A review by bookishjenny
Marlena by Julie Buntin

3.0

I went back and forth between a 3 and 4 star rating for this book, but chose 3 because of how long it took me to actually become interested in the story. I was bored the first half of the book. I had no interest in continuing to read it, but I made myself, hoping it would get better. I didn't want to leave it unfinished. This is not a fast-paced book, and it seemed to drag out a lot of the time. But, although the way the author transitioned from memory to memory could be confusing, she has a beautiful way of writing that had me stopping and rereading phrases or whole paragraphs that resonated with me. The plot finally picked up the second half of the book, and once I got to the last 100 pages or so, I stayed up all night reading because I needed to know how it ended. Despite all of its flaws, I know this will be a book that will stick with me, because less than a year ago my best friend, who in a lot of ways Marlena reminded me of, passed away unexpectedly. And reading this book from the perspective of an adult woman looking back on memories about a best friend who is no longer alive brought up a lot of memories for myself. It made me miss high school and the friendships I made and the way my friend, just like Marlena did for Cat (although not always in a positive way) changed me. This book is not perfect, and it was a very slow read to start out, but I'm glad that I finished it.