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iilex 's review for:
The Face on the Milk Carton
by Caroline B. Cooney
I remember first hearing about The Face on the Milk Carton back in the late '90s when I was in elementary school. The premise (teen girl discovers she was kidnapped as a young child) was interesting, but I wasn't actually interested in reading it. Recently I've been getting into YA mystery and suspense books, and was disappointed to find that there actually aren't that many out there that have been published recently. Whenever I looked for books in the genre, I kept seeing The Face on the Milk Carton listed. I probably never would have read it, but I somehow ended up with it after obtaining a whole bunch of books and thought that I may as well read it, since I have it. I'm not totally sure what I expected, honestly. I never thought that it would be good - even my 5th or 6th grade self didn't think it would be - but I didn't realize how truly bad it would be. I mean, I read a ton of non-quality literature (as well as some that are quality) and they're generally entertaining. This book was just worse than I expected.
I guess a lot of reviewers here have fond memories of reading this in the '90s, but since I just read this for the first time this year while in my 20s, I have no sentimental attachment to The Face on the Milk Carton. It was just so bad. The writing was seriously atrocious. Caroline B. Cooney seems really obsessed with metaphors and there were hundreds in this book. Seriously. Some pages contained about 15 different metaphors and similes - some in the same sentence! And worst of all, there were a lot of mixed metaphors. Sometimes it was hard to tell what was actually happening in the story, which is sort of laughable, considering how little actually happens in this story. You'd think that a book that promises to be a teen thriller would actually be thrilling, but it's not. It's not even 200 pages, but a lot of them seem unnecessary. Speaking of the writing, I weirdly couldn't tell who the intended audience of this book is. Janie, the protagonist, is 15 but I can't see many actual teens enjoying this book. The writing is extremely simple. On the other hand, there are a number of sexual scenes in here that seem inappropriate for preteens.
Perhaps some of the flaws could have been overlooked if the characters were at all engaging, but they were not. Obviously our protagonist Janie was going through a lot, but she was just too wishy-washy. I got tired of her whining early on. And other than being totally weak-willed, Janie doesn't have much of a personality. The other characters aren't much better. Janie's best friend, Sarah-Charlotte is the worst. I guess it's a point in Janie's favor that she sort of agrees. But Sarah-Charlotte is hardly alone in her terribleness; Janie's sort-of-boyfriend Reeve is seriously awful. He's a senior to Janie's sophomore, and is a controlling, manipulative bastard. He spends most of his time putting her down (and not in a flirty way) and pressures her to go further sexually than she's ready for. Somehow, as readers, we're just supposed to accept this relationship, but I was totally skeeved out.
Lastly, this book ends on a total cliff-hanger. Apparently the sequel(s) was planned from the beginning, so if you want to know what happens, be prepared to read the sequel. I think I got one or two of the sequels along with this first book, but I don't feel particularly inclined to read them at the moment. I wasn't expecting this book to be good, but it was worse than I expected. According to some other Goodreads users this text is being used in some schools and for the life of me I cannot figure out why. 1 out of 5 stars.
I guess a lot of reviewers here have fond memories of reading this in the '90s, but since I just read this for the first time this year while in my 20s, I have no sentimental attachment to The Face on the Milk Carton. It was just so bad. The writing was seriously atrocious. Caroline B. Cooney seems really obsessed with metaphors and there were hundreds in this book. Seriously. Some pages contained about 15 different metaphors and similes - some in the same sentence! And worst of all, there were a lot of mixed metaphors. Sometimes it was hard to tell what was actually happening in the story, which is sort of laughable, considering how little actually happens in this story. You'd think that a book that promises to be a teen thriller would actually be thrilling, but it's not. It's not even 200 pages, but a lot of them seem unnecessary. Speaking of the writing, I weirdly couldn't tell who the intended audience of this book is. Janie, the protagonist, is 15 but I can't see many actual teens enjoying this book. The writing is extremely simple. On the other hand, there are a number of sexual scenes in here that seem inappropriate for preteens.
Perhaps some of the flaws could have been overlooked if the characters were at all engaging, but they were not. Obviously our protagonist Janie was going through a lot, but she was just too wishy-washy. I got tired of her whining early on. And other than being totally weak-willed, Janie doesn't have much of a personality. The other characters aren't much better. Janie's best friend, Sarah-Charlotte is the worst. I guess it's a point in Janie's favor that she sort of agrees. But Sarah-Charlotte is hardly alone in her terribleness; Janie's sort-of-boyfriend Reeve is seriously awful. He's a senior to Janie's sophomore, and is a controlling, manipulative bastard. He spends most of his time putting her down (and not in a flirty way) and pressures her to go further sexually than she's ready for. Somehow, as readers, we're just supposed to accept this relationship, but I was totally skeeved out.
Lastly, this book ends on a total cliff-hanger. Apparently the sequel(s) was planned from the beginning, so if you want to know what happens, be prepared to read the sequel. I think I got one or two of the sequels along with this first book, but I don't feel particularly inclined to read them at the moment. I wasn't expecting this book to be good, but it was worse than I expected. According to some other Goodreads users this text is being used in some schools and for the life of me I cannot figure out why. 1 out of 5 stars.