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A review by carkxy
Kiss by Jacqueline Wilson
3.0
it's a brilliant book, a bittersweet tale of exploring one's sexuality and unrequited love.
'kiss' is the story of sylvie and carl who have been best friends ever since they've known each other. they've even conjured fantasies of getting married but when carl moves to another school and meets another boy named paul, sylvie can't help but feel as if something's changed...
the whole story comes from sylvie's perspective which is really interesting. i read this book when i was a child and of course, it did come as a surprise when carl's true sexuality was revealed. but reading this now, the twist was obvious. i really liked the book but i'm only giving 3 stars because i felt that some parts could have been better.
for example, I found miranda to be a pretty annoying character. as much as she contributed to Sylvie's growth and the entire story as a supporting character, i just found her to be pretty distracting. i even had trouble getting through certain chapters at times because of how much i couldn't stand her. it was also disappointing to see how Sylvie more or less ding-dong-ditched lucy at the end and how she constantly gave in to miranda without being able to say 'no'. miranda was plain toxic for at least half of the entire story and it's just annoying to see all of this unravel. mainly because i had expected sylvie to have become more mature and aware after everything that had happened. it's also disappointing because i feel like this was a lost opportunity for further character development; sylvie had so much more potential in her.
another part which i disliked was when sylvie accidentally revealed her feelings for carl. i felt that it was too rushed, it would have been slightly better if the both of them had had more time in the story to really acknowledge and digest sylvie's feelings. poor gal! how carl just plainly responded with an 'oh' was equally frustrating. but I guess it isn't too great of an issue. in fact, i think it just serves as a reminder to the readers that life is constantly full of unpredictable surprises and that as much as we wish for it to be true, some things will just never go our way.
regardless of the 3 star rating and its slight weaknesses, it is a fact that JW did a great job in giving the readers an upfront view of first love and heartbreak. it's a beautiful story that should be read by more teenagers, in my opinion. by the way, the ending broke me and left me close to tears (in a good way!); i think 'kiss' might be one of the more touching books i've ever read.
'kiss' is the story of sylvie and carl who have been best friends ever since they've known each other. they've even conjured fantasies of getting married but when carl moves to another school and meets another boy named paul, sylvie can't help but feel as if something's changed...
the whole story comes from sylvie's perspective which is really interesting. i read this book when i was a child and of course, it did come as a surprise when carl's true sexuality was revealed. but reading this now, the twist was obvious. i really liked the book but i'm only giving 3 stars because i felt that some parts could have been better.
for example, I found miranda to be a pretty annoying character. as much as she contributed to Sylvie's growth and the entire story as a supporting character, i just found her to be pretty distracting. i even had trouble getting through certain chapters at times because of how much i couldn't stand her. it was also disappointing to see how Sylvie more or less ding-dong-ditched lucy at the end and how she constantly gave in to miranda without being able to say 'no'. miranda was plain toxic for at least half of the entire story and it's just annoying to see all of this unravel. mainly because i had expected sylvie to have become more mature and aware after everything that had happened. it's also disappointing because i feel like this was a lost opportunity for further character development; sylvie had so much more potential in her.
another part which i disliked was when sylvie accidentally revealed her feelings for carl. i felt that it was too rushed, it would have been slightly better if the both of them had had more time in the story to really acknowledge and digest sylvie's feelings. poor gal! how carl just plainly responded with an 'oh' was equally frustrating. but I guess it isn't too great of an issue. in fact, i think it just serves as a reminder to the readers that life is constantly full of unpredictable surprises and that as much as we wish for it to be true, some things will just never go our way.
regardless of the 3 star rating and its slight weaknesses, it is a fact that JW did a great job in giving the readers an upfront view of first love and heartbreak. it's a beautiful story that should be read by more teenagers, in my opinion. by the way, the ending broke me and left me close to tears (in a good way!); i think 'kiss' might be one of the more touching books i've ever read.