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exlibrismira 's review for:
The Becoming of Noah Shaw
by Michelle Hodkin
“She’s a rock I want to break myself against.”
Oh well, oh well, oh well. In all honesty, the 13-year-old me who absolutely adored the Mara Dyer trilogy and is deeply in love with Noah, is screaming with joy. However, grown-up me – the rational, level-headed one, is sighing in disappointment. When I saw Becoming of Noah Saw pop up on my Goodreads feed few months ago, I can’t deny the excitement I felt; not at the book itself as much as sharing the news with my friends who I had converted into diehard Noah fangirls back in the day. I did reread The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer prior to the release of Becoming of Noah Shaw and I have to say I was not impressed. I, as a child, had quite a questionable taste when it came to literature – it mainly consisted of vampire books and anything that had the bad boy trope in is, so I was ready to have my Mara-Dyer-loving bubble popped. I did not have enough will power and free time to reread the rest of the series (bless my plot memory) and with the Great Reading Slump of 2017 hitting hard, I barely gathered enough strength to start Becoming of Noah Shaw once it arrived in the post. Well, I did, and even though it did read effortlessly, I just didn’t feel like reading it at all. So, her I am, two months after the release, finally writing a review.
“When someone is hiding a secret in a house, something changes in the air. Unspoken words, half finished smiles, eggshell steps—they distort reality, they muffle truth.”
One of the few truly positive aspects, and also the only thing that saved this book from being bashed nine feet under by my ranty fury, was the writing. Michelle Hodkin’s writing has improved tenfold over the years, and I’m not sure if it was Noah’s personality that allowed more poetic feeling to slide its way into the text or Hodkin’s writing style had really undergone such a change, but I can say that I kept noticing, and appreciating, the word choice, the styling of the sentences and the atmosphere the writing provided. This is one of the instances where I can say that the writing added one, if not two, stars to the overall rating. Thank god, were it not for this, the book would have been virtually unbearable.
“Morning”
“God is dead.”
“Coffee?”
“Fuck you.”
“Again?”
There was next to no story up to around page 150, if I recall correctly. And even after that, the plot only took on a little bit more structure. I can’t help but think that these 364 pages could have been reduced to 100 at best. The first half of the book is basically just a bunch of horny teenagers moaning about life. The second is said teenagers moaning and whining some more while trying to uncover a mystery. I actually tried to come up with something better to describe it but found myself unable to since THERE IS NEXT TO NO STORY. And yes, we get quite a good insight into Noah’s psyche, his self-destructive tendencies, we explore the dynamics of his and Mara’s relationship (oh and yes, they do have sex – or try to, a lot, constantly, if you will), and trust me – I’ve seem worse, but it’s still not enough to leave me satisfied after finishing the book.
“You’re my preferred method of self harm.”
Looking at Mara, the change in her character is unbelievable. She started off as a quirky, traumatized girl who tried so hard to be sarcastic and relatable. In Becoming of Noah Shaw, Mara is cold, calculating, surrounded by this cloud of eerie calm. I personally enjoyed this Mara way more than the Mara-Dyer-Trilogy one – she had more layers, more depth to her and that is something I do like to see in a character. Well, enough of praise, now we tumble down into the bottomless hole of WHY WAS THIS NECESSARY?
“A thing I loved about her immediately, though, she looked back at me completely without pity.”
Now, even though I did not absolutely adore the book, I did like it more than The Becoming of Mara Dyer (I’ll have to reread the rest of the trilogy to make the final verdict), and even though it was far from perfect, I will be picking up the sequel. The read it truly easy, the book does flow naturally and you only realize that there’s very little happening once you are looking back at it in retrospect. I want to see what Hodkin can come up with in the future and therefore, I’ll be getting my hands on the sequel the moment it’s out.
“I stare at her above me and want her to pry me open, to crack my ribs, lick my heart, break my bones and suck out the marrow. I want to live inside of her.”
3 oh-you-are-spechul-too? stars.
Oh well, oh well, oh well. In all honesty, the 13-year-old me who absolutely adored the Mara Dyer trilogy and is deeply in love with Noah, is screaming with joy. However, grown-up me – the rational, level-headed one, is sighing in disappointment. When I saw Becoming of Noah Saw pop up on my Goodreads feed few months ago, I can’t deny the excitement I felt; not at the book itself as much as sharing the news with my friends who I had converted into diehard Noah fangirls back in the day. I did reread The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer prior to the release of Becoming of Noah Shaw and I have to say I was not impressed. I, as a child, had quite a questionable taste when it came to literature – it mainly consisted of vampire books and anything that had the bad boy trope in is, so I was ready to have my Mara-Dyer-loving bubble popped. I did not have enough will power and free time to reread the rest of the series (bless my plot memory) and with the Great Reading Slump of 2017 hitting hard, I barely gathered enough strength to start Becoming of Noah Shaw once it arrived in the post. Well, I did, and even though it did read effortlessly, I just didn’t feel like reading it at all. So, her I am, two months after the release, finally writing a review.
“When someone is hiding a secret in a house, something changes in the air. Unspoken words, half finished smiles, eggshell steps—they distort reality, they muffle truth.”
One of the few truly positive aspects, and also the only thing that saved this book from being bashed nine feet under by my ranty fury, was the writing. Michelle Hodkin’s writing has improved tenfold over the years, and I’m not sure if it was Noah’s personality that allowed more poetic feeling to slide its way into the text or Hodkin’s writing style had really undergone such a change, but I can say that I kept noticing, and appreciating, the word choice, the styling of the sentences and the atmosphere the writing provided. This is one of the instances where I can say that the writing added one, if not two, stars to the overall rating. Thank god, were it not for this, the book would have been virtually unbearable.
“Morning”
“God is dead.”
“Coffee?”
“Fuck you.”
“Again?”
There was next to no story up to around page 150, if I recall correctly. And even after that, the plot only took on a little bit more structure. I can’t help but think that these 364 pages could have been reduced to 100 at best. The first half of the book is basically just a bunch of horny teenagers moaning about life. The second is said teenagers moaning and whining some more while trying to uncover a mystery. I actually tried to come up with something better to describe it but found myself unable to since THERE IS NEXT TO NO STORY. And yes, we get quite a good insight into Noah’s psyche, his self-destructive tendencies, we explore the dynamics of his and Mara’s relationship (oh and yes, they do have sex – or try to, a lot, constantly, if you will), and trust me – I’ve seem worse, but it’s still not enough to leave me satisfied after finishing the book.
“You’re my preferred method of self harm.”
Looking at Mara, the change in her character is unbelievable. She started off as a quirky, traumatized girl who tried so hard to be sarcastic and relatable. In Becoming of Noah Shaw, Mara is cold, calculating, surrounded by this cloud of eerie calm. I personally enjoyed this Mara way more than the Mara-Dyer-Trilogy one – she had more layers, more depth to her and that is something I do like to see in a character. Well, enough of praise, now we tumble down into the bottomless hole of WHY WAS THIS NECESSARY?
Spoiler
Why does everyone who they meet have to have superpowers? I strongly dislike this truly stupid trope (very similar to Maas’s “Mates are very rare in this world. However, every single of my characters has one, if possible within their tiny group of acquaintances”). Sophie is a carrier of the special-snowflake gene. Okay, fine, I get that – it has certain amount of logic to back it up. However Goose I don’t understand. Noah’s childhood friend, who just randomly shows up, gets invited to start a new life with the group in New York and out of the blue, lo and behold, he also is a carrier! How unexpected! How surprising! And his presence isn’t even that crucial to the story. If Hodkin wanted to add a romantic interest for Jaime, which is essentially the role Goose plays as far as I can tell, she could have done it in a much more believable way. Making Goose into a carrier only cause the story to feel that much less natural. Leo is for now uninteresting. The reappearance of Stella the bitch was noted and exasperatedly rolled eyes at.“A thing I loved about her immediately, though, she looked back at me completely without pity.”
Now, even though I did not absolutely adore the book, I did like it more than The Becoming of Mara Dyer (I’ll have to reread the rest of the trilogy to make the final verdict), and even though it was far from perfect, I will be picking up the sequel. The read it truly easy, the book does flow naturally and you only realize that there’s very little happening once you are looking back at it in retrospect. I want to see what Hodkin can come up with in the future and therefore, I’ll be getting my hands on the sequel the moment it’s out.
“I stare at her above me and want her to pry me open, to crack my ribs, lick my heart, break my bones and suck out the marrow. I want to live inside of her.”
3 oh-you-are-spechul-too? stars.