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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
after reading fairy tale i needed to reboot my brain and this worked perfectly, so cute!
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this as a horror story. Obviously April either was immediately eaten by the starving polar bear and the rest of the story was her dying dream or afterlife; OR April experienced a mental break after the death of her mother combined with the utter abandonment by her father, and the rest of the story was a hallucination. At no point was I able to read this as a remotely realistic fiction, or even as magical realism. I just could not. The disconnect between the feel-good activism and the obvious dark and gory dread that shadowed April was simply too much.
To be fair to the author, as a kid I probably would have eaten this book up, suspended ALL the disbelief in order to go along with April's relationship with the polar bear, and thrilled to her activist commitment. But I could not suspend that disbelief in the utterly hardcore way the story required.
I loved the inspiration for the story as well as the message that goes hard about doing what we can to save the planet. I liked April as a character, and thought both she and her father deserved to have more attention paid to their grief, which had apparently been many years festering (this was not a fresh wound). And I desperately wanted to simply enjoy the story.
To be fair to the author, as a kid I probably would have eaten this book up, suspended ALL the disbelief in order to go along with April's relationship with the polar bear, and thrilled to her activist commitment. But I could not suspend that disbelief in the utterly hardcore way the story required.
I loved the inspiration for the story as well as the message that goes hard about doing what we can to save the planet. I liked April as a character, and thought both she and her father deserved to have more attention paid to their grief, which had apparently been many years festering (this was not a fresh wound). And I desperately wanted to simply enjoy the story.