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| taken from Goodreads.com |
This book caused me to have a pretty significant epiphany; the first two books of Anderson's that I ever read were
Speak and
Wintergirls, which are both hardcore, intense, and super good. Because of them, I got it in my head that Anderson's books were all hardcore, intense, and super good, despite the fact that the last four books of hers that I've read (
Prom,
Twisted, Chains, and
Forge) weren't nearly as "wow"-filled. I kept thinking and saying over and over that each of those books just weren't filled with the old Laurie Halse Anderson ka-pow, when maybe it's just that the first two books I read were the only ones that had that ka-pow. This book (which only had a little bit of ka-pow) made me finally realize that if five of the seven books I've read by this author are kind of run-of-the-mill, typical teen books and two are blow-you-out-of-the-water intense, maybe those are the exceptions. And not the rules.
But anyway, a book review. I liked this one, a comfortable 3 out of 5 stars worth. Some tougher issues are definitely approached with this plot (the lasting effects of war, PTSD, childhood trauma, drug abuse of both teens and adults, alcoholism) but the rest of it is pretty typical teen drama. Not only is it typical teen drama, it's kind of realistic teen drama (aka: the protagonist's crush is kind of moody and inconsistent and dumb and I didn't like him). I thought maybe she was going to blow me away with a crazy and traumatic ending, but then she mellowed out and gave kind of a glossed-over, middle of the road ending instead. I enjoyed it, but it didn't change my world or anything.
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