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A review by chrissymcbooknerd
Consent by Nancy Ohlin
3.0
I've always been a *huge* fan of the teacher/student relationship novel -- especially when it veers into potentially scandalous/illegal/uncomfortable territory. So, I was definitely excited when I had the opportunity to read Consent -- a book with a title that just screamed "You're about to jump into some massive ethical quandaries here!"
That said, I think I was expecting a bit more complexity here -- which may or may not be fair for a YA novel. Our main character, Bea, is a high school senior who is weeks away from her 18th birthday (and from the point of making huge decisions about her educational future -- which could have massive impacts on her relationship with her father). Her "love interest" is a music teacher in his late 20's, who inspires Bea to leap wholeheartedly into her music -- and into the possibility of Julliard, rather than the more traditional educational paths that she knows her father is expecting.
I do think the *relationship* was handled with a fair degree of sensitivity -- but I found myself just wanting more of something that was never delivered. The portrayal of the student/teacher interaction felt a little flat -- maybe because it was seen only from Bea's perspective and was written as if it were just a typical high school relationship, with the unfortunate side effect of a police investigation thrown in to complicate things. Bea's final revelation also felt a little *too* convenient, although it was probably a fitting conclusion given the events of the rest of the book.
Part of my reservations are probably just based on the fact that most of my frame of reference for comparable subject matters are books outside the YA genre -- so, my expectations may not have been completely realistic. That said, this definitely wasn't a *bad* book. There was never a point at which I considered abandoning the story -- there just simultaneously was never a point where I just *knew* I'd found a book I'd revisit in the future.
That said, I think I was expecting a bit more complexity here -- which may or may not be fair for a YA novel. Our main character, Bea, is a high school senior who is weeks away from her 18th birthday (and from the point of making huge decisions about her educational future -- which could have massive impacts on her relationship with her father). Her "love interest" is a music teacher in his late 20's, who inspires Bea to leap wholeheartedly into her music -- and into the possibility of Julliard, rather than the more traditional educational paths that she knows her father is expecting.
I do think the *relationship* was handled with a fair degree of sensitivity -- but I found myself just wanting more of something that was never delivered. The portrayal of the student/teacher interaction felt a little flat -- maybe because it was seen only from Bea's perspective and was written as if it were just a typical high school relationship, with the unfortunate side effect of a police investigation thrown in to complicate things. Bea's final revelation also felt a little *too* convenient, although it was probably a fitting conclusion given the events of the rest of the book.
Part of my reservations are probably just based on the fact that most of my frame of reference for comparable subject matters are books outside the YA genre -- so, my expectations may not have been completely realistic. That said, this definitely wasn't a *bad* book. There was never a point at which I considered abandoning the story -- there just simultaneously was never a point where I just *knew* I'd found a book I'd revisit in the future.