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A review by summer_winter
Between the Lines by Samantha van Leer, Jodi Picoult
4.0
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
Between the lines was a unique, fun read. This book is about a fairy tale character called Prince Oliver who is trapped inside a fairy tale where all the characters are like actors and every time the book is opened and read they have to re play the whole story; however when the book is closed they are completely different people with their own lives.
The other main character is Delilah, who is a 15 year old outcast who stumbles across this fairy tale in her school library, she quickly becomes obsessed with the book then she notices a change in the book and then she hears the main character speak- out loud. Oliver tells Delilah about being trapped and she tries to help him escape and along the way they fall in love.
This book is told in the perspectives of Oliver and Delilah and also there are chapters from the fairy tale Oliver is from. I like dual perspectives as it gives me as a reader a deeper look into the world and what the characters are experiencing. I thought the chapters from the fairy tale was a nice touch as it just shows the difference between the characters and the people they play in the fairy tale. I also really loved that there were little quirky illustrations throughout the book. I thought the whole concept of the book was very clever as the technicalities of the book were very well thought through for example if a person in the fairy tale wasn’t in their place for book opening they would be dragged to the place where their character should be.
The main portion of the book is dedicated to Delilah and Oliver trying to get Oliver into the real world and they kept trying so many new things that seemed to have little explanation that it got a little bit tedious. I started to find the characters abit annoying after a while because of this.
Delilah eventually decides that she needs to find the author as she thinks she will be able to bring Oliver out of the book (This theory never made much sense, I found most of the theories they came up with made little sense) and discovers that he is based off of the authors son Edgar and the book was created to help him recover over the loss of his father. Delilah and Edgar try re writing the ending and the Delilah tries to re write parts of the book but none of this works. Then Edgar re writes the whole book and swaps places with Oliver. This confused me so much as I didn’t understand why it would suddenly work and I felt like it was too rushed and that they should have found a way to get Oliver out of the book abit earlier on but have it as a gradual thing or they had to do several things in order to get him out. I just found the end very confusing and disappointing however I think I will read companion novel: Off the page as I’d like to know how Oliver copes with the real world and how their relationship goes.
Overall I enjoyed this book as it was a very unique read which was refreshing, I would recommend as it’s a very fun book.
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
Between the lines was a unique, fun read. This book is about a fairy tale character called Prince Oliver who is trapped inside a fairy tale where all the characters are like actors and every time the book is opened and read they have to re play the whole story; however when the book is closed they are completely different people with their own lives.
The other main character is Delilah, who is a 15 year old outcast who stumbles across this fairy tale in her school library, she quickly becomes obsessed with the book then she notices a change in the book and then she hears the main character speak- out loud. Oliver tells Delilah about being trapped and she tries to help him escape and along the way they fall in love.
This book is told in the perspectives of Oliver and Delilah and also there are chapters from the fairy tale Oliver is from. I like dual perspectives as it gives me as a reader a deeper look into the world and what the characters are experiencing. I thought the chapters from the fairy tale was a nice touch as it just shows the difference between the characters and the people they play in the fairy tale. I also really loved that there were little quirky illustrations throughout the book. I thought the whole concept of the book was very clever as the technicalities of the book were very well thought through for example if a person in the fairy tale wasn’t in their place for book opening they would be dragged to the place where their character should be.
The main portion of the book is dedicated to Delilah and Oliver trying to get Oliver into the real world and they kept trying so many new things that seemed to have little explanation that it got a little bit tedious. I started to find the characters abit annoying after a while because of this.
Delilah eventually decides that she needs to find the author as she thinks she will be able to bring Oliver out of the book (This theory never made much sense, I found most of the theories they came up with made little sense) and discovers that he is based off of the authors son Edgar and the book was created to help him recover over the loss of his father. Delilah and Edgar try re writing the ending and the Delilah tries to re write parts of the book but none of this works. Then Edgar re writes the whole book and swaps places with Oliver. This confused me so much as I didn’t understand why it would suddenly work and I felt like it was too rushed and that they should have found a way to get Oliver out of the book abit earlier on but have it as a gradual thing or they had to do several things in order to get him out. I just found the end very confusing and disappointing however I think I will read companion novel: Off the page as I’d like to know how Oliver copes with the real world and how their relationship goes.
Overall I enjoyed this book as it was a very unique read which was refreshing, I would recommend as it’s a very fun book.