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A review by bexmontgomery
Polarity in Motion by Brenda Vicars
5.0
I don’t even know where to start with this book. It absolutely blew away my expectations. This book could have very easily taken the easy way out. And by that I mean, gone with the lowest common denominator of the story spark, followed mainly the romance line, and sat with a vast herd of mediocre YA contemporary lit that skirts around important issues and uses them as window dressing without ever really addressing them.
Polarity in Motion is so refreshingly not that book. Brenda Vicars throws her protagonist into the fire forcing her to face questions as diverse as bullying, ethics, mental illness, race relations, inequality, social injustice, grief and yes all this while coping with typical teen problems like struggling to comprehend first love, jealousy, and self-confidence.
I absolutely inhaled this book in one sitting, not only for it’s rich themes but because it’s a compelling mystery. As the horrors of the first few pages unfold and Polarity’s life is forever changed this book grips you. There is no looking away from this train wreck until you know how something like this could have possibly happened. And as things continue to get worse before they get better for Polarity, all the way her thoughtful consideration of everything, the way she looks at the world around her is really just so beautiful that you can’t help but want to continue on the journey with her until the very end.
The romance in this was well done in that it was sweet and didn’t overwhelm the entire plot when there were so many other more important things at play here. It added something very sweet to the story, but I appreciated it’s level of subtlety.
Obviously the bullying theme was huge in this story, and it wasn’t just a one-time attack, it was a systemic problem that kept rearing its ugly head throughout the book in different incarnations, over and over and over again. It was interesting as someone at an age where many of my friends now have children at or nearing that age to see how the parents dealt with or any many cases failed at dealing with the situation. And it wasn’t that she had bad parent’s by any means, it was just such an impossible situation to deal with.
The other thing I really liked about this book was the mother with Borderline Personality Disorder. It was an interesting choice. I haven’t read any other fiction books with BPD. And while it wasn’t entirely faithful to my experiences with the disorder, it was I think possibly faithful to one possible extreme example of the disorder and it was nice to see light brought to a very infrequently talked about or understood mental illness.
I would highly recommend this book for so many different readers. It’s one of those books that I think has such important things for teens to read about while still being a really entertaining read! It’s one of those books that I immediately wanted to call my friends that are high-school English teachers and librarians and tell them about. It’s one of those books that needs to be read, and digested, talked about, especially among teens! But I hope if that’s too intimidating, it will at least be read.
4.5 stars
This review originally appeared at Aurelia {lit}{geek}{chic} at http://aurelmedia.wordpress.com
*I received a complimentary review copy of this title from the publisher or author in exchange for a honest review.
Polarity in Motion is so refreshingly not that book. Brenda Vicars throws her protagonist into the fire forcing her to face questions as diverse as bullying, ethics, mental illness, race relations, inequality, social injustice, grief and yes all this while coping with typical teen problems like struggling to comprehend first love, jealousy, and self-confidence.
I absolutely inhaled this book in one sitting, not only for it’s rich themes but because it’s a compelling mystery. As the horrors of the first few pages unfold and Polarity’s life is forever changed this book grips you. There is no looking away from this train wreck until you know how something like this could have possibly happened. And as things continue to get worse before they get better for Polarity, all the way her thoughtful consideration of everything, the way she looks at the world around her is really just so beautiful that you can’t help but want to continue on the journey with her until the very end.
The romance in this was well done in that it was sweet and didn’t overwhelm the entire plot when there were so many other more important things at play here. It added something very sweet to the story, but I appreciated it’s level of subtlety.
Obviously the bullying theme was huge in this story, and it wasn’t just a one-time attack, it was a systemic problem that kept rearing its ugly head throughout the book in different incarnations, over and over and over again. It was interesting as someone at an age where many of my friends now have children at or nearing that age to see how the parents dealt with or any many cases failed at dealing with the situation. And it wasn’t that she had bad parent’s by any means, it was just such an impossible situation to deal with.
The other thing I really liked about this book was the mother with Borderline Personality Disorder. It was an interesting choice. I haven’t read any other fiction books with BPD. And while it wasn’t entirely faithful to my experiences with the disorder, it was I think possibly faithful to one possible extreme example of the disorder and it was nice to see light brought to a very infrequently talked about or understood mental illness.
I would highly recommend this book for so many different readers. It’s one of those books that I think has such important things for teens to read about while still being a really entertaining read! It’s one of those books that I immediately wanted to call my friends that are high-school English teachers and librarians and tell them about. It’s one of those books that needs to be read, and digested, talked about, especially among teens! But I hope if that’s too intimidating, it will at least be read.
4.5 stars
This review originally appeared at Aurelia {lit}{geek}{chic} at http://aurelmedia.wordpress.com
*I received a complimentary review copy of this title from the publisher or author in exchange for a honest review.