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maria_rb 's review for:
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces
by Isabel Quintero
3.5
I liked this a lot because of its easy prose and likable protagonist, although she's a bit of a Mary Sue... except she's overweight. She has several boys liking her and a posse of friends, her grades are stellar, she's struggling with Algebra, but is eligible to apply to the best colleges in the country so isn't as isolated as she seems to feel she is... Her parents love her despite her father being a meth addict, and she has support from her extended family. So all of her teenage angst seems to be just that: teenage angst. I feel like more could have been done with her father's behavior. It felt almost tangential to me to have him in the novel.
The novel was interesting to read, but doesn't feel outstanding to me because it introduces so much in Gabi's life, but also lacks the depth of insight I wanted as a reader entering someone else's life. Perhaps too much is spelled out for the reader in the diary form so the reader doesn't draw her own connections and therefore, it doesn't feel as insightful when it actually is. I'm not sure.
Somewhat spoiler ahead:
Its almost flippant last line felt like it changed the tone when she could have had way more insight beyond: "I belong to my family and I love them." That was never a question the reader had about her, so seemed a disjointed "revelation" for her.
I liked this a lot because of its easy prose and likable protagonist, although she's a bit of a Mary Sue... except she's overweight. She has several boys liking her and a posse of friends, her grades are stellar, she's struggling with Algebra, but is eligible to apply to the best colleges in the country so isn't as isolated as she seems to feel she is... Her parents love her despite her father being a meth addict, and she has support from her extended family. So all of her teenage angst seems to be just that: teenage angst. I feel like more could have been done with her father's behavior. It felt almost tangential to me to have him in the novel.
The novel was interesting to read, but doesn't feel outstanding to me because it introduces so much in Gabi's life, but also lacks the depth of insight I wanted as a reader entering someone else's life. Perhaps too much is spelled out for the reader in the diary form so the reader doesn't draw her own connections and therefore, it doesn't feel as insightful when it actually is. I'm not sure.
Somewhat spoiler ahead:
Its almost flippant last line felt like it changed the tone when she could have had way more insight beyond: "I belong to my family and I love them." That was never a question the reader had about her, so seemed a disjointed "revelation" for her.