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eemilycolleen 's review for:
This Lullaby
by Sarah Dessen
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2021:
possibly (probably?) my favorite dessen. years after reading it for the first time, this lullaby still makes me yell, squeal, cover my face with my hands, weep a lil helpless weep, and most of all, BELIEVE IN THE INFINITE/IMPOSSIBLE POWER OF LOVE.
things of note:
- for me, Dexter is THEEEE dessen boy. purists will pick Wes or Owen, but not me. Dex is the blueprint: goofy, earnest, passionate, hopeful, head over heels in love with the dessen girl from his VERY FIRST SCENE. this is the shit I live for.
- love love love Remy, for all the ways she goes against form. she’s popular. she’s mean. she drinks. she fucks!!! i love that this book lets Remy be an asshole the whole way through, even as she grows and changes and Learns To Be Brave (as every dessen girl must!)
- truth squad! the potato opus! the yellow house! the Scarlett cameo! all of Remy’s friends! the scene where Remy buys Dexter flatware without thinking about it and he immediately teases her for being in love with him!!!!!!
- absolutely obsessed with “this lullaby” the song, and the three times Dexter sings it; the way it has the capacity to hurt her and to heal her, and the way we can tell how much it matters for her, every time.
- “That’s the big question, isn’t it? That’s the whole problem here. I think they just might come out. Maybe they won’t be perfect—I mean, they could be blurred, or cut off in the middle—but I’m thinking it’s worth a shot. That’s just me, though.”
- “I just thought to myself, all of a sudden, that we had something in common. A natural chemistry, if you will. And I had a feeling that something big was going to happen. To both of us. That we were, in fact, meant to be together. You didn’t feel it?”
- HATE SPINNERBAIT!!!!
2016: Okay, I just said Just Listen was the best Dessen, but I think this is the runner-up, mostly for the way it (tries to) deviate from form. Remy is much cattier, louder, ruder, and more extroverted than the average sweet best-friend-type Dessen narrator, and it works in her favor (even when she's kind of annoying). I don't think the subplots (read: mom's remarriage, brother's weird girlfriend) are quite as successful, but the Boy in this one works pretty well, again by nature of deviation; he's much less Strong-but-Silent and much more Goofy and Impulsive than the typical Dessen Boy, and after all the Weses and Owens (I used to be able to name all the Dessen boys, but, alas, time passes and life changes and I forget), it's pretty appealing.
Also Remy has curly hair, so, points for that.
possibly (probably?) my favorite dessen. years after reading it for the first time, this lullaby still makes me yell, squeal, cover my face with my hands, weep a lil helpless weep, and most of all, BELIEVE IN THE INFINITE/IMPOSSIBLE POWER OF LOVE.
things of note:
- for me, Dexter is THEEEE dessen boy. purists will pick Wes or Owen, but not me. Dex is the blueprint: goofy, earnest, passionate, hopeful, head over heels in love with the dessen girl from his VERY FIRST SCENE. this is the shit I live for.
- love love love Remy, for all the ways she goes against form. she’s popular. she’s mean. she drinks. she fucks!!! i love that this book lets Remy be an asshole the whole way through, even as she grows and changes and Learns To Be Brave (as every dessen girl must!)
- truth squad! the potato opus! the yellow house! the Scarlett cameo! all of Remy’s friends! the scene where Remy buys Dexter flatware without thinking about it and he immediately teases her for being in love with him!!!!!!
- absolutely obsessed with “this lullaby” the song, and the three times Dexter sings it; the way it has the capacity to hurt her and to heal her, and the way we can tell how much it matters for her, every time.
- “That’s the big question, isn’t it? That’s the whole problem here. I think they just might come out. Maybe they won’t be perfect—I mean, they could be blurred, or cut off in the middle—but I’m thinking it’s worth a shot. That’s just me, though.”
- “I just thought to myself, all of a sudden, that we had something in common. A natural chemistry, if you will. And I had a feeling that something big was going to happen. To both of us. That we were, in fact, meant to be together. You didn’t feel it?”
- HATE SPINNERBAIT!!!!
2016: Okay, I just said Just Listen was the best Dessen, but I think this is the runner-up, mostly for the way it (tries to) deviate from form. Remy is much cattier, louder, ruder, and more extroverted than the average sweet best-friend-type Dessen narrator, and it works in her favor (even when she's kind of annoying). I don't think the subplots (read: mom's remarriage, brother's weird girlfriend) are quite as successful, but the Boy in this one works pretty well, again by nature of deviation; he's much less Strong-but-Silent and much more Goofy and Impulsive than the typical Dessen Boy, and after all the Weses and Owens (I used to be able to name all the Dessen boys, but, alas, time passes and life changes and I forget), it's pretty appealing.
Also Remy has curly hair, so, points for that.