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alba_marie 's review for:
Flawed
by Cecelia Ahern
{2.5 stars}
"'We're not criminals, are we Celestine?...You remember that. It's easy to forget sometimes. Though criminals get better treatment than us. As soon as they've served their time, they're out. We're like this forever." Flawed.
Initially, I though this book was a dystopian YA tale about social justice (the term I'm using - ie, things that are bad but not exactly illegal), which totally intrigued me. I am fascinated by the idea of social justice. Some people are just awful people who do crappy things - not punishable by law but terrible people, and everyone should know it. I'm talking about people who cheat on their spouses. (Like, seriously? You're not happy, then break up you idiot! Don’t keep a spouse just to CHEAT on them.) Men (or women, but let's face it, men) who catcall women just minding their own business - just to scare them and watch them jump. Manipulators who use all kinds of skills - usually some version of fear - to control others into bending to their will. Liars, those of the ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’ 'Trump' persuasion who say one thing in front of people and then turn around and say something completely different and deny the first thing. Internet trolls who make rude comments just to provoke people and make others feel bad about themselves. Bullies who push other kids around, make them feel stupid or lonely, and then threaten them if they try to report it the bullying. Employers who are mean and ruthless to their employees. Employees who are lazy and dump all their work on their colleagues' shoulders. Divorced parents who take no interest in raising their own kids just to spite their ex-spouse. Not exactly jail-able offences - but crap things to do and when done repeatably, bad for general society. "Social crimes." That's what I thought this was going to be about.
Well, that’s not what the book is about. It’s what I think the book originally wanted to be about - but then the author did an about-face and suddenly she was like ‘no, let's make this is statement about corruption and perfection. Making mistakes is ok - we're all flawed! That's a good thing!' Which is true, but not exactly news?
So the book is about a dystopian society that I think was meant to be set in present day Europe (more on that later), in which normal crimes equal jail time, and social crimes equal permanent branding with a giant 'F' in a Hawthornian sort of way and total societal ostracism. It's...weird. Especially when the MC's crime is helping a coughing 'Flawed' man to a seat on the bus.
What follows is actually a rather bland and boring dive into this seriously flawed ('Flawed'?) society. Firstly, it is narrated in the present which is a pet peeve of mine that drives me nuts. The story follows Celestine North, a supposedly perfect good girl (oh she’s so godly, how celestial! The names are weird in this book) who gets into deep sh*t when she "aids a flawed person" (that's illegal). Ooohh how dare you.
And then the next 100 pages are all about her trial - should she lie? Tell the truth and get punished for life? What’s right? Oh I’m gonna moan about logic and compassion for about 50 pages - it's not very interesting. The case itself is boring - there is literally only one side to it. Why couldn’t Ahern have made it more controversial? As it stands, we are supposed to see things in black and white - Celestine equals good, Guild equals bad. But I think the story would have been better if Celestine's crime was that could be seen in multiple facets depending on who's viewing it - something that would really get the discussion going. The way it stands, Ahern REALLY wants us to think a certain way, no deviation, we must think like her. And the rest of the characters and story lines are divided down these lines - do they help Celestine? They are Good! Do they reject her? They are Bad! It’s too black-and-white and I thrive in the grey.
The trial takes too long. I think it would have been more interesting if the book started on the first day she is Flawed. Flashbacks explaining what she did, the trial and outcome, who she was. As it is, the pacing is off and the plot is boring. It starts and stops, like a crappy manual clutch car trying to get up a hill in 3rd gear. Ponderously slow for ages, and then suddenly lightening speed.
Celestine had a boyfriend too, the son of - wait for it - the Big Baddie. Ha, like that's going to work. Then she meets her cellmate and voila, it's instant love. Eye roll. Why does YA use this trope so often?? What, teens can fight battles and endure hardships, but when it comes to boys, it's like a freaking Disney film? Beurk.
The world building has issues too. I love world building. I want to feel like I’m THERE. I want DETAILS. I want to walk down those Parisian cobblestones in the rain, stumble through the London fog in the gaslights, experience what life would be like on that spaceship landing on Mars, wander through a world where talking animals are completely normal and FEEL like this was normal.
Whether you’re building a past or future world, a fantasy or parallel world, a world on a foreign planet, our own world under slightly different rules - whatever - I want it to to feel REAL. This one - did not. Ahern did not offer us not enough details, first of all. How did it get this way? Why is it like this? Who’s in charge? What is the purpose of this branding system? Besides becoming social rejects, how do these people live? It was too close to our real society - with the only changes being this weird branding thing - and it just didn't sell it. I didn't feel like this was something that might feasibly happen. It felt unbelievable and jarring.
The locale seemed like a fake country - Humming, Highland Castle, not real places - but then the dad would randomly mention he was going to Brussels or other European places. What?? So, are we in Europe? The names, though unusual, are Anglophone - Celestine, Art, Juniper, Ewan, Summer, Pia, Carrick (Irish for ‘rock’ which she mentions offhand as if we’d all just know this. So are we in Ireland?). One character was called Alpha. (What??) It just felt - out of place, not believable.
With some subtle changes and a couple of bigger ones - changing where the book starts, changing tense to past tense, adjusting the actual social justice crimes/system and giving the MC a different crime that was more controversial/interesting - Ahern might have gone from a bland, average book to something worth reading. You can still make it a corrupt system that we should rage against...
The ending was a bit more action packed, but pretty predictable. In fact, the whole book feels quite predictable. Certainly not the worst book I’ve read…but also not good either. It brings up a lot of interesting topics (hence the second star) and I'm excited to discuss in a book club, but ultimately the story, characters and writing miss the mark for me.
It's a fast read so at least you won't waste too much time on this. Unless you're crazy about YA dystopias (and even then...), I'd say skip it. There are others that are better worth your time... Scott Westerfeld, for example, has written others that are much better!
"'We're not criminals, are we Celestine?...You remember that. It's easy to forget sometimes. Though criminals get better treatment than us. As soon as they've served their time, they're out. We're like this forever." Flawed.
Initially, I though this book was a dystopian YA tale about social justice (the term I'm using - ie, things that are bad but not exactly illegal), which totally intrigued me. I am fascinated by the idea of social justice. Some people are just awful people who do crappy things - not punishable by law but terrible people, and everyone should know it. I'm talking about people who cheat on their spouses. (Like, seriously? You're not happy, then break up you idiot! Don’t keep a spouse just to CHEAT on them.) Men (or women, but let's face it, men) who catcall women just minding their own business - just to scare them and watch them jump. Manipulators who use all kinds of skills - usually some version of fear - to control others into bending to their will. Liars, those of the ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’ 'Trump' persuasion who say one thing in front of people and then turn around and say something completely different and deny the first thing. Internet trolls who make rude comments just to provoke people and make others feel bad about themselves. Bullies who push other kids around, make them feel stupid or lonely, and then threaten them if they try to report it the bullying. Employers who are mean and ruthless to their employees. Employees who are lazy and dump all their work on their colleagues' shoulders. Divorced parents who take no interest in raising their own kids just to spite their ex-spouse. Not exactly jail-able offences - but crap things to do and when done repeatably, bad for general society. "Social crimes." That's what I thought this was going to be about.
Well, that’s not what the book is about. It’s what I think the book originally wanted to be about - but then the author did an about-face and suddenly she was like ‘no, let's make this is statement about corruption and perfection. Making mistakes is ok - we're all flawed! That's a good thing!' Which is true, but not exactly news?
So the book is about a dystopian society that I think was meant to be set in present day Europe (more on that later), in which normal crimes equal jail time, and social crimes equal permanent branding with a giant 'F' in a Hawthornian sort of way and total societal ostracism. It's...weird. Especially when the MC's crime is helping a coughing 'Flawed' man to a seat on the bus.
What follows is actually a rather bland and boring dive into this seriously flawed ('Flawed'?) society. Firstly, it is narrated in the present which is a pet peeve of mine that drives me nuts. The story follows Celestine North, a supposedly perfect good girl (oh she’s so godly, how celestial! The names are weird in this book) who gets into deep sh*t when she "aids a flawed person" (that's illegal). Ooohh how dare you.
And then the next 100 pages are all about her trial - should she lie? Tell the truth and get punished for life? What’s right? Oh I’m gonna moan about logic and compassion for about 50 pages - it's not very interesting. The case itself is boring - there is literally only one side to it. Why couldn’t Ahern have made it more controversial? As it stands, we are supposed to see things in black and white - Celestine equals good, Guild equals bad. But I think the story would have been better if Celestine's crime was that could be seen in multiple facets depending on who's viewing it - something that would really get the discussion going. The way it stands, Ahern REALLY wants us to think a certain way, no deviation, we must think like her. And the rest of the characters and story lines are divided down these lines - do they help Celestine? They are Good! Do they reject her? They are Bad! It’s too black-and-white and I thrive in the grey.
The trial takes too long. I think it would have been more interesting if the book started on the first day she is Flawed. Flashbacks explaining what she did, the trial and outcome, who she was. As it is, the pacing is off and the plot is boring. It starts and stops, like a crappy manual clutch car trying to get up a hill in 3rd gear. Ponderously slow for ages, and then suddenly lightening speed.
Celestine had a boyfriend too, the son of - wait for it - the Big Baddie. Ha, like that's going to work. Then she meets her cellmate and voila, it's instant love. Eye roll. Why does YA use this trope so often?? What, teens can fight battles and endure hardships, but when it comes to boys, it's like a freaking Disney film? Beurk.
The world building has issues too. I love world building. I want to feel like I’m THERE. I want DETAILS. I want to walk down those Parisian cobblestones in the rain, stumble through the London fog in the gaslights, experience what life would be like on that spaceship landing on Mars, wander through a world where talking animals are completely normal and FEEL like this was normal.
Whether you’re building a past or future world, a fantasy or parallel world, a world on a foreign planet, our own world under slightly different rules - whatever - I want it to to feel REAL. This one - did not. Ahern did not offer us not enough details, first of all. How did it get this way? Why is it like this? Who’s in charge? What is the purpose of this branding system? Besides becoming social rejects, how do these people live? It was too close to our real society - with the only changes being this weird branding thing - and it just didn't sell it. I didn't feel like this was something that might feasibly happen. It felt unbelievable and jarring.
The locale seemed like a fake country - Humming, Highland Castle, not real places - but then the dad would randomly mention he was going to Brussels or other European places. What?? So, are we in Europe? The names, though unusual, are Anglophone - Celestine, Art, Juniper, Ewan, Summer, Pia, Carrick (Irish for ‘rock’ which she mentions offhand as if we’d all just know this. So are we in Ireland?). One character was called Alpha. (What??) It just felt - out of place, not believable.
With some subtle changes and a couple of bigger ones - changing where the book starts, changing tense to past tense, adjusting the actual social justice crimes/system and giving the MC a different crime that was more controversial/interesting - Ahern might have gone from a bland, average book to something worth reading. You can still make it a corrupt system that we should rage against...
The ending was a bit more action packed, but pretty predictable. In fact, the whole book feels quite predictable. Certainly not the worst book I’ve read…but also not good either. It brings up a lot of interesting topics (hence the second star) and I'm excited to discuss in a book club, but ultimately the story, characters and writing miss the mark for me.
It's a fast read so at least you won't waste too much time on this. Unless you're crazy about YA dystopias (and even then...), I'd say skip it. There are others that are better worth your time... Scott Westerfeld, for example, has written others that are much better!