A review by gracer
Treasure Island!!! by Sara Levine

  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was not what I expected. I should have known from the exclamation points.

It's nothing like the broad-horizoned, adventure-filled escapade I imagined. It's almost sarcastic. Out protagonist is filled with adventure-chasing ambitions upon reading Treasure Island, yes, but not in the way expected - her choices are more self-sabotaging than world-opening, and her attitude doesn't help. She's hard to like, if you read this too earnestly, so you have to take it for what it is: an ironic look at what it can be to be BOLD and INDEPENDENT and HORN-BLOWING (I'm forgetting one). Be careful how you set yourself free... you might actually be locking yourself in. (It's hard to be independent in our society; if you don't have a job, you end up relying on your boyfriend or your parents.)

High points are the parrot and the ending, which somehow I did not see coming. 
(okay, so I'm not surprised I didn't see the stabbing part coming, but the intervention seemed obvious, once I realized that's what was going on.)
The voice and writing throughout is great, pitch perfect for the story that's being told. And it's pleasantly short. 
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