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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
I received an advanced readers copy from First in Line. I was quite excited as I adored Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
I come from a broken family so I had high expectations for this read. I unfortunately didn't like or enjoy this book. I felt it was slow and repetitive and there wasn't much character development until the last two chapters.
I come from a broken family so I had high expectations for this read. I unfortunately didn't like or enjoy this book. I felt it was slow and repetitive and there wasn't much character development until the last two chapters.
(I received an ARC of this book on NetGalley from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.)
I am a huge fan of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Last Summer (of You & Me) and other novels by Ann Brashares that I’ve picked up along the way. The Whole Thing Together had what I consider to be her trademark poetic style, but the plot fell short for me.
Here are some beautiful examples:
“Quinn never tried to force a point. She just opened her hands and set it forth like a firefly. You caught it or you didn’t.”
“She resented the little pings of ice. How would that feel to a blueberry?”
I love Brashares’ ability to show me a character empathetic to a blueberry, and to make me want to be so empathetic myself. I love her exploration of young feelings, and she still tugged at my heartstrings with the rest of the novel.
Honestly, though, I struggled to overcome the basic premise (two unrelated siblings of an otherwise-reconstructed family share everything in their lives in perfect every-other-week synchronization until one day, they are brought together and the family must attempt to overcome the bitter divorce that tore it apart) and it didn’t get better from there. Lila and Robert have three daughters together, but also a child each from their second marriages and their respective second spouses. That’s nine characters that we have to keep track of, and this definitely could have been condensed and packed the same punch. I felt that Emma and Mattie, two of the older daughters, were indiscernible. Also, Lila’s second husband (whose name I’ve forgotten) has two or three children from his first marriage and this is cute from a “life is complicated” perspective but irrelevant and overbearing to the plot.
And the idea of Sasha (Lila’s daughter) and Ray (Robert’s son) getting together – wait, no! See how complex this is? Sasha is actually ROBERT’s daughter and Ray is LILA’s son, and the whole thing is just very hard. Anyway, these teenagers are the “will they or won’t they?” of the novel, and it just squicked me even though I know that they’re not technically related at all.
So, there you have it. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. I’d steer my students in the direction of Sisterhood and my friends in the direction of The Last Summer.
Perfect summer beach read! Listened to the whole audiobook on the plane home from NYC and it was great
Before: I'm a little worried about reading this because the last Travelling Pants book nearly killed me with all the feels lol, but I'm going to give her another chance.
After: I don't know. It was missing something. Didn't shed a single tear.
After: I don't know. It was missing something. Didn't shed a single tear.
It’s no secret that I love Brashares’ writing – the Traveling Pants series remains one of my favorites to this day. That being said, if this book had been written by anyone else, I would’ve tapped out halfway through. While sweet in some parts, this book tried to do too much at once and the result was a thin, muddled, and over-written story that left me wanting more.
Sasha and Ray have always shared a room in their summer home. They’ve shared the same books, the same toiletries and the same bed, yet they have never actually met. Ray’s mom used to be married to Sasha’s dad and neither one is willing to give up the beach house. Now they have new families and are making new memories, but in the same house. Unfortunately, choices from the past have a way of coming back and these two families must learn to work together before the loose ties fall apart.
The Whole Thing Together is a stand-alone novel that has an interesting premise, but a faulty execution. I usually don’t mind alternating story lines, but this story did not flow easily and the middle of the book seemed muddled. The ending was great and I will think about it for a while to come, but the overall impression I am left with is just flat and uninspired. Brashares’ latest novel is not a drop everything and read book.
The Whole Thing Together is a stand-alone novel that has an interesting premise, but a faulty execution. I usually don’t mind alternating story lines, but this story did not flow easily and the middle of the book seemed muddled. The ending was great and I will think about it for a while to come, but the overall impression I am left with is just flat and uninspired. Brashares’ latest novel is not a drop everything and read book.
For Sasha, summer means time at her family's sprawling old house out on Long Island. For Ray, it's the same. Sasha and Ray aren't related--and they've never met--but long ago, before they were born, Sasha's dad and Ray's mom were married. Then came a bitter divorce, remarriages, and a new generation of children. Now, the two families have an arrangement: use the summerhouse at your designated time and never cross paths.
Sasha and Ray do connect, though, by email--joking around, confiding in one another, forming a friendship. They've shared so much already . . . what would happen if they met in real life?
A lovely, character-driven book which I really enjoyed. The story flowed well despite being told by different characters. Probably would have been 5-star if I could honestly have believed that any teenage girl would willingly get into a bed that a teenage boy had slept in without demanding that the sheets be changed :-)
Sasha and Ray do connect, though, by email--joking around, confiding in one another, forming a friendship. They've shared so much already . . . what would happen if they met in real life?
A lovely, character-driven book which I really enjoyed. The story flowed well despite being told by different characters. Probably would have been 5-star if I could honestly have believed that any teenage girl would willingly get into a bed that a teenage boy had slept in without demanding that the sheets be changed :-)
This was not great.
Ik heb het boek uit en weet oprecht nog niet wie precies wie is. Dit boek wilde te veel dingen tegelijk vertellen. Het ging over een grote familie, wat al verwarrend genoeg was, maar blijkbaar was het dus ook nodig om na elke alinea van pov te veranderen. Not that into it. Het idee was leuk, though.
Ik heb het boek uit en weet oprecht nog niet wie precies wie is. Dit boek wilde te veel dingen tegelijk vertellen. Het ging over een grote familie, wat al verwarrend genoeg was, maar blijkbaar was het dus ook nodig om na elke alinea van pov te veranderen. Not that into it. Het idee was leuk, though.
Of course I had my eye on The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares the moment I first saw it. I've only read a few of Ann's books so far, and have really enjoyed those, so I was pretty excited to check out this new book. When the opportunity arrive to check out an advanced copy, and to have a Q&A session with Ann, I jumped on it! You've read my Q&A with Ann above, now see what I thought of the book below!
The Whole Thing Together was a very interesting read. I've read a lot of contemporary novels in my time, and I can't say that I've read any other book that has such an storyline with such a... I'm going to say entwining storyline. With so many characters being related, and not related, but still somewhat related. Well, I'm not doing a very good job of describing this, so you'll just have to read the book to see what I'm talking about! Also, the book was a very quick read; I started and finished it in just a few hours time. (I'm a pretty big fan of contemporary novels, and I tend to read them quicker than most other genres .)
There were a lot of interesting characters to keep up with in the book, and trying to keep them sorted was a little confusing in the begining, but once I figured out who went where, it was a lot easier to read. Some of these characters you will really like, and some will definitely have to grow on you over time. I like that the story is told from different viewpoints, actually from at least 4 different viewpoints. I enjoy getting multiple characters perspectives, as I feel like you really get so much more information when the author writes this way. (And I'm all about the details!)
Overall; The Whole Thing Together was a very interesting read, and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to check it out, and to participate in this blog tour! I still have quite a few more of Ann's books that I still need to read, including finishing up the Sisterhood series, which I'm hoping to tackle this summer. (What better time to read them, right?) Get your copy of The Whole Thing Together in stores on April 25th!!
Happy Reading!!
3.5 stars
This is a book about family drama, love and loss, and romance, both forgotten and current. I had expected I️t to be much more about a forbidden romance but I️t actually wasn’t. I️t gave me We Were Liars vibes because of the intense drama and heartbreak. Hm. This was definitely better than I thought I️t would be! The audiobook was also fabulously done, although I️t took me a while to get into it, as there are so many characters!
This is a book about family drama, love and loss, and romance, both forgotten and current. I had expected I️t to be much more about a forbidden romance but I️t actually wasn’t. I️t gave me We Were Liars vibes because of the intense drama and heartbreak. Hm. This was definitely better than I thought I️t would be! The audiobook was also fabulously done, although I️t took me a while to get into it, as there are so many characters!