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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
I honestly don’t know where to begin with this review. This book moved me in such a personal and emotional way that I’m not even sure I’ll be able to fully relay that to you all in this review through words.
The best way to describe it is that this book made me want to dance. For context I used to be a dancer and found that when I was feeling emotional and upset I needed to dance in order to sort out and express those emotions. That is what this book made me want to do.
While I have not gone through exactly what Clew was going through in this book, I have shared so many of her same emotions and feelings which Niven described to a T.
From the feeling of friendship slipping away, to the symbolic floor disappearing from under your feet, to also the more simple feelings of being scared of change and what the future may bring.
I found many similarities between me andClew and I think that is what made the story so much more emotional and personal for me.
And while a lot of what I felt was sadness during this book, it also gave me hope. It allowed me to see that while everything may not be okay right now, they would be eventually, and I would get through it because I had to.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the ending of the book - purely because it was beautiful and genius and all I wanted was more.
I am definitely planning to read more of Niven’s works in the future.
The best way to describe it is that this book made me want to dance. For context I used to be a dancer and found that when I was feeling emotional and upset I needed to dance in order to sort out and express those emotions. That is what this book made me want to do.
While I have not gone through exactly what Clew was going through in this book, I have shared so many of her same emotions and feelings which Niven described to a T.
From the feeling of friendship slipping away, to the symbolic floor disappearing from under your feet, to also the more simple feelings of being scared of change and what the future may bring.
I found many similarities between me andClew and I think that is what made the story so much more emotional and personal for me.
And while a lot of what I felt was sadness during this book, it also gave me hope. It allowed me to see that while everything may not be okay right now, they would be eventually, and I would get through it because I had to.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the ending of the book - purely because it was beautiful and genius and all I wanted was more.
I am definitely planning to read more of Niven’s works in the future.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
i'm not sure why i keep reading jennifer niven's books because there's something about her writing style that really grates on me. it feels like she's trying really hard to be profound and deep, but she just cant quite pull it off. i don't know, maybe many many years of reading YA contemporary has made me bitter and immune to half-baked philosophy.
focusing more on this book, i'm torn. the concept, i love: there's something about holidays to quirky places and finding love that i go insane for. but the characters kind of spoiled it for me and i really really hated being stuck in claudine's head because she was so annoying. some of the shittier things she did just...didn't seem justified. she came across as really self absorbed and spoilt. characters like wednesday and jared seemed like afterthoughts. and i wish we found out more about the island's history and her mum's project.
definitely not the worst young adult novel i've read, but very far from being the best.
focusing more on this book, i'm torn. the concept, i love: there's something about holidays to quirky places and finding love that i go insane for. but the characters kind of spoiled it for me and i really really hated being stuck in claudine's head because she was so annoying. some of the shittier things she did just...didn't seem justified. she came across as really self absorbed and spoilt. characters like wednesday and jared seemed like afterthoughts. and i wish we found out more about the island's history and her mum's project.
definitely not the worst young adult novel i've read, but very far from being the best.
Just could NOT get on board and connected with the teenage love dynamic in this book. Truly did not care about either of them. Wished there was more of the best friend dynamic, but the author took that away by bringing the main character to a friggin island with her mom. I also couldn’t get over that aspect either. Not memorable and will not miss the story. This was me reading this book after All the Bright Places, which I enjoyed much more.
This book felt like a desperate attempt at a bestseller, I thought reading a book from one of my favorite authors would het me out of my slump but nope. Still there.
It felt like a book that could be awesome but I just didn’t like the writing. Perhaps it’s also the fact that I’ve been reading more fantasy books and adult romances but still.
Maybe I’m just projecting my stress onto this book. But it just didn’t meet my expectations for it.
It felt like a book that could be awesome but I just didn’t like the writing. Perhaps it’s also the fact that I’ve been reading more fantasy books and adult romances but still.
Maybe I’m just projecting my stress onto this book. But it just didn’t meet my expectations for it.
got me out of my reading slump. good story. dialogue was confusing at times
2023 reads: 290/350
2023 tbr: 69/100
claude’s world turns upside down when her dad announces he’s leaving her mom, which leads to claude and her mom spending the summer on an island off the coast of georgia. there, she meets jeremiah (or just miah), who she’s determined to lose her virginity to, even though she tells herself nothing will come of it, since there’s no time to develop feelings.
i think i just need to give up on books with sex as a central theme because they’re not my thing. for some reason, i went into this not knowing how big of a theme this was, so it came as kind of a surprise to me. looking back on the description, though, i see that this was my fault. i also didn’t really connect with the writing nor did i care much about claude (though i did feel bad for her situation). this isn’t to say i didn’t enjoy this book whatsoever; i did like some aspects, such as the depiction of divorce.
“If tears don’t come out as tears, they’re going to come out some other way.”
Kid trying to grapple with parent’s divorce, friendship troubles and firsts. Didn’t like it, writing was trying to be profound but failed. Perhaps because I’m no longer a teenage, I didn’t enjoy it. Didn’t really like Miah as a love interest, he’s just an island boy who makes art out of bones?? the lovey dovey stuff gave me the ick. Also when he calls her spectacular, bleh. Also what was that ending??? So unsatisfying.
Kid trying to grapple with parent’s divorce, friendship troubles and firsts. Didn’t like it, writing was trying to be profound but failed. Perhaps because I’m no longer a teenage, I didn’t enjoy it. Didn’t really like Miah as a love interest, he’s just an island boy who makes art out of bones?? the lovey dovey stuff gave me the ick. Also when he calls her spectacular, bleh. Also what was that ending??? So unsatisfying.