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justlily's review
Literally made it two pages before the writing style sent me running. This is my second DNF book by Sara Zarr so I think we're officially broken up.
surreptitiously's review
4.0
I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley.
When Elizabeth (EB) receives a letter naming her freshman-year roommate, she's excited. Finally, the idea of college is becoming more tangible! As she reaches out to her future roomie, Lauren, the two become entangled in a series of technological exchanges that spark the beginning of a complex relationship. Starting from the basic platitudes introducing themselves and squaring away the preliminary question of who is bringing what appliances, the girls begin to connect on a deeper level while dealing with the changes taking place and re-examining their family life. Both girls must deal with their families, current friends, and new summer crushes while anticipating a major change that will completely rock their world.
Each girl comes from a different background and upbringing; EB is from the East Coast and has lived with her single mother for most of her life. She's an only child who feels lonely, even around her friends, who seem to have more fun with one another without her. She suffers from the "grass is greener" syndrome. She feels mostly unhappy in her home life and hopes that relocating herself across the country will solve her problems. Lauren lives in Cali with a huge family and is only moving an hour away for college. She stresses over money and taking care of her 5 siblings, so she rarely allows herself downtime by herself or with friends. She hoped to have a single suite and not have to share her living space with a roommate, so she causes the relationship to start of rocky as she tries to remain as inaccessible as possible. She has an air of moral superiority and has her boundaries pushed throughout the course of the novel.
[b:Roomies|17573559|Roomies|Sara Zarr|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1369636433l/17573559._SY75_.jpg|24513624] is an ambitious work that perfectly captures the emotions and complexities of the transition period between graduating high school and starting college. It recreates the nuances of social interactions to a tee with all the overthinking, hidden meaning, and unspoken social rules that come with navigating adult interactions. It lightly deals with sex and virginity; EB feels pressured by her friends and boyfriend for "being a prude," but I love that she stands up for what she wants and owns up to her decisions. The authors also touch on long-distance relationships and friendships coming to a natural end.
A reoccuring theme is technology being a hinderance to really developing a meaningful relationship with someone you've never met, something I feel is an accurate assessment although a little overstated. It is admittedly difficult to discern tone and personality from text, which can lead to insecurities and second-guessing a person's intentions. Lauren is constantly eschewing technology for being impersonal and creating faux personal relationships as exemplified by her constant waffling opinions and wild (negative) assumptions about EB's character. I feel her reasoning has more to do with her unwillingness to open herself up to other people and less of a technological fault.
Roomies is a bittersweet novel that triggers nostalgia from my college days. I recommend this to anyone looking for an emotionally intense YA read. People who have gone (or are about to go) away to college will especially relate.
When Elizabeth (EB) receives a letter naming her freshman-year roommate, she's excited. Finally, the idea of college is becoming more tangible! As she reaches out to her future roomie, Lauren, the two become entangled in a series of technological exchanges that spark the beginning of a complex relationship. Starting from the basic platitudes introducing themselves and squaring away the preliminary question of who is bringing what appliances, the girls begin to connect on a deeper level while dealing with the changes taking place and re-examining their family life. Both girls must deal with their families, current friends, and new summer crushes while anticipating a major change that will completely rock their world.
Each girl comes from a different background and upbringing; EB is from the East Coast and has lived with her single mother for most of her life. She's an only child who feels lonely, even around her friends, who seem to have more fun with one another without her. She suffers from the "grass is greener" syndrome. She feels mostly unhappy in her home life and hopes that relocating herself across the country will solve her problems. Lauren lives in Cali with a huge family and is only moving an hour away for college. She stresses over money and taking care of her 5 siblings, so she rarely allows herself downtime by herself or with friends. She hoped to have a single suite and not have to share her living space with a roommate, so she causes the relationship to start of rocky as she tries to remain as inaccessible as possible. She has an air of moral superiority and has her boundaries pushed throughout the course of the novel.
[b:Roomies|17573559|Roomies|Sara Zarr|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1369636433l/17573559._SY75_.jpg|24513624] is an ambitious work that perfectly captures the emotions and complexities of the transition period between graduating high school and starting college. It recreates the nuances of social interactions to a tee with all the overthinking, hidden meaning, and unspoken social rules that come with navigating adult interactions. It lightly deals with sex and virginity; EB feels pressured by her friends and boyfriend for "being a prude," but I love that she stands up for what she wants and owns up to her decisions. The authors also touch on long-distance relationships and friendships coming to a natural end.
A reoccuring theme is technology being a hinderance to really developing a meaningful relationship with someone you've never met, something I feel is an accurate assessment although a little overstated. It is admittedly difficult to discern tone and personality from text, which can lead to insecurities and second-guessing a person's intentions. Lauren is constantly eschewing technology for being impersonal and creating faux personal relationships as exemplified by her constant waffling opinions and wild (negative) assumptions about EB's character. I feel her reasoning has more to do with her unwillingness to open herself up to other people and less of a technological fault.
Roomies is a bittersweet novel that triggers nostalgia from my college days. I recommend this to anyone looking for an emotionally intense YA read. People who have gone (or are about to go) away to college will especially relate.
inkstndfngrs's review
4.0
A great, quick (for me) read that made me really wish I had connected more with my Freshman roommate... However, it also reminded me of the great friends I -did- make that turbulent year, and the ones I left behind that I am still lucky enough to be friends with today. A solid read for a high school senior, college freshman, or anyone who wants to relive that time of their life.
lisawreading's review
5.0
Two-word review? Loved it!
In this contemporary young adult novel, two girls from opposite sides of the country -- and very different lives -- come together via email, courtesy of their college housing office. Assigned to be freshman roommates, Elizabeth and Lauren spend that in-between summer preparing to say good-bye to their old lives and embark on their new adventure. Meanwhile, in a series of emails, they start with a bare-bones exchange and soon warm up to sharing confidences, secrets, and hopes. But when a discovery and a disagreement threatens to shatter their friendship before they've even met, each girl has to take stock of her own feelings, and figure out how she wants to start her college life.
Roomies captures that sad yet hopeful period in between childhood and adulthood. We see the girls making peace with their families, figuring out how to stay connected yet plan for separation, and try to decide what to hold onto in their new lives.
Simply put, Roomies is insightful without being heavy or talking down. It really rang true for me, and I think the authors do a wonderful job of capturing the excitement and fears of one of life's biggest transitions.
Note: I received a review copy of this book via NetGalley. For more, see my review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
In this contemporary young adult novel, two girls from opposite sides of the country -- and very different lives -- come together via email, courtesy of their college housing office. Assigned to be freshman roommates, Elizabeth and Lauren spend that in-between summer preparing to say good-bye to their old lives and embark on their new adventure. Meanwhile, in a series of emails, they start with a bare-bones exchange and soon warm up to sharing confidences, secrets, and hopes. But when a discovery and a disagreement threatens to shatter their friendship before they've even met, each girl has to take stock of her own feelings, and figure out how she wants to start her college life.
Roomies captures that sad yet hopeful period in between childhood and adulthood. We see the girls making peace with their families, figuring out how to stay connected yet plan for separation, and try to decide what to hold onto in their new lives.
Simply put, Roomies is insightful without being heavy or talking down. It really rang true for me, and I think the authors do a wonderful job of capturing the excitement and fears of one of life's biggest transitions.
Note: I received a review copy of this book via NetGalley. For more, see my review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
heyjudy's review
4.0
~4-4.5/5
[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]
I am really surprised by this, but I kind of loved this book. I was expecting to like it, but not this much.
I love the idea in the first place, of two people getting to know each other before they become college roommates. I also enjoyed that this book showed how easily it is to misunderstand each other through text--that you can make a friend through the internet, through text only, but also that you can have disagreements and overcome them—and how easy it is to misinterpret something someone else says without the visual. The two main characters do not hit it off right away, and they have a couple of fights along the way.
Lauren was my favorite, by quite a bit. She’s a little hard-edged, a little afraid to really get close with someone, unsure what to do with herself, how to deal with her life changing. I loved her family, how big it is and how close they are, even if they drive each other crazy. I liked her friend Zoe, how different they are but how they’re there for each other.
I also just really related to Lauren, I think. I understand why she’s having a hard time with her life changing. How she wants to go away, but she also doesn’t want anything to change. How she wants one thing, but also the other. I get that.
I extremely liked her guy, Keyon. He’s fun and sweet and real and insecure. The two of them together is great, their chemistry and the way they hit it off, and how they dealt with their moving away for college. He’s also black, and I kind of enjoyed how that was handled, and how sometimes it just wasn’t a Thing.
I did like Elizabeth, but not as much. She goes through a lot during this summer, and I feel bad for her. She grows up a lot, though, and that’s good.
Mostly, I think I just didn’t connect with her as much, or think there was quite as much development. In particular, I didn’t feel the chemistry between her and Mark enough. Plus, I think her mother made a change a little too quickly, although I did like her in the end. Her dad was a jerk.
Overall, I really, really enjoyed this book. It was easy to get pulled into, I didn’t want to put it down. And I will definitely be picking up another book by the author of Lauren, which I think is Sara Zarr? (Which surprised me, since I've read a couple of her earlier books, and this one was much better in writing.)
[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]
I am really surprised by this, but I kind of loved this book. I was expecting to like it, but not this much.
I love the idea in the first place, of two people getting to know each other before they become college roommates. I also enjoyed that this book showed how easily it is to misunderstand each other through text--that you can make a friend through the internet, through text only, but also that you can have disagreements and overcome them—and how easy it is to misinterpret something someone else says without the visual. The two main characters do not hit it off right away, and they have a couple of fights along the way.
Lauren was my favorite, by quite a bit. She’s a little hard-edged, a little afraid to really get close with someone, unsure what to do with herself, how to deal with her life changing. I loved her family, how big it is and how close they are, even if they drive each other crazy. I liked her friend Zoe, how different they are but how they’re there for each other.
I also just really related to Lauren, I think. I understand why she’s having a hard time with her life changing. How she wants to go away, but she also doesn’t want anything to change. How she wants one thing, but also the other. I get that.
I extremely liked her guy, Keyon. He’s fun and sweet and real and insecure. The two of them together is great, their chemistry and the way they hit it off, and how they dealt with their moving away for college. He’s also black, and I kind of enjoyed how that was handled, and how sometimes it just wasn’t a Thing.
I did like Elizabeth, but not as much. She goes through a lot during this summer, and I feel bad for her. She grows up a lot, though, and that’s good.
Mostly, I think I just didn’t connect with her as much, or think there was quite as much development. In particular, I didn’t feel the chemistry between her and Mark enough. Plus, I think her mother made a change a little too quickly, although I did like her in the end. Her dad was a jerk.
Overall, I really, really enjoyed this book. It was easy to get pulled into, I didn’t want to put it down. And I will definitely be picking up another book by the author of Lauren, which I think is Sara Zarr? (Which surprised me, since I've read a couple of her earlier books, and this one was much better in writing.)
bookslifeandeverythingnice's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed Roomies by Sara Zarr. I listened to it as an audiobook, which I highly recommend. I've found that not all books are enjoyable as audiobooks, but Roomies definitely is great this way. The story takes us through Lauren and Elizabeth's journey during their last summer before starting college. They find out they will be college roommates, at the beginning of the summer. Lauren lives on the west coast and Elizabeth on the east. They spend the summer communicating mainly via email. This fact brings up the thought, is it easier to communicate difficult feelings to close friends whom you've known for awhile and in person or is it easier to talk to new acquaintances online? The characters ponder this and more, which I find very relevant as social media becomes more prevalent. Lauren and Elizabeth spend the summer trying to prepare for living a semi independent life away from home while still maintaining good relationships with their families. It's a life lesson that a lot of people can relate to. Overall I found Roomies by Sara Zarr to be fun, meaningful but light hearted, and relatable to many people.
brandypainter's review
4.0
Originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
The summer between senior year of high school and freshman year of college is an exhilarating and terrifying time in life. Torn between nostalgia for the past and excitement for the future, it is a summer where everything is changing and yet a person tries to hold on (to varying degrees depending on the person) to what they are leaving behind. Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando captures this precarious and brief time period beautifully.
Roomies is a fascinating look at this one brief but major point in the lives of many young people. The dynamic between Elizabeth and Lauren is complicated. On the one hand, they will be living together, sharing the same small space for at least a year. On the other hand, they are largely anonymous at the time they are emailing each other and they sort of use that (and each other) as a way of unloading a lot of their secrets, fears, and musings on the world in general. It is an exchange that can only take place in the era where it so easy to hit that send button and so instantly regret it. There is an interesting commentary underlying it all on how we judge online interactions and build a person around words on a screen. It was a pivotal moment when Lauren suddenly thinks of Elizabeth as a person outside of the words they have been typing back and forth. At the same time this is a fairly typical YA story. Two fairly typical stories actually about two girls whose lives are changing and the ways in which they are coping with that (or not). Taken apart the stories have nothing about them to make them stand out from everything else. Put them together, tied by the emails that are part of both of their coping mechanisms, and you get a richer story that is about more than just one person and a life changing experience. It is about relationships, how we build them and tear them down, and how it is possible to simultaneously hold on and let go.
Lauren is the character whose life I was able to relate to the most. She is a focused and driven. She has earned a full scholarship and works two jobs while also helping her parents out with her six younger siblings. She has great supportive parents and a wonderful home. She worked so hard through most of high school that she never had time to just relax and have fun. She comes across as judgmental even when she is trying to be diplomatic, but is also genuinely trying to figure out what she believes about things. (Like how important or not her virginity is.) Elizabeth comes from a single parent home. Her father is gay and left her mom, but in the process he abandoned her too. She hasn't seen him since she was seven. Her greatest wish is to get as far away from her small town and small life as she can. Her life comes with a lot of drama (soap opera drama as she calls it-Lauren's response to that was my favorite email in the book). I truly think I would not have liked either of their stories much separately. Together though, they work really well. Despite being able to relate to Lauren more, I had more sympathy for Elizabeth and felt like her character was more rounded. Both girls have boys in their stories and while I don't think either romance was amazing, I did like both boys. I also liked that they were there, because I think that it is fairly typical to use a romantic connection as a way to hold you to what you are leaving behind at this time in life. I do like the realistic way the future of both relationships was looked at by all involved.
I enjoyed the time I spent reading Roomies and the thoughts (and memories) that it inspired. It is certainly a book that anyone who is or has experienced this transition could relate to.
The summer between senior year of high school and freshman year of college is an exhilarating and terrifying time in life. Torn between nostalgia for the past and excitement for the future, it is a summer where everything is changing and yet a person tries to hold on (to varying degrees depending on the person) to what they are leaving behind. Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando captures this precarious and brief time period beautifully.
Roomies is a fascinating look at this one brief but major point in the lives of many young people. The dynamic between Elizabeth and Lauren is complicated. On the one hand, they will be living together, sharing the same small space for at least a year. On the other hand, they are largely anonymous at the time they are emailing each other and they sort of use that (and each other) as a way of unloading a lot of their secrets, fears, and musings on the world in general. It is an exchange that can only take place in the era where it so easy to hit that send button and so instantly regret it. There is an interesting commentary underlying it all on how we judge online interactions and build a person around words on a screen. It was a pivotal moment when Lauren suddenly thinks of Elizabeth as a person outside of the words they have been typing back and forth. At the same time this is a fairly typical YA story. Two fairly typical stories actually about two girls whose lives are changing and the ways in which they are coping with that (or not). Taken apart the stories have nothing about them to make them stand out from everything else. Put them together, tied by the emails that are part of both of their coping mechanisms, and you get a richer story that is about more than just one person and a life changing experience. It is about relationships, how we build them and tear them down, and how it is possible to simultaneously hold on and let go.
Lauren is the character whose life I was able to relate to the most. She is a focused and driven. She has earned a full scholarship and works two jobs while also helping her parents out with her six younger siblings. She has great supportive parents and a wonderful home. She worked so hard through most of high school that she never had time to just relax and have fun. She comes across as judgmental even when she is trying to be diplomatic, but is also genuinely trying to figure out what she believes about things. (Like how important or not her virginity is.) Elizabeth comes from a single parent home. Her father is gay and left her mom, but in the process he abandoned her too. She hasn't seen him since she was seven. Her greatest wish is to get as far away from her small town and small life as she can. Her life comes with a lot of drama (soap opera drama as she calls it-Lauren's response to that was my favorite email in the book). I truly think I would not have liked either of their stories much separately. Together though, they work really well. Despite being able to relate to Lauren more, I had more sympathy for Elizabeth and felt like her character was more rounded. Both girls have boys in their stories and while I don't think either romance was amazing, I did like both boys. I also liked that they were there, because I think that it is fairly typical to use a romantic connection as a way to hold you to what you are leaving behind at this time in life. I do like the realistic way the future of both relationships was looked at by all involved.
I enjoyed the time I spent reading Roomies and the thoughts (and memories) that it inspired. It is certainly a book that anyone who is or has experienced this transition could relate to.
dianametzger's review
4.0
A very sweet, realistic story of two college soon to be roommates trading emails during the summer before college. This is such a soft spot to me so it hit me where my heart lives. Really well drawn out characters. I fell in love with the characters so much I wished there was a sequel to find out how everything went.