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A review by chocorb
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
when i started reading this i didn’t know i’d be bamboozled, hate an angsty teenager, feel absolutely nothing for the most flavorless romance ever…but here i am anyway.
this review is going to be me hating viciously on the book so please skip if you don’t feel like reading an entire thesis on it
this book starts off with a documentary about the disappearance of rachel price, a woman who disappeared 16 years ago. this being absurd as it is, we find out more about the family. bel, the main character, is a kleptomaniac. her whole personality revolves around caring about her father, who got accused for the murder of rachel price and was in custody for 7 months. there's still tension between him and rachel’s mother, with my thoughts only being couldn’t they have fought like 16 years ago? why waste my time with the blandest fight between a granny karen and a middle-aged man shot on camera the whole time?
the thing about the documentary is that they keep filming everything. especially the fights and drama (which now that i think about it, happened a lot). nobody seems to mind them even though they’re all bothered by it, im still left wondering why they only tell them to shut the cameras off at certain times. there’s this guy, ash, who basically has no job in the book expect being the love interest — obvious from the very first moment he was described by the way.
before i get into all of that, i would first like to talk about how infuriating the main character is. her personality issues are so prominent, yet so utterly unrelated to the whole plot that i feel wronged by holly jackson. bel’s personality is somewhere between an emo kid and a cranky grandma. throughout the whole book she keeps getting possessive over her dad, lashing out on everyone, thinking she’s the main character in everyone’s lives — but guys applaud her because she’s not like other girls. she is a tomboy, not like other girls. her dad went to jail, not like other girls. she has anger issues, not like other girls. my point is, not only did i have to deal with the unsalted plotline, i had to deal with this delusional creep trying to deal with life. she harrassed multiple people during this book, and yet everyone likes her? that's the real mystery in this book if you ask me.
this is me going crazy so let’s just skip to the actual mystery, which if i must say, i didn’t care for one but because at this point in the book i just wanted to sleep. or hoped bel would pull a rachel and disappear for 16 years because that girl exists to annoy everyone. anywho, rachel stayed locked up for 15 years and then locks up charlie and then there's this whole chase scene which was really funny for some reason LOL. like imagine them having this whole wannabe avengers moment with jeff chasing after charlie (who miraculously got an axe out of nowhere! what is this book if not minecraft in disguise?) chasing after bel and rachel. first of all, that is simply ridiculous. i am not going to believe all of that just happened. no. just no.
moving on from the plot because it’s making me lose my last remaining braincells, let's talk about what happens after charlie and jeff fall down a cliff because they got pushed by a 15-year-old after an 18-year-old couldn't push them down. carter is traumatized of being found out: which is understandable. carter is suddenly okay after hearing that charlie was actually alive: EXCUSE ME? shouldn't you be more traumatized knowing he was still alive and in immense pain? the way she just chirped up brightly knowing that is simply impossible to take seriously. also, how is carter so nonchalant after the two people who’d looked after her just went away? her reaction is just unrealistic, but then again, what isn't unrealistic in this book?
and now, the romance which i completely ignored.
ash and bel have exactly two interactions during the whole book in which they have actual conversations. even then, it’s just ash following bel around looking for clues because bel thinks rachel was evil and that it was either her or rachel. insane, i know. but somehow that is ash’s type! good for her because if i met a girl like her, not only would i not flirt with her but call a mental asylum cause that girl is a lunatic. the romance in this book was more depressing than my life, which says a lot. here is a list of all the reasons i think the romance was non-existent:
bel constantly kept emphasizing how they “flirted” with each other, when all they did was look at each other or insult one another for no reason
ash had basically no appearance in the book except talking to bel or being the “quirky” guy he was (this was just painful)
they had this whole fight, then got back together, then he just left for london or something again (the film crew is british, which the author mentions every time the film crew shows up) and all i can think is why the hell did i waste my time reading the most vanilla romance then?
they have this whole thing where they exchange roasts and stuff like they’re in 5th grade and have to beat each other even though they’ve barely met
bel, first of all, acts like a total douche to him and thinks “oh yeah this is our thing” like girl you doing okay?
so aside from all of the unhingedness for the actual plot and characters, i found a lot of smaller details that seemed rather far-fetched to me. im not going to list them all but a few that come to mind are that ramsey (or whatever his name was, i am beyond caring at this point) let bel take his camera and start her own sub-documentary on a complete whim, the axe that spawned basically out of nowhere and everyone’s reaction on basically anything.
i have more totrash on say but i feel my sanity leaving me as i write this review so i will stop. for now. this book felt more like a soap opera in disguise than a mystery/thriller, because the only thrill i felt was when the book ended, when it was 4 am for me.
i hope i forget this book.
unlovingly and with all the contempt i can muster for this chaotic book,
choco.
the thing about the documentary is that they keep filming everything. especially the fights and drama (which now that i think about it, happened a lot). nobody seems to mind them even though they’re all bothered by it, im still left wondering why they only tell them to shut the cameras off at certain times. there’s this guy, ash, who basically has no job in the book expect being the love interest — obvious from the very first moment he was described by the way.
before i get into all of that, i would first like to talk about how infuriating the main character is. her personality issues are so prominent, yet so utterly unrelated to the whole plot that i feel wronged by holly jackson. bel’s personality is somewhere between an emo kid and a cranky grandma. throughout the whole book she keeps getting possessive over her dad, lashing out on everyone, thinking she’s the main character in everyone’s lives — but guys applaud her because she’s not like other girls. she is a tomboy, not like other girls. her dad went to jail, not like other girls. she has anger issues, not like other girls. my point is, not only did i have to deal with the unsalted plotline, i had to deal with this delusional creep trying to deal with life. she harrassed multiple people during this book, and yet everyone likes her? that's the real mystery in this book if you ask me.
this is me going crazy so let’s just skip to the actual mystery, which if i must say, i didn’t care for one but because at this point in the book i just wanted to sleep. or hoped bel would pull a rachel and disappear for 16 years because that girl exists to annoy everyone. anywho, rachel stayed locked up for 15 years and then locks up charlie and then there's this whole chase scene which was really funny for some reason LOL. like imagine them having this whole wannabe avengers moment with jeff chasing after charlie (who miraculously got an axe out of nowhere! what is this book if not minecraft in disguise?) chasing after bel and rachel. first of all, that is simply ridiculous. i am not going to believe all of that just happened. no. just no.
moving on from the plot because it’s making me lose my last remaining braincells, let's talk about what happens after charlie and jeff fall down a cliff because they got pushed by a 15-year-old after an 18-year-old couldn't push them down. carter is traumatized of being found out: which is understandable. carter is suddenly okay after hearing that charlie was actually alive: EXCUSE ME? shouldn't you be more traumatized knowing he was still alive and in immense pain? the way she just chirped up brightly knowing that is simply impossible to take seriously. also, how is carter so nonchalant after the two people who’d looked after her just went away? her reaction is just unrealistic, but then again, what isn't unrealistic in this book?
and now, the romance which i completely ignored.
ash and bel have exactly two interactions during the whole book in which they have actual conversations. even then, it’s just ash following bel around looking for clues because bel thinks rachel was evil and that it was either her or rachel. insane, i know. but somehow that is ash’s type! good for her because if i met a girl like her, not only would i not flirt with her but call a mental asylum cause that girl is a lunatic. the romance in this book was more depressing than my life, which says a lot. here is a list of all the reasons i think the romance was non-existent:
bel constantly kept emphasizing how they “flirted” with each other, when all they did was look at each other or insult one another for no reason
ash had basically no appearance in the book except talking to bel or being the “quirky” guy he was (this was just painful)
they had this whole fight, then got back together, then he just left for london or something again (the film crew is british, which the author mentions every time the film crew shows up) and all i can think is why the hell did i waste my time reading the most vanilla romance then?
they have this whole thing where they exchange roasts and stuff like they’re in 5th grade and have to beat each other even though they’ve barely met
bel, first of all, acts like a total douche to him and thinks “oh yeah this is our thing” like girl you doing okay?
so aside from all of the unhingedness for the actual plot and characters, i found a lot of smaller details that seemed rather far-fetched to me. im not going to list them all but a few that come to mind are that ramsey (or whatever his name was, i am beyond caring at this point) let bel take his camera and start her own sub-documentary on a complete whim, the axe that spawned basically out of nowhere and everyone’s reaction on basically anything.
i have more to
i hope i forget this book.
unlovingly and with all the contempt i can muster for this chaotic book,
choco.