Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
Not as good as the 'Pants' series, but worth the read!
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:
Yes
I enjoyed this book. Ann Bra shared is wonderful at creating these unforgettable friendships. Things that would have made it even better?
* if Brad here's had left out the storyline connection to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It wasn't necessary. This book could have stood on its own. Because of this connection, I ended up disliking Effie from the Pants series.
* I liked the willow tree motif, but felt the. quotes and anecdotes between chapters seemed a bit forced. They were not nearly as good as the quotes Brashares used in the Pants series.
* I felt that in the skipping around of the stories, not enough of the stories was told. This book felt sparse in a way.
Things I was pleasantly surprised about-
* Brashares making one of the characters black. I found the aspects about Ama's hair true for a black girl. At the same time, there were moments when I felt I couldn't tell what color Ama was, and I liked that because most of our stories are universal.
*even though it started out as a middle grade book, it is clearly intended for older middle grade. She got the voice and perspectives right in that regard.
* if Brad here's had left out the storyline connection to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It wasn't necessary. This book could have stood on its own. Because of this connection, I ended up disliking Effie from the Pants series.
* I liked the willow tree motif, but felt the. quotes and anecdotes between chapters seemed a bit forced. They were not nearly as good as the quotes Brashares used in the Pants series.
* I felt that in the skipping around of the stories, not enough of the stories was told. This book felt sparse in a way.
Things I was pleasantly surprised about-
* Brashares making one of the characters black. I found the aspects about Ama's hair true for a black girl. At the same time, there were moments when I felt I couldn't tell what color Ama was, and I liked that because most of our stories are universal.
*even though it started out as a middle grade book, it is clearly intended for older middle grade. She got the voice and perspectives right in that regard.
I was really surprised with this book, I almost stopped reading this because it just seemed like a sad spin off of the Sisterhood but it turned out very much it's own book. It's great how their stories turn out.
I bought 3 Willows a year and some months ago when it was first released. I am a huge fan of the Sisterhood of Traveling Pants novels (the series is one of my favorites) and was excited when I picked it up. Yet, I've been putting off reading it because since it was dealing with girls younger than the main characters of the Sisterhood series, I thought that it'd be a bit too juvenile for me. Well, I was completely wrong and am a little bit ashamed of thinking that way (considering I'm a huge YA fan and know that a lot of people look their noses down at it and don't consider it "real" literature) because I found it extremely good.
What I loved about the novel was that it was slightly more "real" than the Sisterhood of Traveling Pants series (and before people get annoyed at me for bringing up Brashares previous series, let me just write that it's absolutely impossible to write about 3 Willows and not mention the Sisterhood series as they are sort of in conjuction with each other). In 3 Willows, the girls are trying to find a way to remain friends even though they are all headed in different directions. They actually have to work a bit more harder at this since they don't have the advantage of having magical pants at their disposal. This makes it much more relateable as I don't think any group of friends has a pair of magical jeans to help them remain true to each other (although then again, who knows?).
I especially loved the characters. This was something that I was worried about before, not connecting much with the characters because it's been a while since I was a middle school graduate. But I found that gradually I got invested in the characters. While I didn't love them as much as I did Tibby, Lena, Bridget, and Carmen, I still felt for the problems that they had to endure and cheered when they ended up victorious (or at least somewhat victorious).
There were a couple of things that nagged me about 3 Willows, though. While I loved the characters as individuals, I found that it was hard for me to completely buy their friendship at first. I could see how they would become friends, but I could also see how easy it was for them to drift apart because they didn't seem like the "bestest" friends to begin with. They seemed like friends, but they didn't seem to have that connection with each other they way the Sisterhood did. Because of that I found that I wasn't really connected to the friendship aspect of the novel until the end.
Another thing that bothered me was that the Sisterhood (the original ones) were well-known in the novel and were regarded as a mystical group. Everyone looked at them as though they were untouchable and everyone knew about the magical pants. For some reason, I always thought that the Sisterhood would keep the power of the pants a secret. If not from their family, then at least from outsiders. Anyway, the constant mentioning of them kept taking me out of the story of Ama, Jo, and Polly and more into the world of Tibby, Lena, Bridget, and Carmen. It would've been fine if they were just mentioned once or twice, but not as much as they were. Also, Effie (Lena's sister) was in this novel and she was a complete and total bitch. I was one of those people who was endeared by Effie in the Sisterhood novels and liked her brief parts in the books. So having her come back, as the Devil Incarnate severely pissed me off. It would have been better if a random unknown character took her part in the book.
Anyway, despite my small problems with 3 Willows, I loved it. I thought it was a sweet, cute, story. It wasn't as enchanting as The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants series, but that can be because I got to know the original Sisterhood throughout four amazing novels and have only known Sisterhood 2.0 for one novel. Still, while I liked the original Sisterhood better, 3 Willows was still good in it's own right. I, for one, am hoping that there is a sequel in the works (but I haven't heard anything about this so maybe there won't be) so that I can revisit with Ama, Jo, and Polly and see what's going on with their lives in the summer after their first year of high school. 3 Willows is a novel that I recommend to any YA lover and I don't regret reading it, just regret putting it off for as long as I have.
What I loved about the novel was that it was slightly more "real" than the Sisterhood of Traveling Pants series (and before people get annoyed at me for bringing up Brashares previous series, let me just write that it's absolutely impossible to write about 3 Willows and not mention the Sisterhood series as they are sort of in conjuction with each other). In 3 Willows, the girls are trying to find a way to remain friends even though they are all headed in different directions. They actually have to work a bit more harder at this since they don't have the advantage of having magical pants at their disposal. This makes it much more relateable as I don't think any group of friends has a pair of magical jeans to help them remain true to each other (although then again, who knows?).
I especially loved the characters. This was something that I was worried about before, not connecting much with the characters because it's been a while since I was a middle school graduate. But I found that gradually I got invested in the characters. While I didn't love them as much as I did Tibby, Lena, Bridget, and Carmen, I still felt for the problems that they had to endure and cheered when they ended up victorious (or at least somewhat victorious).
There were a couple of things that nagged me about 3 Willows, though. While I loved the characters as individuals, I found that it was hard for me to completely buy their friendship at first. I could see how they would become friends, but I could also see how easy it was for them to drift apart because they didn't seem like the "bestest" friends to begin with. They seemed like friends, but they didn't seem to have that connection with each other they way the Sisterhood did. Because of that I found that I wasn't really connected to the friendship aspect of the novel until the end.
Another thing that bothered me was that the Sisterhood (the original ones) were well-known in the novel and were regarded as a mystical group. Everyone looked at them as though they were untouchable and everyone knew about the magical pants. For some reason, I always thought that the Sisterhood would keep the power of the pants a secret. If not from their family, then at least from outsiders. Anyway, the constant mentioning of them kept taking me out of the story of Ama, Jo, and Polly and more into the world of Tibby, Lena, Bridget, and Carmen. It would've been fine if they were just mentioned once or twice, but not as much as they were. Also, Effie (Lena's sister) was in this novel and she was a complete and total bitch. I was one of those people who was endeared by Effie in the Sisterhood novels and liked her brief parts in the books. So having her come back, as the Devil Incarnate severely pissed me off. It would have been better if a random unknown character took her part in the book.
Anyway, despite my small problems with 3 Willows, I loved it. I thought it was a sweet, cute, story. It wasn't as enchanting as The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants series, but that can be because I got to know the original Sisterhood throughout four amazing novels and have only known Sisterhood 2.0 for one novel. Still, while I liked the original Sisterhood better, 3 Willows was still good in it's own right. I, for one, am hoping that there is a sequel in the works (but I haven't heard anything about this so maybe there won't be) so that I can revisit with Ama, Jo, and Polly and see what's going on with their lives in the summer after their first year of high school. 3 Willows is a novel that I recommend to any YA lover and I don't regret reading it, just regret putting it off for as long as I have.
I loved this book. I read it in 2 days which is fast for me because I do have other things I have to do besides read. I thought it was very believable. The three girls, Jo, Ama & Polly, were typical "about to enter high school" girls. They weren't sure their friendship would last, and they had issues of their own. As I read, I got involved in each of their lives and the book ended predictably, but I wanted it to end that way. A great book.
I grabbed this book because it was written by Ann Brashares, and I'm the type of person who sometimes reads books simply because they are by authors who are familiar to me. I'm not a Ann Brashares fan; I was just too lazy to find books. (This isn't to say that I absolutely despise her writing; I'm just not a fan.)
Anyways, on to the actual review part. After reading most of her other books, I'm used to (and I basically expected) high school-aged or older main characters, so to start reading about middle schoolers (going to high school, I know, but they're still middle schoolers,) threw me off a little bit. I guess because I wasn't expecting to read about middle schoolers, I found the story rather simple. The language and tone got almost excruciatingly hard to read. The characters were annoying at times, and I didn't think the plot was anything extraordinary. Shallow. That's how I'd describe 3 Willows in one word.
Though there were definitely moments when I wanted to bang my head against my palm or the wall, this book wasn't completely horrible. This book isn't really a part of the "Sisterhood" series, but Brashares does tie in small elements from the series into this book, which I have to admit I found kind of cute.
I also really enjoyed how the book explored the relationship between friendship and the passage of time. There were a few moments of touching insight that made me go, "aww," but I felt like it was buried under everything else. There wasn't much depth to the book. I felt both the story and the characters were extremely shallow, which made it hard for me to relate to or even care about the book. A few bright spots, but an overall disappointing book.
Anyways, on to the actual review part. After reading most of her other books, I'm used to (and I basically expected) high school-aged or older main characters, so to start reading about middle schoolers (going to high school, I know, but they're still middle schoolers,) threw me off a little bit. I guess because I wasn't expecting to read about middle schoolers, I found the story rather simple. The language and tone got almost excruciatingly hard to read. The characters were annoying at times, and I didn't think the plot was anything extraordinary. Shallow. That's how I'd describe 3 Willows in one word.
Though there were definitely moments when I wanted to bang my head against my palm or the wall, this book wasn't completely horrible. This book isn't really a part of the "Sisterhood" series, but Brashares does tie in small elements from the series into this book, which I have to admit I found kind of cute.
I also really enjoyed how the book explored the relationship between friendship and the passage of time. There were a few moments of touching insight that made me go, "aww," but I felt like it was buried under everything else. There wasn't much depth to the book. I felt both the story and the characters were extremely shallow, which made it hard for me to relate to or even care about the book. A few bright spots, but an overall disappointing book.
3 Willows is a great book, both charming and wonderful. It centers on the challenges of friendship and growing up in a well-written and fun read. The different points of view of each girl, as they struggle through changes within themselves and their friendship is unique, and Brashares narrates all three stories without much confusion. Each girl is simple and different, and explained with such detail that you are likely to find one to relate to, if not all of them. This book is separate from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but anyone who has not read the Sisterhood books can enjoy this book greatly like I have, since I haven't read any of them either. I will defintely pick up more of her books soon because I really loved her writing style.