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3.17 AVERAGE
3.17 AVERAGE
So I hadn't heard any buzz for this book but I happened across it at my library and was instantly sold when I saw that it was a "Clarissa Explains it All" novel for grown-ups. Like, how cool?!? The creator of the show (he also wrote for Ren and Stimpy, Rugrats, SNL, and National Lampoon) is also the author of the book which I really appreciated. He did a great job of growing Clarissa up and portraying her as an unemployed twenty-something girl in New York City. This book would appeal to 90's girls, fans of "new adult," and even teens. It's not plot heavy, it's very easy to see where the entire book is heading but it doesn't make it any less fun. There are fun drawings, charts, lists, and other elements to entice the reader. A good beach read; mindless but fun and quick.
Completely unimpressed with this one. Definitely not what I expected or wanted from a 20-something Clarissa. She sounds like a 16 year old still. It was annoying to read and I had to force myself to finish it.
A book about a grown up Clarissa from the 90’s tv show, Clarissa Explains It All. I couldn’t help but hear Melissa Joan Hart’s voice as Clarissa as I read it. The story is cute with a few challenges that Clarissa has to overcome in her personal life, her family life, and her somewhat of a love life. We get to see glimpses of characters from the TV Show and find out a little more about who they have become. I like the recreation elements and I enjoyed this quick read.
This book was a little all over the place. I don't feel like this offered any closure on the tv show- it has me asking more questions. I was a little disappointed, but i would be open to reading another book about Clarissa to see what happens! It would be great to learn what happens next. The story doesn't feel finished!
video review up on my channel... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFDeHmkYHVs
I was really excited when I heard a "Clarissa all grown up" novel existed. I couldn't wait to read it but honestly, I feel very "meh" about it after finishing. I loved some aspects (the story of Janet Darling's hit business cracked me up) but found others bizarre and not worth the time they took up (particularly the way Clarissa's love life and the saga of Ferguson are written). It also felt they were trying way too hard to be hip (who says "my peeps" anymore?). This book might be a decent beach or pool read but don't go in with very high expectations.
Ugh, this was really disappointing. It tried too hard. And it did a cutesy job of tying in references from the show, laying it on a little too thick sometimes.
I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. Things I Can't Explain read like a novel from the point of view of a Millennial written by someone of an older generation who regularly complains that Millennials are too obsessed with technology and should appreciate their elders more. On top of that, the character of Clarissa is insufferable (and nothing like what I remembered her to be!), the other characters aren't very well developed, and the plot was too meandering. I did want to like this book, but I don't think I enjoyed one thing about it.
Initial Impressions 9/17/15: Probably somewhere around 3.5 stars but rounding down because it just didn't quite do it for me.
This is one of those cases where there was nothing specifically wrong with the book to lower a rating but it just wasn't quite what I hoped it would be. Clarissa Explains It All was one of my favorite TV shows of the 90s (naturally) and I was so excited to read about her new adult life but the book just didn't quite come across as Clarissa's voice. I think it's hard to read a book that was based off of a TV show instead of how we usually do it and go from book to silver screen. I already had a voice and a feeling in my head and that personality just didn't seem to come across in the book. It's also a totally different experience reading this narration versus watching it. Clarissa is known for her breaks to the camera to update the audience as the show is watching but when reading a book, that's kind of how it always is (depending on how the narration is set up). I think it would have felt more true to the show to make that more of a separate break some how... changing from past to present tense, blocking it off... I'm not exactly sure, but I think I just wanted it to feel more like the TV show.
There's a lot of fun true-to-Clarissa stuff in there! We get to see her family (who is totally the same) and YES we do hear about Sam in this book, but I was upset that it wasn't a Sam-heavy romance throughout (I mean, come on. We all shipped it).
It's also sort of weird to see Clarissa in an adult setting. The last I saw of her, she was still a young teen (on the show) and to have no transition from the lower side of young adult to adult is like... "AH, Clarissa is swearing! And talking about sex!" It was hard to jump from that age to this. (Would have LOVED some YA Clarissa)
The tone was pretty true and consistent but even with the light-heartedness that you expect from Clarissa, the book seemed to sort of lack substance. I guess it's hard since I don't really expect the book to be deep and yet I still didn't connect with it or with the characters on a more complex level. It was nice that it wasn't heavy but it still felt like this book could have been so much more.
Full review originally posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 11/3/15: I’ve been working on my booktubing and decided to do a video review for THINGS I CAN’T EXPLAIN by Mitchell Kriegman! It’s a Clarissa Explains It All continuation in her new adult/adult life and… well, I’ll let the video do the talking! Check out my video review on YouTube! You can see the video review via the post on my blog or head over straight to YouTube to watch!
This is one of those cases where there was nothing specifically wrong with the book to lower a rating but it just wasn't quite what I hoped it would be. Clarissa Explains It All was one of my favorite TV shows of the 90s (naturally) and I was so excited to read about her new adult life but the book just didn't quite come across as Clarissa's voice. I think it's hard to read a book that was based off of a TV show instead of how we usually do it and go from book to silver screen. I already had a voice and a feeling in my head and that personality just didn't seem to come across in the book. It's also a totally different experience reading this narration versus watching it. Clarissa is known for her breaks to the camera to update the audience as the show is watching but when reading a book, that's kind of how it always is (depending on how the narration is set up). I think it would have felt more true to the show to make that more of a separate break some how... changing from past to present tense, blocking it off... I'm not exactly sure, but I think I just wanted it to feel more like the TV show.
There's a lot of fun true-to-Clarissa stuff in there! We get to see her family (who is totally the same) and YES we do hear about Sam in this book, but I was upset that it wasn't a Sam-heavy romance throughout (I mean, come on. We all shipped it).
It's also sort of weird to see Clarissa in an adult setting. The last I saw of her, she was still a young teen (on the show) and to have no transition from the lower side of young adult to adult is like... "AH, Clarissa is swearing! And talking about sex!" It was hard to jump from that age to this. (Would have LOVED some YA Clarissa)
The tone was pretty true and consistent but even with the light-heartedness that you expect from Clarissa, the book seemed to sort of lack substance. I guess it's hard since I don't really expect the book to be deep and yet I still didn't connect with it or with the characters on a more complex level. It was nice that it wasn't heavy but it still felt like this book could have been so much more.
Full review originally posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 11/3/15: I’ve been working on my booktubing and decided to do a video review for THINGS I CAN’T EXPLAIN by Mitchell Kriegman! It’s a Clarissa Explains It All continuation in her new adult/adult life and… well, I’ll let the video do the talking! Check out my video review on YouTube! You can see the video review via the post on my blog or head over straight to YouTube to watch!
Like most people who read this book, I grew up obsessed with Clarissa. As a kid, I dressed like her and, as an adult, I adore my Clarissa DVD set. I was so excited to read this book and catch up with Clarissa as an adult, but it completely missed the mark.
First of all, when the show finished in 1994, Clarissa would've been about 17 years old. In 2015, the year this book was published, she would've been in her late 30s, not her late 20s as portrayed in the book. As someone who always looked up to Clarissa as a child, it was jarring to see her portrayed in modern times as someone younger than me. Honestly, this made me mad the entire time I was reading the book and I couldn't look past it. I'm all for a Clarissa in her 20s storyline, but at least get the timeline right.
I was also surprised that a book obviously geared at the nostalgia generation would alter everything that we know and love from the show. Zero people were asking for a Clarissa novel where her family has completely fallen apart, her life is in ruins, and her best friend (and a beloved character to boot) is completely MIA. At least give us SOMETHING to remind us of the 90s show we hold so dear! Aside from sharing the same names, I really couldn't recognize these characters as the ones I grew up loving.
On a positive note, I will say I enjoyed the small nods to the show with mentions of her hubcap collection, the video games she used to make, and even her ex-boyfriend Clifford. I also loved how Melissa Joan Hart references made it in as well - such as her old dentist being named Dr. Hart and her black cat potentially being named Salem or Sabrina.
Overall, this was an incredibly fluffy story - which is fine - but it did nothing to further the character of Clarissa. I can't imagine that after all these years of Clarissa being off the air this is the story Mitchell Kriegman has been dying to tell about how her life turned out. Change the names and this could've been any other generic contemporary story, and the absolute last word that should come to mind when talking about Clarissa Darling is generic.
First of all, when the show finished in 1994, Clarissa would've been about 17 years old. In 2015, the year this book was published, she would've been in her late 30s, not her late 20s as portrayed in the book. As someone who always looked up to Clarissa as a child, it was jarring to see her portrayed in modern times as someone younger than me. Honestly, this made me mad the entire time I was reading the book and I couldn't look past it. I'm all for a Clarissa in her 20s storyline, but at least get the timeline right.
I was also surprised that a book obviously geared at the nostalgia generation would alter everything that we know and love from the show. Zero people were asking for a Clarissa novel where her family has completely fallen apart, her life is in ruins, and her best friend (and a beloved character to boot) is completely MIA. At least give us SOMETHING to remind us of the 90s show we hold so dear! Aside from sharing the same names, I really couldn't recognize these characters as the ones I grew up loving.
On a positive note, I will say I enjoyed the small nods to the show with mentions of her hubcap collection, the video games she used to make, and even her ex-boyfriend Clifford. I also loved how Melissa Joan Hart references made it in as well - such as her old dentist being named Dr. Hart and her black cat potentially being named Salem or Sabrina.
Overall, this was an incredibly fluffy story - which is fine - but it did nothing to further the character of Clarissa. I can't imagine that after all these years of Clarissa being off the air this is the story Mitchell Kriegman has been dying to tell about how her life turned out. Change the names and this could've been any other generic contemporary story, and the absolute last word that should come to mind when talking about Clarissa Darling is generic.