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A review by endlessreader
Send by Patty Blount
2.0
Here there be some spoilers so read at your own risk!
If I could, I would give Send infinite stars...not because it was a fantastic book (clearly my 3 star rating indicates that I did NOT feel like it was a fantastic book), but because it got me out of a particularly brutal reading slump. If I were rating this book solely on whether or not it was engaging, I would also give it five stars. But I'm not, so I didn't.
Send was one of those books that had the potential to be amazing. Send was told in the view of a repentant, former bully. This was the chance for a writer to truly get into what makes a bully tick and why they do the things they do. However, I feel like this didn't happen in Send. We know what Dan/Ken did, but we get no insight into why. We do know that this one singular event shaped his life, but we're not given any reason as to why he did what he did. All we get are other characters saying that he was a good kid before the event. I would've liked to know more about Dan/Ken's life prior to juvie. In fact, I would've liked to know a little more about all of the characters...I feel like there should have been more depth to them as I found them a bit surface-level.
Another issue with Send was Julie. I couldn't stand her or her bipolar, cold shoulder, wishy-washy behavior. At the end, I did sort of understand where she was coming from, but even then, I was still aggravated with her jerky, hypocritical behavior. Due to my immense dislike of the character, I was nowhere near invested in the romance aspect between Julie and Dan.
However, my biggest issue with Send was the ambiguous ending. Nothing upsets me more than a half-assed ending. Give me a good, uplifting ending or give me a depressing ending...just actually GIVE me an ending. Now, I'm not talking about an actual ending to the romance (as I couldn't care less about Dan/Julie's relationship), but rather a conclusive ending when it came to Dan's inner voice. I just wanted some sort of closure...be it good or bad.
So overall, I was disappointed with Send. I did think that it was an engaging page-turner and I do applaud it for trying to send a message about the dangers of bullying. I also did like the whole plot point with Kenny inside of Dan's head. However, I felt like Send just could've been so much deeper and fulfilling.
If I could, I would give Send infinite stars...not because it was a fantastic book (clearly my 3 star rating indicates that I did NOT feel like it was a fantastic book), but because it got me out of a particularly brutal reading slump. If I were rating this book solely on whether or not it was engaging, I would also give it five stars. But I'm not, so I didn't.
Send was one of those books that had the potential to be amazing. Send was told in the view of a repentant, former bully. This was the chance for a writer to truly get into what makes a bully tick and why they do the things they do. However, I feel like this didn't happen in Send. We know what Dan/Ken did, but we get no insight into why. We do know that this one singular event shaped his life, but we're not given any reason as to why he did what he did. All we get are other characters saying that he was a good kid before the event. I would've liked to know more about Dan/Ken's life prior to juvie. In fact, I would've liked to know a little more about all of the characters...I feel like there should have been more depth to them as I found them a bit surface-level.
Another issue with Send was Julie. I couldn't stand her or her bipolar, cold shoulder, wishy-washy behavior. At the end, I did sort of understand where she was coming from, but even then, I was still aggravated with her jerky, hypocritical behavior. Due to my immense dislike of the character, I was nowhere near invested in the romance aspect between Julie and Dan.
However, my biggest issue with Send was the ambiguous ending. Nothing upsets me more than a half-assed ending. Give me a good, uplifting ending or give me a depressing ending...just actually GIVE me an ending. Now, I'm not talking about an actual ending to the romance (as I couldn't care less about Dan/Julie's relationship), but rather a conclusive ending when it came to Dan's inner voice. I just wanted some sort of closure...be it good or bad.
So overall, I was disappointed with Send. I did think that it was an engaging page-turner and I do applaud it for trying to send a message about the dangers of bullying. I also did like the whole plot point with Kenny inside of Dan's head. However, I felt like Send just could've been so much deeper and fulfilling.