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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
This book was partially frustrating - the way it went into the future and back into the past. I often at times got confused what was going on or where she was or how much time had passed etc.
I did enjoy the book but did find Eveline to be a victim due to her own self faults and not due to the people around or in her life, which more than half of the time she tried to pass off on other people. The story came across to me as she enjoyed being a victim as she never made any effort to change her circumstances or the people in her life. It was just frustrating to read most of the time, especially when I wanted to slap her half of the time.
I think it was too long. I felt the story was never going to end, with a lot of the story pointless & unnecessary. A lot of little stories could have been deleted from the story.
I did enjoy the book but did find Eveline to be a victim due to her own self faults and not due to the people around or in her life, which more than half of the time she tried to pass off on other people. The story came across to me as she enjoyed being a victim as she never made any effort to change her circumstances or the people in her life. It was just frustrating to read most of the time, especially when I wanted to slap her half of the time.
I think it was too long. I felt the story was never going to end, with a lot of the story pointless & unnecessary. A lot of little stories could have been deleted from the story.
I knew what I was getting into when I started this book, but boy, was it long and slow. I did like the actual plot of the book, somber as it was, so I had to keep reading to know what happened with Eveline and Rourke. The middle of the book was what dragged the most. If you're looking for a slow, somber, coming of age novel, then this is the book for you.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
The realness of the book works for and against it... It's got an authentic feeling and at times can just drag. You'll either relate to the characters or see the relation between them and people you've known and will just be annoyed by them.
There are some that will say (and have said) that they might enjoy this more after the review of a more aggressive editor. I understand, but disagree. I was so engaged in Eveline's world, that I did not want the novel to end. I cannot recommend this enough.
DNF'd at 88 pages. The story was jumping all over the place, and I could not keep track of whether the events were occurring in the past or the present. It was getting rather depressing, and I have to be in the right mindset to read something that deals with heavy topics. Also, I was not too fond of any of the characters. This book was not what I was expecting it to be at all, which sucks.
I never start a book without finishing it, even though I wanted to give up on finishing this 600 drama-fest a million times. Another story of the typical teenage girl angst; anorexia, wierd boyfriends, dramatic girlfriends, school, blah blah. I didn't like the main character and that pretty much ruins a book for me immediately. She was so self absorbed and depressing, and as one of the characters calls her at the end of the book, manipulating and selfish. Even though the characters around her are also equally awful it never really made me like her more.
What was worse was that it dragged on and on. As other reviews have said the amount of so many similes and bad metaphors was enough to choke a reader. I like imagery and figurative language when it makes sense not when it's thrown in just to be used like some middle school writing project. There were so many confusing transitions and conversations between characters. I had to reread several sections because I didn't know she had switched scenes so quickly.
Save your time and find a better book.
What was worse was that it dragged on and on. As other reviews have said the amount of so many similes and bad metaphors was enough to choke a reader. I like imagery and figurative language when it makes sense not when it's thrown in just to be used like some middle school writing project. There were so many confusing transitions and conversations between characters. I had to reread several sections because I didn't know she had switched scenes so quickly.
Save your time and find a better book.
I have a deep connection with books; always have had. It started with my love for ‘The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear’ and has only grown with age. When I am happy I read silly, romance books. When I am lost I read books of hope and strong character. Reading was forced on me in my youth by my mother, who required my sisters and I read 1 hour every day. I learned how to read between the lines by teachers in high school and college who took the time to teach me how to truly feel a book and not just read for the base facts. But it isn’t until recently that I have started reading books for solace, instruction, comfort and for the sheer pleasure of the words. I still occasionally read a trashy romance novel — and love every minute — but I read more predominately to challenge my ideals and expand my thoughts. This novel did just that.
This is a book about an American teenager and her attempt to navigate through the pains of growing — the path she takes to adulthood. She speaks of friendship, womanhood, abuse, feminism, sex, art, rape, suicide, paternal relationships, jealousy, loss, depression, apathy, fear, love and grief.
‘Grief works inside like bees or ants, building curious and perfect structures, complicating you. Grief outside means you want something from someone, and chances are good you won’t get it.’
You sit down with this book and feel yourself getting lost within the pages and the story. You quickly become a confidante of the main heroine, Eveline. And when you finish the 600 page novel, you sit back and wonder how you flew through all those pages so quickly... Read More
Explore Carolann's entire bookshelf at Her Literary Salon
This is a book about an American teenager and her attempt to navigate through the pains of growing — the path she takes to adulthood. She speaks of friendship, womanhood, abuse, feminism, sex, art, rape, suicide, paternal relationships, jealousy, loss, depression, apathy, fear, love and grief.
‘Grief works inside like bees or ants, building curious and perfect structures, complicating you. Grief outside means you want something from someone, and chances are good you won’t get it.’
You sit down with this book and feel yourself getting lost within the pages and the story. You quickly become a confidante of the main heroine, Eveline. And when you finish the 600 page novel, you sit back and wonder how you flew through all those pages so quickly... Read More
Explore Carolann's entire bookshelf at Her Literary Salon
Right from the start, it must be said: This book is a brick. Not just a brick but pretty much brick in every sense of a way a book could be a brick. For starters, I am pretty sure these 600 pages could be used to hold open a door or be plastered into your wall to give it strength. My copy fell into the bathtub and still survived, instead just adding another inch of strength to its massive form.
Yet, it's a brick between the covers too. It has moderate violence, heavy profanity, very heavy sexual content, and also includes drugs, underage drinking, smoking, and suicide.
But don’t throw out the Anthropology of an American Girl just yet. It was really good. In fact, maybe even a potential classic. There is no way I would categorize this book as young adult, not just because of its “heavy” content, but really just because I don’t think its intended audience is teenagers. This book explores the soul- your own soul. Which is really heavy.
I studied anthropology in college, which in essence, the study of what it means to be human. One of the main things cultural anthropologists do is hang out with a group of people to write these weird books called ethnologies about them. Anthropology tries to capture a particular group’s way of doing, thinking . . . everything. In essence, Anthropology of an American Girl is just that, it is a study of what it is like to be a girl in America. In fact, its even be more about a girl moving to adulthood, something similar to a coming of age story, but one we can relate to long after we have “come of age.”
The book begins with melancholy, sixteen-year-old, artistic Eveline in high school. She has a girly BF, a rebellious philosopher of a boyfriend, and not the best family situation. I actually almost quit reading this book multiple times at the beginning. It was tedious with no real plot yet, but I guess if you are going to write a 600 page book, you have the right to set the scene with the first 200 of them. I think the author still had a purpose in this. Mainly because it is showing Evie’s metamorphosis, but also so we could really get to know Evie. And probably as intended, reading it made me feel like I was her and I was in high school again.
But then the book gets good, as a plot unfolds around when she graduates high school, and the book sticks with Eveline until just past the end of her college. The rest of the book has to do with the desire for love and the heartache love and pain can bring. Its hard to say more than that without ruining it for you, which is why other reviews only go that far. But I will try to offer a little more, by saying there are at least three guys in love with Evie, her being in love with only the one, she was led off by another, with these two plotting to have her as their own. And its also about boxing, the New England beach, New York City, art, the upper class, music, partying, home, relationships, God, psychology and philosophy. Which is to say, a lot. The book moves back and forth throughout time, which made it much more like a mystery the reader had to figure out. Unlike other stories, this one is melancholy enough that I couldn’t actually guess the ending. In fact, if you asked me what I would want the ending to look like in the middle of the book, It would be different than what I was hoping the ending would be in the last few chapters. Which is to say, it is not dead.
Here is a little more description on the content of the book, which I mentioned earlier: Yes, there is a lot of bad stuff in this book. Thankfully, though, it is not glorified as I think I would be disgusted if it was. I think there could be a lot less profanity while still maintaining “the integrity” of the book’s meaning. Yet, for the most part, the drinking, drug-use, and smoking in the book was referred to matter-of-factly. Although the characters in the book used different types of drugs, the end of the book strongly focuses on the way drugs destroy.
Although the sex content is very heavy, sex is more purposeful than not purposeful in this book. By that I mean there are not really descriptive sex scenes written solely just to seduce the readers attention. It shows sex as a very desirable thing, yet also as a very negative thing, but it is always pre-marital sex. More realistically, this book does encompass consequences of teen sex, such as pregnancy. Even more importantly, it spends a large amount of time exploring the effect it can have on the soul- extreme internal brokenness. Rape, “mean sex” (we never really know what, but that is just fine with me), miscarriage, a homosexual friend, extreme partying, death, suicide, and fighting also come up in the book.
If I had a teenager would I let them read this book? Probably not. But if I did, I would read it at the same time with them and probably not until they were going to leave home. I would want to be available to talk with my teen, to help them be prepared for what life can be like from a positive environment. I’d read it with them if I thought they were going to stumble upon all the “life” this book covers, so they through wouldn’t have to figure out by themselves. Still, I will strongly caution parents to use great discretion letting an older teen read it, let alone younger teens. In reality, I would be surprised if this book would actually interest most teens, anyway.
Altogether I would rate this book a three out of six. I myself loved it, but I don’t think its for everyone. I liked it so much that I was totally depressed when I finished it because I felt so close to the characters. But maybe that was because the book took so long to read that these characters were my only friends *wink*. I even cried at different parts and had to process some of the ideas it brought up in my journal! Pathetic, I know. But, it has a lot of heavy content, it is very long and tedious, and I have no doubt some people would just hate it regardless. This book is more of an art, wording experiences and feelings we have lived, than it is just a good story. If one doesn’t appreciate this type of art in the first place, the this book will be lost to them. Yet for me, I will probably shelf this brick with the classics.
-Elisa (guest post for http://ReadingTeen.net/)
Yet, it's a brick between the covers too. It has moderate violence, heavy profanity, very heavy sexual content, and also includes drugs, underage drinking, smoking, and suicide.
But don’t throw out the Anthropology of an American Girl just yet. It was really good. In fact, maybe even a potential classic. There is no way I would categorize this book as young adult, not just because of its “heavy” content, but really just because I don’t think its intended audience is teenagers. This book explores the soul- your own soul. Which is really heavy.
I studied anthropology in college, which in essence, the study of what it means to be human. One of the main things cultural anthropologists do is hang out with a group of people to write these weird books called ethnologies about them. Anthropology tries to capture a particular group’s way of doing, thinking . . . everything. In essence, Anthropology of an American Girl is just that, it is a study of what it is like to be a girl in America. In fact, its even be more about a girl moving to adulthood, something similar to a coming of age story, but one we can relate to long after we have “come of age.”
The book begins with melancholy, sixteen-year-old, artistic Eveline in high school. She has a girly BF, a rebellious philosopher of a boyfriend, and not the best family situation. I actually almost quit reading this book multiple times at the beginning. It was tedious with no real plot yet, but I guess if you are going to write a 600 page book, you have the right to set the scene with the first 200 of them. I think the author still had a purpose in this. Mainly because it is showing Evie’s metamorphosis, but also so we could really get to know Evie. And probably as intended, reading it made me feel like I was her and I was in high school again.
But then the book gets good, as a plot unfolds around when she graduates high school, and the book sticks with Eveline until just past the end of her college. The rest of the book has to do with the desire for love and the heartache love and pain can bring. Its hard to say more than that without ruining it for you, which is why other reviews only go that far. But I will try to offer a little more, by saying there are at least three guys in love with Evie, her being in love with only the one, she was led off by another, with these two plotting to have her as their own. And its also about boxing, the New England beach, New York City, art, the upper class, music, partying, home, relationships, God, psychology and philosophy. Which is to say, a lot. The book moves back and forth throughout time, which made it much more like a mystery the reader had to figure out. Unlike other stories, this one is melancholy enough that I couldn’t actually guess the ending. In fact, if you asked me what I would want the ending to look like in the middle of the book, It would be different than what I was hoping the ending would be in the last few chapters. Which is to say, it is not dead.
Here is a little more description on the content of the book, which I mentioned earlier: Yes, there is a lot of bad stuff in this book. Thankfully, though, it is not glorified as I think I would be disgusted if it was. I think there could be a lot less profanity while still maintaining “the integrity” of the book’s meaning. Yet, for the most part, the drinking, drug-use, and smoking in the book was referred to matter-of-factly. Although the characters in the book used different types of drugs, the end of the book strongly focuses on the way drugs destroy.
Although the sex content is very heavy, sex is more purposeful than not purposeful in this book. By that I mean there are not really descriptive sex scenes written solely just to seduce the readers attention. It shows sex as a very desirable thing, yet also as a very negative thing, but it is always pre-marital sex. More realistically, this book does encompass consequences of teen sex, such as pregnancy. Even more importantly, it spends a large amount of time exploring the effect it can have on the soul- extreme internal brokenness. Rape, “mean sex” (we never really know what, but that is just fine with me), miscarriage, a homosexual friend, extreme partying, death, suicide, and fighting also come up in the book.
If I had a teenager would I let them read this book? Probably not. But if I did, I would read it at the same time with them and probably not until they were going to leave home. I would want to be available to talk with my teen, to help them be prepared for what life can be like from a positive environment. I’d read it with them if I thought they were going to stumble upon all the “life” this book covers, so they through wouldn’t have to figure out by themselves. Still, I will strongly caution parents to use great discretion letting an older teen read it, let alone younger teens. In reality, I would be surprised if this book would actually interest most teens, anyway.
Altogether I would rate this book a three out of six. I myself loved it, but I don’t think its for everyone. I liked it so much that I was totally depressed when I finished it because I felt so close to the characters. But maybe that was because the book took so long to read that these characters were my only friends *wink*. I even cried at different parts and had to process some of the ideas it brought up in my journal! Pathetic, I know. But, it has a lot of heavy content, it is very long and tedious, and I have no doubt some people would just hate it regardless. This book is more of an art, wording experiences and feelings we have lived, than it is just a good story. If one doesn’t appreciate this type of art in the first place, the this book will be lost to them. Yet for me, I will probably shelf this brick with the classics.
-Elisa (guest post for http://ReadingTeen.net/)