Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by cozykrysti
The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares
I REALLY wanted to like this book. I very much enjoyed The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, as I'm sure most of you did as well, and I was really intrigued by the premise of this book. I think it's important to have various types of family structures depicted in literature, and I do think that is one thing this book does well. I am in no way saying that this is an example of a functional, healthy family unit. I'm just saying it's a representation of a type of family unit that isn't seen often in fiction.
There are a lot of POVs going on in this story, and it can be a bit hard to keep track of who is who and who is related to whom. There is, thankfully, a family tree to reference at the beginning of the book, but it can be a bit distracting when you're constantly having to refer back to it as your trying to get your bearings in the story.
It is evident that Brashares is trying to include some diverse representation in this book. I want to make it clear that I do not consider myself to be qualified to say what is good diversity representation in litearature and what is not. I was just a little surprised at the constant references to skin color. It seemed excessive and not in a way that really hammered home the idea that racism is bad so much as that it exists. If an author is going to include an important social issue in their book, then I do think it is vital for them to make their stance on that issue evident in the text, and I just didn't see that here.
While I do understand that Sasha and Ray are not blood relatives, their relationship still just made me a little bit uncomfortable, and because of that, I just could not get behind the romance.
I am a fan of Brashares's writing, particularly when she is writing books that center around female empowerment. This particular story was just not a good fit for me.
There are a lot of POVs going on in this story, and it can be a bit hard to keep track of who is who and who is related to whom. There is, thankfully, a family tree to reference at the beginning of the book, but it can be a bit distracting when you're constantly having to refer back to it as your trying to get your bearings in the story.
It is evident that Brashares is trying to include some diverse representation in this book. I want to make it clear that I do not consider myself to be qualified to say what is good diversity representation in litearature and what is not. I was just a little surprised at the constant references to skin color. It seemed excessive and not in a way that really hammered home the idea that racism is bad so much as that it exists. If an author is going to include an important social issue in their book, then I do think it is vital for them to make their stance on that issue evident in the text, and I just didn't see that here.
While I do understand that Sasha and Ray are not blood relatives, their relationship still just made me a little bit uncomfortable, and because of that, I just could not get behind the romance.
I am a fan of Brashares's writing, particularly when she is writing books that center around female empowerment. This particular story was just not a good fit for me.