I´m not exactly sure how to start this review, but I do know I want to say this: I was quite disappointed with it. To be fair (I don't know if you've noticed but I always say this in negative reviews for some reason), the actual style of writing was okay. The language was a bit strong, but then again I couldn't be too shocked, for it is a book aimed at teens, and half the teen books in the world contain some form of swearing or references to... well, grown up stuff. Or at least in my experience they do. What I would probably say was my main issue with it was the storyline. It's well thought out, but it's just so depressing. And I mean so depressing. As I read this, I could feel my happiness sliding away from me down... and down... and down... into a void of nothingness. Literally. I was all pumped when I started this book, because a friend had recommended it to me and she had been like "Oh it's just so great and you should definitely read this and I really loved it", but then I read it and was all "Hey, WHAT? This is your opinion of good?" I get that she liked it because it kind of is her style, but seriously, no. Not for me. Oh no.
To me, the simple idea of destiny being written already is just horrible. Just thinking that everything is planned would prevent humans from reacting to events in our life, and we would become the laziest species to ever set foot on Earth, because the mentality of "Well, whatever I do this is going to happen, I cannot change it so I'll just not bother trying" is quite unmotivational, and around 80% of humans would do nothing during the course of their lives. Nothing. True, to have that feeling that you're in charge of your life, and that what you do will affect others, can be scary, but in my opinion it's a necessary thing in life. It can also be empowering, and hopeful, and makes humans better people. So a book about unchangeable fate is just unacceptable to me. That is my personal opinion, and I'm not asking you to agree with it, but I felt that it was necessary so that you could understand how that has affected my opinion of this book. The book's story is that of a girl who can see death dates when she looks into other people's eyes. Or, more specifically, that person's death date. Which is creepy, and weird, and depressing. Consequently, she withdraws into herself, becoming in the eyes of the people surrounding her an asocial orphan who just doesn't bother to try to socialize. But we, the readers, know better. It's true she doesn't make an effort, but we know why. So when she makes a new friend, alarm bells ring in our head. because we know how it's going to end. Because this is a book about fate, and this story's end has already been decided. And however much we start to believe that everything will work out, and however many times the author brings our hopes up and then throws them back down again, the ending doesn't change. Which is actually really depressing as well, if you think about it like that. I've pretty much told you the ending even though I promised myself I wouldn't, so I'm honestly sorry about that, but what's done is done, and it won't change. However, it's ambiguous enough so as to not give too much away, so I hope you'll forgive me. As always, if you've read it and have a totally different opinion, that's great, and I'd really appreciate it if you could put it in the comments for others to see, because my reviews are really biased and influenced by tastes, opinions and beliefs, so it's always nice to have a range of opinions. Hope you all found this review helpful!
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So, I know I haven't posted in a while, but it was Halloween and we had a small break so I met up with friends and wasn't home much, so there really wasn't much time to post anything. But anyway, today's review is about the Gemma Doyle trilogy and I'd honestly like to say that this trilogy kept me enthralled from beginning to end, although I must admit that one of my favourite things about it was the Q&A with the author, it was so funny it had me stuffing my pillow in my mouth to stifle the irrepressible giggles coming out at midnight when I was supposed to be sleeping... I personally think this book was really amusing and witty, and there was such a stark contrast when compared to the typical teenager books for girls where they all talk about boyfriends and makeup and all that... I'll admit that this book does talk about love, but its very differently written to the usual "OMG I have a crush on ____________ and he's so good-looking and hot, right?!" It's not like that at all. It could be considered desire more than love, really, but it's definitely not the shallow kind of love I demonstrated in the example, it's quite different... I'm pretty sure if you've read up to here you are not a boy, because this is quite a girlish trilogy and I'm quite sure not many boys would be interested in this. Really, you can probably tell I like this kind of book, because apart from the romance and all that there is also magic, and social division between the classes, and it is written in the perspective of a young 16 year old living in England during the Victorian period. Yes, that's right, the Victorian period. It really is quite interesting to read what modern day people presume Victorian girls thought like (because this is quite a recent trilogy; I think the first book was published in the early 2000's? Okay, I checked, it's 2003, so I was round about right...) and really, they were only girls, same as I am now, but their lives were quite different to ours. What if they were different too? What if the mind of a human teenager has changed and evolved over the centuries? What if the mentality of girls in the, say, 1600's, were completely the opposite to the way the average teen girl thinks and feels? Right, I'm getting a bit off topic now, so back to the book we go. As I was saying, it's interesting to read books set in different time periods because we get to experience the world differently, and we might even start seeing some thing in a totally different light. Like school, for example. I know most children don´t like school and say it's boring, and some might even say that girls in the olden days were lucky not to go to school, that it's not fair and they would have preferred life like that, but then when they grew up they would have liked having their independence and own jobs and not have to rely too much on anyone else. Well, it's just like that famous Spiderman quote: If you want to have rights and rewards and freedom and independence and power, you need to work for it. and start earning those luxuries. That's partly what school is for: to help you accept responsibility. So really, school could be looked upon as a good thing, for if we didn't go to school and had all the privileges, then that would make the world a horrible place to live in, so I'm just saying, thank the goods you have school :). Where did that come from? No idea. Well, one of the points I wanted to focus on (SPOILER ALERT: skip to the bold red words and continue reading from there if you really don't want a spoiler, but this is a very light introduction of some characters and really shouldn't spoil anything in the book, but if you really want to skip it...) was the friendship between four of the main characters: Gemma, Pippa, Ann and Felicity. These four girls have very different lives, and this is where the social divide comes in. Ann, you see, is a scholarship student that spends her life wishing to be rescued from her future as a nurse to her rich cousin's young children, as she is in their debt for paying the expenses of her boarding school so she would be trained to be an adequate companion for their children. Gemma's family, on the contrary, belong to the high-ish society of London, and so her station in life is to be, no doubt, a pleasant one. Pippa, although belonging to a family of merchants, is very rich, and Felicity's father is a famous naval hero at the time. These girls lives have been very different, and so it is surprising that they become friends, for they all are as different as chalk and cheese, and share neither hopes, nor dreams, nor sorrows. Each girl's past is unique and different, and all they share in common is the wish to be free. This makes their friendship interesting and unique, even though sometimes a chasm opens up and isolates one of them because of an experience the others cannot relate to, and it can seem like a rather shallow friendship at times. END OF SPOILER: continue reading from here One last thing before I finish. The ending. Endings always fascinate me, for sometimes the story gets so complicated that I wonder how the author will pull the end off. Will they give it the ending it deserves, or a simple one, or a much more complicated one that was necessary, or a very vague and shallow one, or what? Those are questions to ponder when you think the book is an intricate story that will need a lot of knot-tying to finish it off properly- unless it's a cliffhanger, but I generally find those when the author intends to write a sequel, and though it can give a nice effect if used correctly, sometimes they might do that because it's easier to leave the reader in suspense rather than go back and tie all the loose threads together so that the reader can fully comprehend the story. Not that I'm implying Libba Bray did that. Certainly not. Although there was still a sense of mystery surrounding the end of the trilogy, I think it was the perfect combination of suspense and compiling everything together. Really, if a little sad, it was fantastic, with just the right amount of vagueness so as to allow the reader the chance of fantasizing about what happens next, but also enough information to leave your mind at rest and to make the book feel finished, and I just really enjoyed reading this trilogy so much, so I hope you do too. |
AuthorCarolina (or Carol for short), a girl who adores to read. A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The person who never reads lives only one. Categories
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