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A review by 5elementknitr
My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi
1.0
This was suggested by a friend, but even that friend said she was mistaken. She'd read the first couple chapters, and thought we'd like it.
The writing is SO repetitive. It's set in the 1980's, so autism wasn't really a diagnosis that was looked into, but the obsessive focus of the main character in this book seems to point toward the spectrum (I conjecture with my admittedly limited knowledge on the subject).
Here's the thing...
If EG's obsessions and unwillingess to talk about ANYTHING else is getting on her mom's nerves, her dad's nerves, her best friend's nerves, and even her grandfather's nerves (the man who started her on that path), how is it NOT going to fray every last nerve of a complete stranger/the reader.
The areas of the book where she wasn't constantly repeating herself were few and far between, but the writing in those precious respites was really lovely. And the reader (who is also the author) was really good.
The part about the grandfather's issues was really unclear, and for quite awhile it seemed he was in trouble with the law? And a horrifying moment when EG's dad asks if she and gpa were keeping secrets together, I thought, "If he's molesting her, I'm going to throw this book across the room" which would've been especially bad considering I was listening to it on my phone. He's not, and he's also not in trouble with the law.
The other thing I didn't like about this book was the whole "middle-school, mean girls" aspect, but that may just be me projecting, remembering my own time in 1985 as the weird kid.
The writing is SO repetitive. It's set in the 1980's, so autism wasn't really a diagnosis that was looked into, but the obsessive focus of the main character in this book seems to point toward the spectrum (I conjecture with my admittedly limited knowledge on the subject).
Here's the thing...
If EG's obsessions and unwillingess to talk about ANYTHING else is getting on her mom's nerves, her dad's nerves, her best friend's nerves, and even her grandfather's nerves (the man who started her on that path), how is it NOT going to fray every last nerve of a complete stranger/the reader.
The areas of the book where she wasn't constantly repeating herself were few and far between, but the writing in those precious respites was really lovely. And the reader (who is also the author) was really good.
The part about the grandfather's issues was really unclear, and for quite awhile it seemed he was in trouble with the law? And a horrifying moment when EG's dad asks if she and gpa were keeping secrets together, I thought, "If he's molesting her, I'm going to throw this book across the room" which would've been especially bad considering I was listening to it on my phone. He's not, and he's also not in trouble with the law.
The other thing I didn't like about this book was the whole "middle-school, mean girls" aspect, but that may just be me projecting, remembering my own time in 1985 as the weird kid.