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A review by adamcetra
Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah
2.0
Oh wow. The plot of this book is so laughably dumb, I don't know how I got through it. The story begins with an interesting question: what is up with these two kids? They haven't aged in 12 years! The answer is literally the most boring and predictable one it could be: they're two different kids! (Of course, more to it than that, but none of it makes it interesting.)
The plot barely progresses throughout the story, with most of the time spent with Beth's ridiculous, repetitive speculating. Nothing she does makes sense, as throughout 90 percent of the book, it looks like she's just ruining the life of someone who doesn't like her anymore based on a weird hunch. But of course, that ridiculous hunch turns out to be EXACTLY CORRECT!
There is also almost an entire chapter about searching for Twitter accounts. Another is spent on what is basically the embodiment of the "everybody clapped" meme.* In this totally unnecessary subplot, Beth rescues her daughter (the lone bright spot in this book, btw, Zannah is hilarious!), and her boyfriend from a teacher who makes a racist comment and lies about it. Zannah had recorded it on her phone, which the teacher took (to delete the recording), but Zannah emailed the video to Beth, who outsmarts the teacher and principal (?) after the teacher lies. The entire scene is cringeworthy. It's only arguable purpose is to foreshadow ... Beth recording something on her phone! On that note, who points a gun at someone seated, threatens to kill them, provides a COMPLETE confession, and never thinks to ask for the other person's cell phone?!?
If you want a laugh, give this book a try. Otherwise, skip it for one of the million other (better) versions of this kind of story.
*For those that don't know, the meme evolved from people telling clearly fake stories on the internet about them really showing somebody up, standing up for themself or someone else, etc. Many versions ended with everyone in line at the store or whatever clapping. So "everybody clapped," is a reference to these laughably fake stories about the narrator acting "perfectly" and winning in the end, and being recognized for their victory by everyone in the area clapping.
The plot barely progresses throughout the story, with most of the time spent with Beth's ridiculous, repetitive speculating. Nothing she does makes sense, as throughout 90 percent of the book, it looks like she's just ruining the life of someone who doesn't like her anymore based on a weird hunch. But of course, that ridiculous hunch turns out to be EXACTLY CORRECT!
There is also almost an entire chapter about searching for Twitter accounts. Another is spent on what is basically the embodiment of the "everybody clapped" meme.* In this totally unnecessary subplot, Beth rescues her daughter (the lone bright spot in this book, btw, Zannah is hilarious!), and her boyfriend from a teacher who makes a racist comment and lies about it. Zannah had recorded it on her phone, which the teacher took (to delete the recording), but Zannah emailed the video to Beth, who outsmarts the teacher and principal (?) after the teacher lies. The entire scene is cringeworthy. It's only arguable purpose is to foreshadow ... Beth recording something on her phone! On that note, who points a gun at someone seated, threatens to kill them, provides a COMPLETE confession, and never thinks to ask for the other person's cell phone?!?
If you want a laugh, give this book a try. Otherwise, skip it for one of the million other (better) versions of this kind of story.
*For those that don't know, the meme evolved from people telling clearly fake stories on the internet about them really showing somebody up, standing up for themself or someone else, etc. Many versions ended with everyone in line at the store or whatever clapping. So "everybody clapped," is a reference to these laughably fake stories about the narrator acting "perfectly" and winning in the end, and being recognized for their victory by everyone in the area clapping.