A review by nicolepeck
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

2.0

I didn't like this book very much. It's fairly short and meant for a young adult/teenage audience, but I wasn't fond of it. I didn't like the writing. I couldn't connect to the main character. In the end, I didn't like any of the authority figures either and, as 2 of those were her parents and what Charlotte ended up doing at the end of the book, I'd have a hard time recommending this book to the intended audience (including my own kids of that age). While I could understand how the characters feared Captain Jaggery and his deplorable actions, I have a hard time believing the story. I tend to agree with Charlotte's father, that she made it all up. Even for that time period, I just don't see the captain and the crew on the ship acting towards a 13-year-old girl in any manner that was portrayed in this book. At times, I maybe could have given some of the descriptive writing and dialog a 2.5-3 stars, but, overall, I didn't like this book at all and really struggled to force myself to actually finish it.