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booksandinternalstruggle 's review for:
Unteachable
by Elliot Wake
“Grow up. This is real. The world is ugly and nasty and fucked up, and so are we.”
You see my one star up there, you know how I felt about this, so I'll try to keep this brief. It's not you -- it's me. I thought this would totally be one of those fucked-up romances that I'd love. But it wasn't.
You also probably know the premise. Our eighteen year-old MC hooks up with an older guy at a carnival the week before starting her senior year. This guy makes her feel things. She walks into class the following week only to find that he is her film studies teacher. Both Evan and Maise are consumed with their need for one another, and staying away from each other does not seem to be an option. It isn't long before they are sneaking around and doing whatever it takes to be together. How could it be wrong when it feels this good? Etc.
Here was my problem with this book: I expected a severely flawed romance and maybe some character revolutions. Some reality and a lot of pain. Some better secrets.
For instance, we have Maise. She suffers from the typical teen syndrome of thinking that she is so much more mature than her age reflects, so worldly, so much smarter than everyone else. She knows everything. Unteachable says: She's right. Is that ever the case? Where's reality to slap you in the face when you need it?
And then there's Evan. I mean, let's be honest. You have to be a little bit of a sick fuck if you're 32 and you're trying to get it on with teens. I mean, what could you have in common? What would you talk about with someone that lacks more than a decade of your life experience? Or wait. No adult life experience. Well, in Maise's case...everything because she is so intelligent and worldly. But...let's go back to this sick fuck. So what's he going to do? Is he going to become some kind of a deranged stalker? Violently obsessed? Ditch her? Well, he's got a couple of secrets, but they were pretty underwhelming.
So, they have a couple of close calls. Maise contemplates the relationship a couple of times, ultimately deciding that they are truly meant to be and will be together forever. So I'm all like, "Okay, this is it. The fucked up reality is on its way. He says something fucked up like, 'you're too old for me now'..." Wrong.Unteachable says: You're right! It is true love! You guys will be together forever.
I'm not a lovey love story kind of girl. If you are that person, and the twist on the whole thing interests you, then this might be the book for you. I like the darkness and the grit that I thought I would get from this. The whorey-drug addict mom didn't give it to me. I wanted this to go differently, and I wanted Maise to overcome it and hook up with her friend that is in love with her: the one she should have been with all along. And she should have known that.
I wanted realism. I didn't get it.
You see my one star up there, you know how I felt about this, so I'll try to keep this brief. It's not you -- it's me. I thought this would totally be one of those fucked-up romances that I'd love. But it wasn't.
You also probably know the premise. Our eighteen year-old MC hooks up with an older guy at a carnival the week before starting her senior year. This guy makes her feel things. She walks into class the following week only to find that he is her film studies teacher. Both Evan and Maise are consumed with their need for one another, and staying away from each other does not seem to be an option. It isn't long before they are sneaking around and doing whatever it takes to be together. How could it be wrong when it feels this good? Etc.
Here was my problem with this book: I expected a severely flawed romance and maybe some character revolutions. Some reality and a lot of pain. Some better secrets.
For instance, we have Maise. She suffers from the typical teen syndrome of thinking that she is so much more mature than her age reflects, so worldly, so much smarter than everyone else. She knows everything. Unteachable says: She's right. Is that ever the case? Where's reality to slap you in the face when you need it?
And then there's Evan. I mean, let's be honest. You have to be a little bit of a sick fuck if you're 32 and you're trying to get it on with teens. I mean, what could you have in common? What would you talk about with someone that lacks more than a decade of your life experience? Or wait. No adult life experience. Well, in Maise's case...everything because she is so intelligent and worldly. But...let's go back to this sick fuck. So what's he going to do? Is he going to become some kind of a deranged stalker? Violently obsessed? Ditch her? Well, he's got a couple of secrets, but they were pretty underwhelming.
So, they have a couple of close calls. Maise contemplates the relationship a couple of times, ultimately deciding that they are truly meant to be and will be together forever. So I'm all like, "Okay, this is it. The fucked up reality is on its way. He says something fucked up like, 'you're too old for me now'..." Wrong.Unteachable says: You're right! It is true love! You guys will be together forever.
I'm not a lovey love story kind of girl. If you are that person, and the twist on the whole thing interests you, then this might be the book for you. I like the darkness and the grit that I thought I would get from this. The whorey-drug addict mom didn't give it to me. I wanted this to go differently, and I wanted Maise to overcome it and hook up with her friend that is in love with her: the one she should have been with all along. And she should have known that.
I wanted realism. I didn't get it.