that may have been a me problem and it really didn't detract from the story. I got an Advanced Reader's Copy some 4 years after the book released so it wasn't exactly a polished copy, either; I'd still recommend it.
Emma, Quinn and Mattie, are the three daughters to the said parents and they are in their early twenties spending the summer at the summer house and learning who they are and how they fit into the world.
It's a wonderful and bizarrely believable coming of age story, but I did have a bit of a problem differentiating the four sisters even though they all have different personalities, but that may have been a me problem and it really didn't detract from the story. I got an Advanced Reader's Copy some 4 years after the book released so it wasn't exactly a polished copy, either; I'd still recommend it.
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It actually has scenes from 5-6 different people which made it confusing to remember whose perspective you were currently in, and it wasn’t near long enough for any kind of real plot development. However I did like how well she captured the perspective and awkwardness each person felt which made the characters real and relatable. It also didn’t really wrap up at the end and the romance between Sasha and Ray was almost nonexistent considering that is what all the summaries I’ve seen on the book mention.
I was so confused about everything going on. Situations kept jumping from one scene to another. Then, I understood that the way this story was narrated was through a narrative arc. There's an opening then a small up hill battle containing 3 small situations. Afterwards we are faced with the main climax. After the main climax you have the last 3 small situations leading to the resolutions. So Ann Brashere deserves some credit. I enjoyed it.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
In typical Brashares fashion, this is a mix of funny, sweet and moving with a healthy dose of eye-roll moments. Some genuine cringe moments, like the way the female body is described. Some artificial dialogue and turns of phrase. Not quite a fully realized concept, but it's just compelling enough to enjoy.
L'idée de départ est bonne. La narration manque clairement de fluidité. Le changement de points de vue est parfois perturbant. L'histoire ne va pas jusque bout (de toute évidence il y a d'autres problèmes entre Robert et Lila que celui qu'on effleure grâce à Mattie). La fin est un peu simple, trop rapide aussi. Mais j'ai quand même passé un bon moment.
I didn't enjoy reading this book at all :( It was so full of random stuff to the point where I didn't know what was going on. The whole concept to begin with is confusing and the fact that the book switches from person to person so quickly made it hard to read. I thought Sasha and Ray were the main characters, but then it would bring in all their sisters and what problems they were dealing with, it was just too much for a single book. I kept reading it because I wanted to get it over with, but I didn't enjoy it. Don't recommend :(
I really enjoyed reading this one. I received a copy to review for Netgalley. At first it was hard to keep the family members straight but it got easier as I kept reading. I hate that a tragedy brought the two families back together.
I'm definitely disappointed about The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares. I absolutely adored her Traveling Pants series when I was a teenager, and I want everything I read by her after to recreate that magic. Unfortunately, nothing, including her latest release about a very complicated and large family that share a beach house, has managed to quite recreate the spark the Traveling Pants books had for me.
In The Whole Thing Together, Ray and Sasha share a room, but never at the same time. Their parents used to be married, and they share three half sisters in common, but they have never met. Also, they are not actually related. This is stressed a lot in the book because of the bond that forms between them, but it's still awkward. I really thought that this book was going to be about Ray and Sasha, but it's actually also about their sisters, so there ends up being 5 storylines, told in third person omniscient, which honestly, I didn't really like. Maybe I would have liked the book more if it just focused on Ray and Sasha, but there was way too many stories and some of them were pretty dumb, like one sister is in a secret relationship with a decent and respectable guy. Yeah. Then the way that the book ended just felt really sudden, rushed, and too much like a plot device. Also almost everyone in the book is really selfish and not very nice.
Overall, even though I enjoyed Brashares' writing and some moments in The Whole Thing Together, it was ultimately really frustrating in a lot of ways. Next time I'm tempted to pick up her latest book, somebody remind me to reread The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants instead.
In The Whole Thing Together, Ray and Sasha share a room, but never at the same time. Their parents used to be married, and they share three half sisters in common, but they have never met. Also, they are not actually related. This is stressed a lot in the book because of the bond that forms between them, but it's still awkward. I really thought that this book was going to be about Ray and Sasha, but it's actually also about their sisters, so there ends up being 5 storylines, told in third person omniscient, which honestly, I didn't really like. Maybe I would have liked the book more if it just focused on Ray and Sasha, but there was way too many stories and some of them were pretty dumb, like one sister is in a secret relationship with a decent and respectable guy. Yeah. Then the way that the book ended just felt really sudden, rushed, and too much like a plot device. Also almost everyone in the book is really selfish and not very nice.
Overall, even though I enjoyed Brashares' writing and some moments in The Whole Thing Together, it was ultimately really frustrating in a lot of ways. Next time I'm tempted to pick up her latest book, somebody remind me to reread The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants instead.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
the perfect cheesy book for summer