Showing posts with label bullying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bullying. Show all posts

Strange Boy Review

Strange Boy
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Strange Boy ReviewStrange Book!
I was tempted to stop the review there, but that will only serve to annoy readers of this review, so to flesh out my feelings a bit: Paul Magrs set out to write a book he would have liked to read as a young teen. Presumably he succeeded in this quest, but I know it is not a book I would have wanted at the same age. For some people this will no doubt be a fresh original work, gritty and exploring realistic themes as 10 year old David's parents divorce and find new partners. In the meantime David explores themes of emerging sexuality, as well as friendship, rejection, peer pressure and suchlike.
Whilst the book will find its admirers, I disliked it. The sexual encounter is a brave departure for a children's or young adult book, but it does not really come over well. Something happens and then its forgotten - and the something that happens just does not feel realistic - more like the kind of encounter a 30 something year old might wish they had dared at the age of 10. I could be wrong there, but that was my feeling. In any case it went nowhere and ultimately did not seem to fit with the greater theme of the book.
But then I have to ask myself what the greater themes of the book was, and I am not sure I can really answer that. This is a story without a story. It has all the subtle back story you would expect in a good novel, but it seems to be missing an overarching plot. The book kind of fizzled out, and did not really end.
Many of the themes of this book are so much more expertly put together in books by David Almond or Pauline Fisk and others. Where the book is perhaps highly original, it fails to capitalise on this and unfortunately this is a book that will be quickly forgettable. I would not recommend it to its intended young adult audience - there are many much better works to choose from.
Paul Magrs does show some promise in this book. He just fails to realise it. Perhaps a name to watch in the future, but this book is not one I can recommend.Strange Boy OverviewCome back to 1980, to the Northeast of England, and meet David. Some might say he's a strange boy. He's smart, sensitive—and convinced he has secret super-powers. Life for him and his brother is a constant whirl of would-be step-families and overbearing friends and relations. And even aged ten, he's finding he's not sure what he thinks about girls when 14-year-old John down the road seems so much more interesting.

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Before I Fall Review

Before I Fall
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Before I Fall ReviewFriday, February 12th should be just another average day for popular, beautiful Samantha Kingston. But it's far from it--her ride home after a late-night party ends in a car accident, only when Sam wakes up, it's Friday, February 12th again. Forced to re-live the last day of her life seven times, Sam struggles to understand the meaning behind these experiences and the significance in her own life and actions. Because only when she can get her last day exactly right will she ever be able to take the next step.

With keen insights and startling candidness, Lauren Oliver's debut novel is a frank, if not at times brutal look at high school social circles and the careless cruelties and bullying that occurs on a daily basis. Sam is one of the mean girls, and she shrugs off her biting words and actions as something that just happens, collateral damage of living through high school. But through every complex and carefully plotted event, Oliver peels back the layers of Sam's life and teaches us all that every little deed has a consequence, and no act goes unnoticed. Though Sam is by no means a likable character at the beginning of the novel, as her character is revealed and she learns a thing or two about the things she has done in her life and the person she has become, she morphs into a true, selfless, and caring heroine, despite her many flaws. The story line is addicting and suspenseful. and as each "day" passes and Sam begins to get things right, the question that has been looming in the back of your mind since the end of the first chapter--What will happen to Sam?--becomes more and more urgent. Oliver is skillful at wielding suspense and heartbreak, making you think hard about the value of your own life and actions.

Before I Fall is a haunting and beautiful book. It will float around at the back of your mind long after you've read it.Before I Fall Overview

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