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-young adult magical realism
-narrator, Jam (short for Jamaica), has been sent to a boarding school for emotionally troubled teens
-during a course called Special Topics in English, where Jam and her classmates are studying Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, the students are transported to another realm, which they call Belzhar
-Jam is a likable narrator, but as the story progressed, I started to find her rather annoying in the way teenage protagonists can be (i.e. Bella from the Twilight series)
-there is a twist ending (well, maybe more of a twist in a major plot line than in the ending itself) that, for me, saved the novel: midway through, it started to feel too predictable, but the twist, which was very surprising, re-vitalized the narrative for me
-going into the novel, I had thought that there would be more focus on the The Bell Jar, so I was a bit disappointed that Plath's novel, though a prominent plot point, did not receive greater treatment and more engagement with the major characters in Belzhar
-good, solid, easy read, though if you were a big fan (as was I) of Wolitzer's The Interestings, you might be disappointed because Belzhar is nowhere near as good as The Interestings, but Belzhar is a young adult novel and so is not as mature and well developed as The Interestings
-narrator, Jam (short for Jamaica), has been sent to a boarding school for emotionally troubled teens
-during a course called Special Topics in English, where Jam and her classmates are studying Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, the students are transported to another realm, which they call Belzhar
-Jam is a likable narrator, but as the story progressed, I started to find her rather annoying in the way teenage protagonists can be (i.e. Bella from the Twilight series)
-there is a twist ending (well, maybe more of a twist in a major plot line than in the ending itself) that, for me, saved the novel: midway through, it started to feel too predictable, but the twist, which was very surprising, re-vitalized the narrative for me
-going into the novel, I had thought that there would be more focus on the The Bell Jar, so I was a bit disappointed that Plath's novel, though a prominent plot point, did not receive greater treatment and more engagement with the major characters in Belzhar
-good, solid, easy read, though if you were a big fan (as was I) of Wolitzer's The Interestings, you might be disappointed because Belzhar is nowhere near as good as The Interestings, but Belzhar is a young adult novel and so is not as mature and well developed as The Interestings