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A review by bluelibrarian
Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann
3.0
This review contains one big spoiler that is going to happen... NOW:
If you were to tell me a week ago that I would make it through an entire book that centers around the idea of a talking desk possessed by ghosts, I wouldn't have believed you. "Oh, come on! That's too much," may have been my jaded response. But somehow, Lisa McMann pulls it off. At least, I think she pulls it off until we actually get to the talking desk in the last 1/4 of the book. Then I really had to strain to suspend my disbelief of haunted, talking desks.
The first 3/4 of the book are equal parts realistic, high school fiction and truly creepy thriller. McMann really does attain a nice balance between the two. Kendall, our teen protagonist, suffers from above average OCD. I haven't met too many fictional characters who admit to their OCD, so it was interesting for me to look in on Kendall's habits and coping mechanisms. I kind of enjoyed how most of the book was about her mental struggle, and I for sure enjoyed the unexpected, budding romance between Kendall and the new kid in a town of, like, 2 people. But wait: her best friend has mysteriously disappeared, her soccer team has dissolved, she probably won't get into Juilliard, and, oh by the way, A DESK IS TALKING TO HER! Is she going crazy? What are the voices trying to tell her? And is her best friend ever coming back?
I would recommend this to a reluctant reader in a heartbeat. The creepy is ever present and weirdly mysterious, and the narrative moves along at a clip. Nothing earth shattering for me, but I liked.
If you were to tell me a week ago that I would make it through an entire book that centers around the idea of a talking desk possessed by ghosts, I wouldn't have believed you. "Oh, come on! That's too much," may have been my jaded response. But somehow, Lisa McMann pulls it off. At least, I think she pulls it off until we actually get to the talking desk in the last 1/4 of the book. Then I really had to strain to suspend my disbelief of haunted, talking desks.
The first 3/4 of the book are equal parts realistic, high school fiction and truly creepy thriller. McMann really does attain a nice balance between the two. Kendall, our teen protagonist, suffers from above average OCD. I haven't met too many fictional characters who admit to their OCD, so it was interesting for me to look in on Kendall's habits and coping mechanisms. I kind of enjoyed how most of the book was about her mental struggle, and I for sure enjoyed the unexpected, budding romance between Kendall and the new kid in a town of, like, 2 people. But wait: her best friend has mysteriously disappeared, her soccer team has dissolved, she probably won't get into Juilliard, and, oh by the way, A DESK IS TALKING TO HER! Is she going crazy? What are the voices trying to tell her? And is her best friend ever coming back?
I would recommend this to a reluctant reader in a heartbeat. The creepy is ever present and weirdly mysterious, and the narrative moves along at a clip. Nothing earth shattering for me, but I liked.