Scan barcode
A review by bashbashbashbash
Just in Case by Meg Rosoff
3.0
David Case has decided that Fate is out to get him, so he decides to change his name to Justin and his identity to something else non-specific (the signs of his supposed transformation are insomnia, a penchant for running, new clothes, an imaginary dog, and spiralling depression). Small interludes introduce Fate as a secondary narrator. Apparently Fate really IS out to get David/Justin. No way.
Maybe it's just personifying a concept as tired as Fate is just plain stupid, maybe it's because neither David/Justin nor any of the characters seem to have any dimension, history, or spark to them, but this book just didn't do it for me. It was shallow but the pace was just quick enough to keep me reading to until the end, although I did skip about six pages in the middle (something I almost never do, and a good sign of my lack of engagement with the novel).
Aside: all the cover designs are completely rubbish! I don't think there's a good one in the lot. What art director approves this junk?! Mopy teenage boy on white cover? Green cover with swirls of white, aeroplanes and butterflies in black and red?! A bloody greyhound and some ivy leaves?! These are some of the most lackluster professional covers I've ever seen attached to YA novels.
The only thing I really liked about this book was that it talked pretty openly about erections and that feeling of hopeless, consuming lust one experiences at 15.
I'll try How I Live Now, and hope that it offers more than a flat protagonist with an anxiety complex and a bunch of Manic Pixie Dream Girls.
Maybe it's just personifying a concept as tired as Fate is just plain stupid, maybe it's because neither David/Justin nor any of the characters seem to have any dimension, history, or spark to them, but this book just didn't do it for me. It was shallow but the pace was just quick enough to keep me reading to until the end, although I did skip about six pages in the middle (something I almost never do, and a good sign of my lack of engagement with the novel).
Aside: all the cover designs are completely rubbish! I don't think there's a good one in the lot. What art director approves this junk?! Mopy teenage boy on white cover? Green cover with swirls of white, aeroplanes and butterflies in black and red?! A bloody greyhound and some ivy leaves?! These are some of the most lackluster professional covers I've ever seen attached to YA novels.
The only thing I really liked about this book was that it talked pretty openly about erections and that feeling of hopeless, consuming lust one experiences at 15.
I'll try How I Live Now, and hope that it offers more than a flat protagonist with an anxiety complex and a bunch of Manic Pixie Dream Girls.