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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
I listened to this one on audiobook, so admittedly I didn't get to appreciate the illustrations, which I'm sure are great. But just listening to the text, wonderfully narrated by Khristine Hvam (who switches flawlessly between characters with just the right inflection), proved just how problematic the story is.
It's a typical "Beauty and the Geek" plotline, and the book title pretty much gives away the ending. My biggest problem was with the love interest, Ed Slaterton. Even though it's clear from the beginning that this isn't going to end well, I never understood what Min sees in Ed. He's a jerk to her from the beginning. Even more problematic are his homophobic comments, which Min half-heartedly asks him to stop but still dates him anyway. I never rooted for Ed, and perhaps I wasn't supposed to. But it only served to make the romance feel more like a ill-advised crush than the "true love" it was purported to be.
It's a typical "Beauty and the Geek" plotline, and the book title pretty much gives away the ending. My biggest problem was with the love interest, Ed Slaterton. Even though it's clear from the beginning that this isn't going to end well, I never understood what Min sees in Ed. He's a jerk to her from the beginning. Even more problematic are his homophobic comments, which Min half-heartedly asks him to stop but still dates him anyway. I never rooted for Ed, and perhaps I wasn't supposed to. But it only served to make the romance feel more like a ill-advised crush than the "true love" it was purported to be.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The writing and the illustrations. I felt the joy and pain if a breakup in this book. And it really stuck around with ne still even though I finished it two weeks ago. Now I feel the heartbreak here even more.
It was pretty cool. I really liked it, mostly the ending. It was not what i was expecting even though we all knew they were going to break up. Oops, spoiler alert?
Recommendable, really enjoyable and one cannot help to care about Min ( at least i couldn't help it).
Recommendable, really enjoyable and one cannot help to care about Min ( at least i couldn't help it).
Still hits me like a throat punch all these years later.
This book wasn't what I was expecting. Truth be told, I don't know what I was expecting. Daniel Handler is famous for the Lemony Snicket books, which are brilliant and his style is obvious throughout the book: the way he gives us hints of the future while describing the present or how he inserts a little word in an objective narration that denotes a big emotion or even the mere way he describes things really. Maybe I expected more drama, who knows, but at the end I was kind of left with a "that's it?" feeling. However, the story does stick with you. It reminded me of "Thirteen reasons why" in that way, because even if to me the facts don't look like a big deal, they are for a lot of people. The story does stick on your mind, because it might be simple, but precisely for that reason: it could happen to anyone. And that's the scary part.
I'd give this about 4.5 stars. Charming, sad, endearing and lovely. I really liked this book. It made me cry.
I wasn't immediately in love with the format or Min's voice, but before I knew it, I was hooked and finished it in one sitting. Fans of Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why should give this a try.
I liked Handler's style of writing - the descriptions that go on forever, the echoing refrain of "that, Ed, is why we broke up."
The story was predictable, and I'm sorry to say, a bit resonant.
The art that accompanied the story was lovely, lovely, lovely.
Overall, okay.
The story was predictable, and I'm sorry to say, a bit resonant.
The art that accompanied the story was lovely, lovely, lovely.
Overall, okay.
I don't care that this book got a bunch of poor ratings. I read it straight through, all of it in one sitting (it's 2:27am currently), and it is perfect to me. P.S. After reading some more reviews, I think a big part of why I like the book so much is because, for better or for worse, I like and understand and identify with Min. So there you go.