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2.64 AVERAGE
2.64 AVERAGE
The ending has left my mind in shambles. The novel was not what I had expected it to be, but that wasn’t necessarily bad. I will say I’d like to have been in a better mindset as of what to expect from this book but I did enjoy it nonetheless.
The second-person narration works better than expected, but it can't save the complete lack of subtlety.
Znova som nemala veľmi šťastnú ruku na výber knihy. Preto radšej nebudem ani písať nejakú mega dlhú recenziu. Len v krátkosti čo sa mi nepáčilo a samozrejme nájdem aj niečo čo sa mi páčilo.
Od knihy som čakala niečo úplne iné, než som dostala. Keďže posledná kniha, ktorú som čítala nebola veľmi dobrá, chcela som oddychovú YA knihu. Ale príbeh bol nudný, strašne zamotaný. Po polovici knihy som mala pocit, že sama autorka nevie čo píše a sama sa „domotala“.
Dej šiel neskutočne rýchlo a chýbalo tam veľa vecí. Akoby kniha nemala žiadne detaily a nepreniesla sa na mňa žiadna emócia. Zápletka a zvraty boli predvídateľné a hneď ste na všetko prišli. Chýbal aj podrobnejší popis postáv a ich charakterových čŕt, takže som si nevedela s postavami vytvoriť nejaký vzťah.
Ale aby som len nereptala, kniha mala aj svoje svetlejšie momenty a našli ste tam aj pár krásnych myšlienok. Navyše mi ulahodilo aj rozprávanie v druhej osobe, keďže sa s tým stretávam v knihách málo. Bolo to zaujímavé ale dosť čudné čítanie.
Od knihy som čakala niečo úplne iné, než som dostala. Keďže posledná kniha, ktorú som čítala nebola veľmi dobrá, chcela som oddychovú YA knihu. Ale príbeh bol nudný, strašne zamotaný. Po polovici knihy som mala pocit, že sama autorka nevie čo píše a sama sa „domotala“.
Dej šiel neskutočne rýchlo a chýbalo tam veľa vecí. Akoby kniha nemala žiadne detaily a nepreniesla sa na mňa žiadna emócia. Zápletka a zvraty boli predvídateľné a hneď ste na všetko prišli. Chýbal aj podrobnejší popis postáv a ich charakterových čŕt, takže som si nevedela s postavami vytvoriť nejaký vzťah.
Ale aby som len nereptala, kniha mala aj svoje svetlejšie momenty a našli ste tam aj pár krásnych myšlienok. Navyše mi ulahodilo aj rozprávanie v druhej osobe, keďže sa s tým stretávam v knihách málo. Bolo to zaujímavé ale dosť čudné čítanie.
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This piece originally appeared in the Washington Independent Review of Books:
Sixteen-year-old Elyse Schmidt is eager to get home to California. Anywhere is acceptable, as long as it's away from the damp Parisian air that irritates her Junior Idiopathic Arthritis (or "Junky Idiotic Arthritis," as she calls it) and all of the things that didn't happen on her trip: romance, kissing, and, most disappointing of all, bonding with her longtime crush, Josh Harris.
Elyse and her school band had been “in Paris to play in a band festival, which turned out to be no different from every band festival in America," except this time, Elyse was hungover and played badly, and her band placed third. On the plane home, she wishes she could "undo everything, especially the stupid fight" she's in with her best friend, Kath.
But she can't, which becomes painfully clear as the plane continues its progress home.
Elyse's wish for something to happen on the plane, "something that would make this trip worthwhile after all," goes horribly awry when the plane crashes, leaving Elyse and Josh as the only survivors.
During the disaster, Elyse reminds herself of all of the things that she never made time for before: "You never went to Wyoming. You never fell in love. You never decided who you were going to be. You never finished your graphic novel. You didn’t live long enough to warrant an autobiography. You never thought of a good name for the YouTube channel that you never started."
She hopes to do things differently if she has a second chance.
Elyse is "aware of deciding" of choosing between living and dying. Then it's a few months later. Elyse is in Wyoming. Despite the horrendous losses (of Kath, of her classmates, of her own eye), her new life could be pulled from the pages of the graphic novel she never finished: Me and Josh Harris: A Love Story.
She always knew she “might be able to make the story real if [she] want[ed] it badly enough,” and now, in Wyoming, she and Josh are finally together. She is "the girl who was dead and is now alive.” She is Josh Harris’ girlfriend — part of the couple everyone else at school wants to talk about. She is happy. This, Elyse knows, “is what dreams look like when they come true.”
She still isn’t as confident as she could be, but after the crash, Elyse realizes that she is “so much braver and sharper, as though the crash carved off [her] dull edges, leaving [her] as glistening and dangerous as a razor."
Her brain doesn’t work the way it did before. Time doesn’t pass the same way. Elyse tries to ignore these changes and what they mean, but slowly, painfully, she sees how spotty her memory has become and how the pieces of her new life don't quite fit together the way they should.
Elyse realizes that "it's only possible to ignore an obvious truth for so long before you have to acknowledge it" and is forced to confront what really happened during the crash, along with all of the regrets that come with that reality.
Memories and dreams blend with the visceral reality of the crash. This heady story capitalizes on the reader's limited point of view to give the novel's conclusion the most impact. The stream-of-consciousness style and sweeping tone of Elyse's second-person narration are striking contrasts to the pace of the story, much of which is set on Elyse's flight home.
The unusual choice to write the novel in second person lends an immediacy to the text and gives each pronouncement more impact as the story builds toward its poignant conclusion: "Your mouth is full of blood and teeth and regret for all the things you didn’t do and you are crying for the year when you were seventeen, which isn’t going to happen."
While parts of the story feel emotionally manipulative, the blend of affecting prose and a character-driven plot make for a smart and sometimes surprising premise. Readers of books in the vein of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart or A Room Away from the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma may guess the novel's inevitable outcome long before Elyse herself does.
You Are the Everything is an emotional novel about unmet potential and missed connections, resignation, and acceptance, and, at its center, a girl who never had the chance to finish deciding what kind of person she wanted to become. "Just a splice in time when all of the everything can happen that will ever happen and now you can just stop trying so hard, you can just let go."
Possible Pairings: But Then I Came Back by Estelle Laure, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan, A Room Away From the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma
Sixteen-year-old Elyse Schmidt is eager to get home to California. Anywhere is acceptable, as long as it's away from the damp Parisian air that irritates her Junior Idiopathic Arthritis (or "Junky Idiotic Arthritis," as she calls it) and all of the things that didn't happen on her trip: romance, kissing, and, most disappointing of all, bonding with her longtime crush, Josh Harris.
Elyse and her school band had been “in Paris to play in a band festival, which turned out to be no different from every band festival in America," except this time, Elyse was hungover and played badly, and her band placed third. On the plane home, she wishes she could "undo everything, especially the stupid fight" she's in with her best friend, Kath.
But she can't, which becomes painfully clear as the plane continues its progress home.
Elyse's wish for something to happen on the plane, "something that would make this trip worthwhile after all," goes horribly awry when the plane crashes, leaving Elyse and Josh as the only survivors.
During the disaster, Elyse reminds herself of all of the things that she never made time for before: "You never went to Wyoming. You never fell in love. You never decided who you were going to be. You never finished your graphic novel. You didn’t live long enough to warrant an autobiography. You never thought of a good name for the YouTube channel that you never started."
She hopes to do things differently if she has a second chance.
Elyse is "aware of deciding" of choosing between living and dying. Then it's a few months later. Elyse is in Wyoming. Despite the horrendous losses (of Kath, of her classmates, of her own eye), her new life could be pulled from the pages of the graphic novel she never finished: Me and Josh Harris: A Love Story.
She always knew she “might be able to make the story real if [she] want[ed] it badly enough,” and now, in Wyoming, she and Josh are finally together. She is "the girl who was dead and is now alive.” She is Josh Harris’ girlfriend — part of the couple everyone else at school wants to talk about. She is happy. This, Elyse knows, “is what dreams look like when they come true.”
She still isn’t as confident as she could be, but after the crash, Elyse realizes that she is “so much braver and sharper, as though the crash carved off [her] dull edges, leaving [her] as glistening and dangerous as a razor."
Her brain doesn’t work the way it did before. Time doesn’t pass the same way. Elyse tries to ignore these changes and what they mean, but slowly, painfully, she sees how spotty her memory has become and how the pieces of her new life don't quite fit together the way they should.
Elyse realizes that "it's only possible to ignore an obvious truth for so long before you have to acknowledge it" and is forced to confront what really happened during the crash, along with all of the regrets that come with that reality.
Memories and dreams blend with the visceral reality of the crash. This heady story capitalizes on the reader's limited point of view to give the novel's conclusion the most impact. The stream-of-consciousness style and sweeping tone of Elyse's second-person narration are striking contrasts to the pace of the story, much of which is set on Elyse's flight home.
The unusual choice to write the novel in second person lends an immediacy to the text and gives each pronouncement more impact as the story builds toward its poignant conclusion: "Your mouth is full of blood and teeth and regret for all the things you didn’t do and you are crying for the year when you were seventeen, which isn’t going to happen."
While parts of the story feel emotionally manipulative, the blend of affecting prose and a character-driven plot make for a smart and sometimes surprising premise. Readers of books in the vein of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart or A Room Away from the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma may guess the novel's inevitable outcome long before Elyse herself does.
You Are the Everything is an emotional novel about unmet potential and missed connections, resignation, and acceptance, and, at its center, a girl who never had the chance to finish deciding what kind of person she wanted to become. "Just a splice in time when all of the everything can happen that will ever happen and now you can just stop trying so hard, you can just let go."
Possible Pairings: But Then I Came Back by Estelle Laure, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan, A Room Away From the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma
I tried. I tried really hard, but the constant use of "you" was annoying me to no end. I don't like perspectives where it's like I'm in the book. If I wanted that, I would read a chose your own adventure novel not a YA contemporary. We're dropped in the middle of a whole lot of drama too. I don't mind drama (okay I love drama), but the fact that there's so much going on when we know nothing about the characters is a little much. Especially when it is followed by a very unlikely to happen to anyone plane crash.
*Thank you to Netgalley for this review copy. All opinions are my own*
*Thank you to Netgalley for this review copy. All opinions are my own*
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I quit. I can’t. I won’t. I refuse. DNF’ed at 63%-page 174. Who ever said it was a good idea to publish this book, was wrong. Reviews about this book promised an unbelievable ending, a fantastic discussion surrounding mental health, and anxiety, and trauma/ptsd, and a healthy relationship to boot.
The relationship was problematic, the characters were problematic, the “conversations around mental health, anxiety, trauma/ptsd” didn’t really exist but still managed to be problematic, and the ending was not worth.
Everything I was promised, was not delivered and I want my money back or the book burns... I’m joking... I think... Not really, somebody hand me a match.
No rating, because that seemed like a better option than giving this book ANY stars.
The relationship was problematic, the characters were problematic, the “conversations around mental health, anxiety, trauma/ptsd” didn’t really exist but still managed to be problematic, and the ending was not worth.
Everything I was promised, was not delivered and I want my money back or the book burns... I’m joking... I think... Not really, somebody hand me a match.
No rating, because that seemed like a better option than giving this book ANY stars.
3.5 stars
A very odd and interesting narrative. The last part had my heart pounding. I love such odd books and love how the writer created the story. It was fast and lovely.