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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
More like a 4.5 stars, I will review this soon.
Jeane has always been the weird girl at school. Her hair is often the result of failed dye jobs, she wears second hand clothes, the previous owner of which may or may not have had an incontinence problem. She stands out and is proud of it, but she is shunned by her classmates.
That has never been a problem for her, she is a blogger who has a worldwide following and is in high demand on the conference circuit where she speaks about youth-culture.
Michael is her exact opposite, he is in the cool group at school, wears designer labels and generally tries to fit in.
When Michael's girlfriend hooks up with Jeane's boyfriend they find themselves crashing into each other with increasing frequency. Both refuse to admit their attraction but they just can't keep their hands off each other.
Adorkable is great. It's intelligent, snarky and snappy young adult fiction about two mismatched people who actually fit together very well if they will ever admit it.
That has never been a problem for her, she is a blogger who has a worldwide following and is in high demand on the conference circuit where she speaks about youth-culture.
Michael is her exact opposite, he is in the cool group at school, wears designer labels and generally tries to fit in.
When Michael's girlfriend hooks up with Jeane's boyfriend they find themselves crashing into each other with increasing frequency. Both refuse to admit their attraction but they just can't keep their hands off each other.
Adorkable is great. It's intelligent, snarky and snappy young adult fiction about two mismatched people who actually fit together very well if they will ever admit it.
Siempre olvido lo únicos y espectaculares que son los libros de Sarra Manning, me ha pasado con los dos que he leído anteriormente y definitivamente me pasó con este.
Siempre me dejan con una sonrisa de complacencia en el rostro y siempre me hacen pasar por tormentosos pensamientos de autoinspección y me fuerzan a hacer estos molestos soniditos de alegría y sorpresa por lo que maravillosamente me encuentro leyendo.
Adorkable, como sus otros libros que he leído, ha sido una grata y muy bienvenida sorpresa en medio de mi estresante fin de clases (ugh) y me habló a un nivel personal que ni siquiera creía posible.
Siempre me dejan con una sonrisa de complacencia en el rostro y siempre me hacen pasar por tormentosos pensamientos de autoinspección y me fuerzan a hacer estos molestos soniditos de alegría y sorpresa por lo que maravillosamente me encuentro leyendo.
Adorkable, como sus otros libros que he leído, ha sido una grata y muy bienvenida sorpresa en medio de mi estresante fin de clases (ugh) y me habló a un nivel personal que ni siquiera creía posible.
Blogger and trendspotter Jeane is an Internet sensation. She has millions of followers on Twitter and routinely speaks at conferences. But at school she is an outliner, someone who gets into conflicts with teachers and dresses wierd. Michael, on the other hand, is a school sports star and lead in the most recent play. He is uberpopular and the object of most of the girls affections. But when each other's significant others are caught together, Jeane and Michael are thrown together to figure out what went wrong. The hate each other, but suddenly find themselves kissing. Do opposites really attract?
This sweet teen romance novel is reminiscent of the screwball comedies of the 40s, except that Jeane is a take charge kind of woman, making it very modern. And all though it is not graphic, the sex in the book is going to make it high school readers only. Still, the story is fun,sweet and I really couldn't wait until I got home each night to keep reading it.
Get this.
This sweet teen romance novel is reminiscent of the screwball comedies of the 40s, except that Jeane is a take charge kind of woman, making it very modern. And all though it is not graphic, the sex in the book is going to make it high school readers only. Still, the story is fun,sweet and I really couldn't wait until I got home each night to keep reading it.
Get this.
Very cute, very current. I was pleasantly surprised at how unawkward the integration of social media was. Also holla at half asian hotties!
Das Buch war ganz nett zu lesen, aber definitiv nicht mehr. Es ist für meine Geschmack zu vorhersehbar und oft in Klischees gerutscht, was dem Buch viel Charme genommen hat, den es zwischendurch, vor allem durch die Charaktere, aufgebaut hatte.
Ich fand Jeane zu extrem. Allerdings kann ich mir vorstellen, dass es solche Jugendliche in England durchaus gibt. Trotzdem konnte ich mich nicht so wirklich mit ihr erwärmen. Das hat mich aber nur ein bisschen gestört. Ich kann nicht genau sagen warum, aber in diesem Buch war mir das nicht so wichtig. Ich fand Jeane eher interessant, weiß aber, dass ich mich nicht mit ihr verstehen würde, wenn wir uns träfen :)
Michael fand ich schwierig, weil ich oft nicht nachvollziehen konnte, warum er bestimmte Dinge gemacht hat (und das trotz Perspektivenwechsel (mehr dazu später)).
Gefehlt hat der Geschichte auch dieses gewisse etwas, dass einen ans Buch fesselt. Zwischendurch war es zwar kurzzeitig nicht aus der Hand zu legen, aber beim Rest habe ich mich immer wieder gefragt, was das Buch noch erzählen will.
Die "Moral von der Geschicht'" ist für mich einfach nur albern und blöd. Das Buch wirkt am Ende so, als ob es mit erhobenem Zeigefinger zehn Ratschläge auf einmal geben will. Darunter "Sei wie du bist; ändere dich nicht für andere; du bist toll so; es ist gut wenn du anders bist; blablabla", nichts Neues also. Dabei hatte das Buch wirklich Potential und die Autorin hätte die Ratschläge auch einfach subtiler geben können, anstatt sie am Ende mehr oder weniger genauso ins Buch zu schreiben. Man fühlt sich als Leser etwas für dumm verkauft, als ob man die "message" nicht auch ohne, dass man mit der Nase darauf gestoßen wird, verstanden hätte. Wirklich schade, denn ansonsten war das Buch okay.
Verwirrend war einzig, dass es einen Ich-Perspektiven-Wechsel zwischen Jeane und Michael gibt, der nach jedem Kapitel erfolgt, aber nicht anzeigt wird. Für Leute wie mich, die nach einem Kapitel einfach vergessen, dass es einen Perspektivenwechsel gibt, ist das ziemlich anstrengend, weil mir oft erst nach drei Seiten aufgefallen ist, dass ja jetzt jemand anderes erzählt. Und dann musst ich es nochmal lesen, diesmal mit einem anderen Blick auf das Erzählte.
Abgesehen von den Mängeln bekommt das Buch von mir 3,5 Sterne für eine nette Idee mit interessanten Charakteren. Ich würde das Buch aber nicht kaufen, sondern eher irgendwo ausleihen.
Für Fans von:
Dylan & Gray von Katie Kacvinsky
Geschichten über ungleiche Paare
Ich fand Jeane zu extrem. Allerdings kann ich mir vorstellen, dass es solche Jugendliche in England durchaus gibt. Trotzdem konnte ich mich nicht so wirklich mit ihr erwärmen. Das hat mich aber nur ein bisschen gestört. Ich kann nicht genau sagen warum, aber in diesem Buch war mir das nicht so wichtig. Ich fand Jeane eher interessant, weiß aber, dass ich mich nicht mit ihr verstehen würde, wenn wir uns träfen :)
Michael fand ich schwierig, weil ich oft nicht nachvollziehen konnte, warum er bestimmte Dinge gemacht hat (und das trotz Perspektivenwechsel (mehr dazu später)).
Gefehlt hat der Geschichte auch dieses gewisse etwas, dass einen ans Buch fesselt. Zwischendurch war es zwar kurzzeitig nicht aus der Hand zu legen, aber beim Rest habe ich mich immer wieder gefragt, was das Buch noch erzählen will.
Die "Moral von der Geschicht'" ist für mich einfach nur albern und blöd. Das Buch wirkt am Ende so, als ob es mit erhobenem Zeigefinger zehn Ratschläge auf einmal geben will. Darunter "Sei wie du bist; ändere dich nicht für andere; du bist toll so; es ist gut wenn du anders bist; blablabla", nichts Neues also. Dabei hatte das Buch wirklich Potential und die Autorin hätte die Ratschläge auch einfach subtiler geben können, anstatt sie am Ende mehr oder weniger genauso ins Buch zu schreiben. Man fühlt sich als Leser etwas für dumm verkauft, als ob man die "message" nicht auch ohne, dass man mit der Nase darauf gestoßen wird, verstanden hätte. Wirklich schade, denn ansonsten war das Buch okay.
Verwirrend war einzig, dass es einen Ich-Perspektiven-Wechsel zwischen Jeane und Michael gibt, der nach jedem Kapitel erfolgt, aber nicht anzeigt wird. Für Leute wie mich, die nach einem Kapitel einfach vergessen, dass es einen Perspektivenwechsel gibt, ist das ziemlich anstrengend, weil mir oft erst nach drei Seiten aufgefallen ist, dass ja jetzt jemand anderes erzählt. Und dann musst ich es nochmal lesen, diesmal mit einem anderen Blick auf das Erzählte.
Abgesehen von den Mängeln bekommt das Buch von mir 3,5 Sterne für eine nette Idee mit interessanten Charakteren. Ich würde das Buch aber nicht kaufen, sondern eher irgendwo ausleihen.
Für Fans von:
Dylan & Gray von Katie Kacvinsky
Geschichten über ungleiche Paare
3.5/5
I enjoyed this book quite a lot. The characters were great, and I loved the ending. It was good.
Full review: www.thebooktower.webs.com
I enjoyed this book quite a lot. The characters were great, and I loved the ending. It was good.
Full review: www.thebooktower.webs.com
2.4
The story wasn't bad; the writing wasn't either.
Why, then, did I give this a relatively low rating, you ask?
Well, here's what the author could have done to get an extra star from me (or even two, perhaps).
1. The author literally stated that cats are evil. As a bona fide cat-whisperer, I was highly offended. Why would she choose to commit such an extreme transgression?
Joking aside...
2. There were several awkwardly-phrased sentences that grated on me. Of course, the awkward phrasing was spread throughout the writing, and not the norm. Unfortunately, many these phrases/sentences interrupted the flow of the story, to a considerable extent (for me at least).
Here's an example: "no one wanted to read about it too." Stripped of its context, it sounds awkward, but I promise you it doesn't sound much better with it either.
Here's the full sentence:
3. The dialogue itself. I do not know how old the author is, but it is absolutely clear to me that she probably isn't a teenager (and hasn't been for the past decade). Much of it was witty and clever, but a lot of it came off as what twenty-something actors on TV say, not actual teens. (Was a bit of a relief to stop seeing people saying 'totes' and 'vom' all the time). Perhaps the slang is idiosyncratic to London teens?
However, this wasn't the only issue. Jeane complains about how the current generation is self-centered and blah blah, the whole 'millennials are all snowflakes' that senile grandpas keep peddling (the difference here is that Jeane calls them the Generation Y). The irony is how egotistical Jeane herself is, the whole while she is trying to set herself apart from them. Everyone claps and cheers for how ingenious and innovative she is for saying these things, which for me, was stretching it a bit. Didn't Holden Caulfield do all of this over half a century ago?
Moreover, today's youth are apparently doomed because they believe that "Justin Bieber is the second coming" (again, another dose of teen realism... NOT.)
I know that all of this is frankly untrue because I was a teenager not too long ago. Believe it or not, Justin Bieber has always been popular to hate, even among teenagers.
4. The characters. It's not atypical for characters in a novel such as this to progress and develop. However, Jeane's real-life behavior did not end up maturing substantially by the conclusion. She gave a one or two week try at being "normal," and then gave up, with everyone claiming that being argumentative was just in her DNA (a paraphrased phrase). Of course, being 'normal' has nothing to do with maturing, but along with her quest to re-invent herself, she decided that she'd have more empathy. Hopefully she didn't throw that out so she could do the whole "be yourself" schtick. Oh, and let's not even get started on Barney and Michael. I could go on and on, even more than I already have.
5. For someone claiming to be unique, she sure fell into a lot of stereotypes. The whole, "I'm different because I choose not to shop at Abercrombie & Fitch" has been done before 2012. Surprising, I know. In fact, it seems the only people at Jeane's school who do not dress the same are her, her friend Barney, and What are some of Jeane's eccentricities? Adoring puppies, owning a needless amount of Apple products, enjoying the process of obtaining cavities (aka eating mounds of Haribo everyday), being messy, and not liking vegetables. How absolutely novel. She also dresses interestingly, likes ear-splitting music (as she describes it), and arguing with teachers. I don't know how to put it, but this is not highly unique, even in the small pond known as high school. Surely there were more people Jeane knew that did not act conventionally 'preppy'?
And there was the whole absent parent-ism, the drinking alcohol all the time and it being the norm for everyone. Of course there's more, but I don't feel like recounting the rest.
6. Moving on, there was the whole premise itself. Jeane is a teenage girl, and from what I can see, she has no wealthy business connections or even any experience in marketing, business, etc. Yet, somehow, she organically grows her blog and Twitter following to millions of people. All this is done by dressing differently, branding herself as an Adorkable, and blogging. There is no mention of how she grew to be so popular, only that people were disenchanted by the status quo and she represented that. There had to be a jump somewhere where she went from unique teen on the internet to growing a massive fanbase willing to get her (spoiler alert) live puppies. She blogged about going against the flow and then the Guardian decided to contact her? Makes sense. I'm not saying it isn't possible; just the way it was written never showed how it could be plausible.
As a whole, though, the story had a lot of promise. And many nice moments as well. It was entertaining, funny, and creative in parts. I think I just need to stop reading so many YA novels; the stories are all alike and the cliches are getting to be endlessly repetitive.
Maybe I'm just getting more and more critical as I age.
P.S. I am so very surprised at myself. I never knew that this would be the story I'd write the longest review about.
The story wasn't bad; the writing wasn't either.
Why, then, did I give this a relatively low rating, you ask?
Well, here's what the author could have done to get an extra star from me (or even two, perhaps).
1. The author literally stated that cats are evil. As a bona fide cat-whisperer, I was highly offended. Why would she choose to commit such an extreme transgression?
Joking aside...
2. There were several awkwardly-phrased sentences that grated on me. Of course, the awkward phrasing was spread throughout the writing, and not the norm. Unfortunately, many these phrases/sentences interrupted the flow of the story, to a considerable extent (for me at least).
Here's an example: "no one wanted to read about it too." Stripped of its context, it sounds awkward, but I promise you it doesn't sound much better with it either.
Here's the full sentence:
Spoiler
[Jeane seems to be penning her autobiography in this section] "Anyway I wrote three chapters about my formative early years, glossing over anything to do with Pat and Roy because being raised by them had been boring enough: no one wanted to read about it too."3. The dialogue itself. I do not know how old the author is, but it is absolutely clear to me that she probably isn't a teenager (and hasn't been for the past decade). Much of it was witty and clever, but a lot of it came off as what twenty-something actors on TV say, not actual teens. (Was a bit of a relief to stop seeing people saying 'totes' and 'vom' all the time). Perhaps the slang is idiosyncratic to London teens?
However, this wasn't the only issue. Jeane complains about how the current generation is self-centered and blah blah, the whole 'millennials are all snowflakes' that senile grandpas keep peddling (the difference here is that Jeane calls them the Generation Y). The irony is how egotistical Jeane herself is, the whole while she is trying to set herself apart from them. Everyone claps and cheers for how ingenious and innovative she is for saying these things, which for me, was stretching it a bit. Didn't Holden Caulfield do all of this over half a century ago?
Moreover, today's youth are apparently doomed because they believe that "Justin Bieber is the second coming" (again, another dose of teen realism... NOT.)
I know that all of this is frankly untrue because I was a teenager not too long ago. Believe it or not, Justin Bieber has always been popular to hate, even among teenagers.
4. The characters. It's not atypical for characters in a novel such as this to progress and develop. However, Jeane's real-life behavior did not end up maturing substantially by the conclusion. She gave a one or two week try at being "normal," and then gave up, with everyone claiming that being argumentative was just in her DNA (a paraphrased phrase). Of course, being 'normal' has nothing to do with maturing, but along with her quest to re-invent herself, she decided that she'd have more empathy. Hopefully she didn't throw that out so she could do the whole "be yourself" schtick. Oh, and let's not even get started on Barney and Michael. I could go on and on, even more than I already have.
5. For someone claiming to be unique, she sure fell into a lot of stereotypes. The whole, "I'm different because I choose not to shop at Abercrombie & Fitch" has been done before 2012. Surprising, I know. In fact, it seems the only people at Jeane's school who do not dress the same are her, her friend Barney, and
Spoiler
the wannabe Jeane posse we discover at the end.And there was the whole absent parent-ism, the drinking alcohol all the time
Spoiler
for example, at a high-profile New York convention. I'm sure such a place would encourage underage drinking.6. Moving on, there was the whole premise itself. Jeane is a teenage girl, and from what I can see, she has no wealthy business connections or even any experience in marketing, business, etc. Yet, somehow, she organically grows her blog and Twitter following to millions of people. All this is done by dressing differently, branding herself as an Adorkable, and blogging. There is no mention of how she grew to be so popular, only that people were disenchanted by the status quo and she represented that. There had to be a jump somewhere where she went from unique teen on the internet to growing a massive fanbase willing to get her (spoiler alert) live puppies. She blogged about going against the flow and then the Guardian decided to contact her? Makes sense. I'm not saying it isn't possible; just the way it was written never showed how it could be plausible.
As a whole, though, the story had a lot of promise. And many nice moments as well. It was entertaining, funny, and creative in parts. I think I just need to stop reading so many YA novels; the stories are all alike and the cliches are getting to be endlessly repetitive.
Maybe I'm just getting more and more critical as I age.
P.S. I am so very surprised at myself. I never knew that this would be the story I'd write the longest review about.
You can never go wrong while reading a book by Sarra Manning.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated