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A review by stephxsu
The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
3.0
First read in sixth grade for school; then, recently, I picked it up again on a whim, because working in literature education with kids of a similar reading level made me think back to the books I read when they were around their age. I remember finding this book interesting, but a little weird. But my impression of this book seemed to ripen with age until I was convinced it was canonical lit for sixth graders everywhere.
Well, the reread was disappointing. Despite it being written in the nineties, the dialogue already seemed outdated--what was up with the lack of contractions? I thought about it and I don't really think it was a characterization thing because so many of the characters talked that way, without contractions. Back in sixth grade, I thought the Souls were kind of mystical, an elevated species of middle-schooler to be emulated. Now, I just think they're slightly pretentious and contrived. There was falsity ringing from the pages, and it was disappointing for me to discover that the magic I had attributed to this novel may not have been there all along.
Well, the reread was disappointing. Despite it being written in the nineties, the dialogue already seemed outdated--what was up with the lack of contractions? I thought about it and I don't really think it was a characterization thing because so many of the characters talked that way, without contractions. Back in sixth grade, I thought the Souls were kind of mystical, an elevated species of middle-schooler to be emulated. Now, I just think they're slightly pretentious and contrived. There was falsity ringing from the pages, and it was disappointing for me to discover that the magic I had attributed to this novel may not have been there all along.