[description from B&N]Carley Wells is not fond of reading, so her parents commission a book to be written for her that she's sure to love. However, Carley loves Hunter Cay, who drowns himself in booze, Vicodin, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Review:
Talk about a #descriptionfail. I'd write my own, but I think we've established that I suck at them. Therefore, this is what you get. Moving on.
I don't even know what to say about this one. It took me like a week to read, I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I can see why someone else would like it.
The things I didn't like about this one are things I don't like in general. I don't like third person- here, with the constant change of characters being written about, it felt like I never got to really know the characters. I don't like it when nothing really happens and there's just a character change. Not much happens in this book. Bree, who is writing Carley's book, comes, starts writing. Other people show up. They interact, parties happen, stuff goes down, feelings are hurt, but nothing happens. Nothing terribly momentous occurs until the end; the characters just interact, change, and develop. Development and learning are good, but I was nearly bored waiting for something to occur. I don't like it when that happens. I need something to keep me interested.
Character-wise, I felt that Carley and Hunter didn't really seem like teenagers. They did make stupid choices, they are immature at times, but they just seem...older. Hunter is constantly drunk or talking about books. I don't know many teens who are constantly drunk or talk about books. And Carley is just...Carley. Because this is an Adult book, not a YA one, maybe I was looking at them more critically, but whatever. I felt that the adult characters were more unique, but still not described in depth enough. It's easy to believe they are real, but they're more of people you would hear about in real life. Not like you really know them.
One thing I did like was the ending. Can't say why, but I did. I also enjoyed the writing. Some books sound good out loud. This is one of them. The writing is smart- no words are wasted and the paragraphs are just structured well.
How to Buy a Love of Reading will have fans, I'm sure, that appreciate its great writing and general smartness, but I can't get past the fact that I was practically bored.
6.5/10
Links: Tanya's website
Dutton Adult/Hardcover/$25.95 (zomg thank goodness YA hardcovers are way cheaper than that/Amazon/B&N/Borders/IndieBound
I'm not sure why, but I really want to read this book. I think it might be the cover. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this one, but understand why you were bored. Nothing much did happen until the end. Still, I agree that no words are wasted. It is really good writing.
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