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A review by bookishbyso
Roomies by Tara Altebrando, Sara Zarr
3.0
I am so so glad that this new adult genre is catching on. I'm at the stage in life where I still love my YA but the problems/drama of 16 year old girls has started to grate on my nerves a little bit. I still love it, but reading about people in their university/college years, learning to stand on their own two feet, wave goodbye to their high school years and deal with the dilemmas this new world throws their was is my new reading passion. its the perfect in between of YA and adult books and as much as I love both, NA is my current undeniable favourite for obvious reasons.
This book was just about what I was expecting. It was neither riveting nor boring, but a happy medium. it centres on the lives of 2 different girls in their summer before starting university. After finding out who her new roommate at college will be and receiving her email address, Elizabeth sets in motion a summer of email correspondences with Lauren that give us and them a glance into their different worlds.
The book is sweet. a cute and easy read that doesn't require much thought or warrant an expedition to find a 'deeper meaning'. With this book, what you see is what you get; a glimpse of the dramas faced by girls as they prepare to step into their own and leave the comfort of familiar for the first time. None of the characters were particularly endearing to me and so I didn't really form any attachments to any of them apart from maybe Lauren. I felt a slight connection with Lauren, as I'm the oldest of 6 too. I could completely understand and relate to life as the oldest sibling, where no one quite understands just how invested in your family you are, or how much it really is like being a second mother. I completely understood her lack of socialising both physically and through social media, and her reluctance to 'spread her wings'. This was perhaps for me the highlight of the book; the description of the situation in which Lauren is in was something I had yet to come across, as very few understand how someone like Lauren feels, much less writes about it so accurately.
Jumping back and forth between the two different perspectives was a little disorientating at first but I eventually grew accustomed to it. it was a little like reading two stories at once in that the different povs in both email and novel form didn't flow as well as in some books like Attatchments by Rainbow Rowell. This isn't to say it was written badly, but there was room for improvement.
The issue of race came up in this story, and it was made known how everyone was really aware of the fact that Lauren's boyfriend was black. It showed how people really are still affected by race as EB and Lauren stepped tentatively around the subject and were both more comfortable and accepting than previous generations. it still shocks me a little to read how people really ARE still affected, as the town in England in which I was born and grew up was as mixed as it got. where I live, people don't bat an eyelid at the colour of your skin for the most part and everyone gets along just fine. I remember my 5 closest friends at school and I each had completely different ethnic backgrounds, and for my whole life that's just been the norm. in the story however, I feel Lauren and Elizabeth handled it well.
The ending was a little too abrupt for my liking, even though I suspected as much would be true when I read the blurb. This book literally doesn't go beyond their summer before college. An epilogue of some sort would have been nice considering the sudden ending but hey ho. That's the way it goes I suppose!
Overall, it was an easy read that was entertaining but not intriguing. Good for if and when you need something to read that won't particularly mess with your emotions but give you a good story nonetheless.
This book was just about what I was expecting. It was neither riveting nor boring, but a happy medium. it centres on the lives of 2 different girls in their summer before starting university. After finding out who her new roommate at college will be and receiving her email address, Elizabeth sets in motion a summer of email correspondences with Lauren that give us and them a glance into their different worlds.
The book is sweet. a cute and easy read that doesn't require much thought or warrant an expedition to find a 'deeper meaning'. With this book, what you see is what you get; a glimpse of the dramas faced by girls as they prepare to step into their own and leave the comfort of familiar for the first time. None of the characters were particularly endearing to me and so I didn't really form any attachments to any of them apart from maybe Lauren. I felt a slight connection with Lauren, as I'm the oldest of 6 too. I could completely understand and relate to life as the oldest sibling, where no one quite understands just how invested in your family you are, or how much it really is like being a second mother. I completely understood her lack of socialising both physically and through social media, and her reluctance to 'spread her wings'. This was perhaps for me the highlight of the book; the description of the situation in which Lauren is in was something I had yet to come across, as very few understand how someone like Lauren feels, much less writes about it so accurately.
Jumping back and forth between the two different perspectives was a little disorientating at first but I eventually grew accustomed to it. it was a little like reading two stories at once in that the different povs in both email and novel form didn't flow as well as in some books like Attatchments by Rainbow Rowell. This isn't to say it was written badly, but there was room for improvement.
The issue of race came up in this story, and it was made known how everyone was really aware of the fact that Lauren's boyfriend was black. It showed how people really are still affected by race as EB and Lauren stepped tentatively around the subject and were both more comfortable and accepting than previous generations. it still shocks me a little to read how people really ARE still affected, as the town in England in which I was born and grew up was as mixed as it got. where I live, people don't bat an eyelid at the colour of your skin for the most part and everyone gets along just fine. I remember my 5 closest friends at school and I each had completely different ethnic backgrounds, and for my whole life that's just been the norm. in the story however, I feel Lauren and Elizabeth handled it well.
The ending was a little too abrupt for my liking, even though I suspected as much would be true when I read the blurb. This book literally doesn't go beyond their summer before college. An epilogue of some sort would have been nice considering the sudden ending but hey ho. That's the way it goes I suppose!
Overall, it was an easy read that was entertaining but not intriguing. Good for if and when you need something to read that won't particularly mess with your emotions but give you a good story nonetheless.