Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
This was a very clear case of this book tried to do too much on too few pages.
There's just no way to tell five separate stories over the course of four years on 400 pages. We definitely missed out on so much that I felt like I never got to know most of these people.
That said, I was invested in what happened to them and how things would continue. It was just strange that whenever something monumental (usually terrible) happened to one of them, we'd only hear from them again months later, when it was all done.
It was just a weird concept for a contemporary YA novel that didn't work for me. I did love the kids though, especially Mia and Jake, so I'm still giving this (a generous) 3 stars. But yeah, this should have been four books, one for each year of high school. If it had been, it probably would have worked. As it is, there wasn't enough substance to it and it didn't work for me.
There's just no way to tell five separate stories over the course of four years on 400 pages. We definitely missed out on so much that I felt like I never got to know most of these people.
That said, I was invested in what happened to them and how things would continue. It was just strange that whenever something monumental (usually terrible) happened to one of them, we'd only hear from them again months later, when it was all done.
It was just a weird concept for a contemporary YA novel that didn't work for me. I did love the kids though, especially Mia and Jake, so I'm still giving this (a generous) 3 stars. But yeah, this should have been four books, one for each year of high school. If it had been, it probably would have worked. As it is, there wasn't enough substance to it and it didn't work for me.
as a recent highschool graduate this book was super nostalgic even though i couldn’t relate to all of the trivial “highschool” components it brought up. i adore analyzing the way people come in and out of others lives and i think highschool is the exact definition of “infinite in between”, the dipping in and out of eachothers last four years. it wasn’t the best book i’ve read & it wasn’t the worst, it was a lovely 462 pages.
It was a cute story but you're waiting for the characters to come together and they don't ever truly become friends which was very disappointing.
started reading Carolyn Macklers books when The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things came out when I was 13 or so. Ten years later I still love her books, the fact that this one was released on my birthday just made it even better.
The characters as usual are very real, real life situations without over the top drama. I liked how the stories intertwined but not as much as in Tangled. It was interesting to see these five teenagers go through high school and recognizing some of the situations.
I cant say anything bad about it but I am probably biased since its my favorite author.
The characters as usual are very real, real life situations without over the top drama. I liked how the stories intertwined but not as much as in Tangled. It was interesting to see these five teenagers go through high school and recognizing some of the situations.
I cant say anything bad about it but I am probably biased since its my favorite author.
DNF 15% (58 pag)
Am primit cartea asta cadou undeva în 2021 și am început-o imediat fiindcă descrierea suna bine. Imediat după ce multiplele perspective stupide m-au lovit am regretat alegerea făcută.
De-a lungul anului am tot pus mâna pe cartea asta încercând să mai citesc din ea fiindcă capitolele sunt scurte, scrisul e mare și se citește relativ repede.
Problema mea e că un YA clasic în care toți adolescenții prezenți fac lucruri tâmpite și în jurul lor roiește această dramă adolescentină de care eu tot încerc să fug.
Not my cup of tea anymore și fără niciun regret îi dau DNF. Refuz să mai îmi pierd timpul cu cărți și personaje care nu-mi plac.
Dacă căutați o carte cu elevi adolescenți și drame care se citește repede, this is the one.
Am primit cartea asta cadou undeva în 2021 și am început-o imediat fiindcă descrierea suna bine. Imediat după ce multiplele perspective stupide m-au lovit am regretat alegerea făcută.
De-a lungul anului am tot pus mâna pe cartea asta încercând să mai citesc din ea fiindcă capitolele sunt scurte, scrisul e mare și se citește relativ repede.
Problema mea e că un YA clasic în care toți adolescenții prezenți fac lucruri tâmpite și în jurul lor roiește această dramă adolescentină de care eu tot încerc să fug.
Not my cup of tea anymore și fără niciun regret îi dau DNF. Refuz să mai îmi pierd timpul cu cărți și personaje care nu-mi plac.
Dacă căutați o carte cu elevi adolescenți și drame care se citește repede, this is the one.
Can't say I love or related to any of the characters (except Gregor's grief, that hit me) but I was pretty satisfied with the romance/s later on as things finally started coming together. Really liked Jake's parents especially their reaction/response when he came out, but wasn't a fan of other family/friendship dynamics.
i loved carolyn mackler's books as a teen and it was fun to revisit her writing as an adult. i'm a sucker for multiple perspective stories, so i really enjoyed this one. some of the stories fell a little flat, but each character was vivid and so different. probably not one i'll ever pick up again, but i'm glad i read it.
This comes pretty darn close to a perfect YA novel, in my opinion. It's a hefty 462 pages long and I very nearly read it in one sitting—I might have if I'd started it before 10 PM, I might have. As it was I read until I fell asleep, then woke up and immediately picked it back up again to finish.
The book attempts to present the four years of high school as a saga unto itself. It looks at five students and their lives from orientation to graduation. The students are assigned to the same orientation group and, as a project, write letters to their future selves to be opened at graduation. Though their paths often overlap, their lives are for the most part pretty separate and distinct once the letters are sealed and hidden away.
The story bounces back and forth in brief chapters, alternating between the five different perspectives as the months tick away: September of freshman year, April of sophomore year, and so on. It’s sort of Breakfast Club crossed with 500 Days of Summer (though I was a little bummed that the counting days motif didn’t carry beyond the prologue).
The stories aren’t given the kind of depth that a book focusing on one character should have, but there’s just no way Mackler can cover five lives in that much detail without writing a thousand pages. This might annoy some readers, but I was okay with it given the context. I still think Mackler did a pretty good job representing the variety of personalities and personal histories that you’d find in your average high school. There isn’t a sensational or sentimental Big Event at the epicenter here; it’s meant to mirror real life and I think she does that very well. What I saw here very much captured my memories of high school in an incredibly realistic and less idealistic way that many contemporary YA books do.
High school is a bizarre little developmental period, somehow both insular and full of growth. It’s meant to prepare you for college, which is itself typically a baby step towards independence and responsibility. You enter high school as a kid and leave as a little mini proto-adult. There’s massive amounts of change and growth and self-reflection, but most of it still happens inside the bubble of your hometown where things are probably relatively homogenous. It really is a journey, a saga unto itself and Mackler’s approach made me incredibly sentimental for my own high school years.
The book does leave some threads hanging – not everything is given an acknowledged resolution. And the ultimate ending doesn’t really come full-circle. I kind of appreciated that it didn't culminate in this big Event that so often defines the genre. Their lives aren’t over, their stories aren’t over. It’s just that high school is over. But I loved reading this book and I found myself desperately wishing I’d had it to read when I was getting ready to enter high school a zillion years ago.
The book attempts to present the four years of high school as a saga unto itself. It looks at five students and their lives from orientation to graduation. The students are assigned to the same orientation group and, as a project, write letters to their future selves to be opened at graduation. Though their paths often overlap, their lives are for the most part pretty separate and distinct once the letters are sealed and hidden away.
The story bounces back and forth in brief chapters, alternating between the five different perspectives as the months tick away: September of freshman year, April of sophomore year, and so on. It’s sort of Breakfast Club crossed with 500 Days of Summer (though I was a little bummed that the counting days motif didn’t carry beyond the prologue).
The stories aren’t given the kind of depth that a book focusing on one character should have, but there’s just no way Mackler can cover five lives in that much detail without writing a thousand pages. This might annoy some readers, but I was okay with it given the context. I still think Mackler did a pretty good job representing the variety of personalities and personal histories that you’d find in your average high school. There isn’t a sensational or sentimental Big Event at the epicenter here; it’s meant to mirror real life and I think she does that very well. What I saw here very much captured my memories of high school in an incredibly realistic and less idealistic way that many contemporary YA books do.
High school is a bizarre little developmental period, somehow both insular and full of growth. It’s meant to prepare you for college, which is itself typically a baby step towards independence and responsibility. You enter high school as a kid and leave as a little mini proto-adult. There’s massive amounts of change and growth and self-reflection, but most of it still happens inside the bubble of your hometown where things are probably relatively homogenous. It really is a journey, a saga unto itself and Mackler’s approach made me incredibly sentimental for my own high school years.
The book does leave some threads hanging – not everything is given an acknowledged resolution. And the ultimate ending doesn’t really come full-circle
Spoiler
WHY DON'T THEY READ THE LETTERS? WHAT WAS IT ALL FOR? AND WHY DOES THE ZOE THING BUILD TO NOTHING? But it's hard to be too upset when my only complaint is with the last four pages of a 462-page novel. It wasn't a bad ending, just underwhelming.
This book follows the lives of five High School freshman from the first day of school up until graduation. It shows how much can change, how people can grow, how dreams can be realized, and how tragedy can happen all in the blink of an eye.