I was not expecting much from this book, but I ended up REALLY liking it. It's about a girl named Mia, whose family gets in a fatal car crash. Her parents both die on the scene, and her younger brother Teddy is taken to a different hospital from her. The story is narrated from the perspective of Mia's disembodied soul (I guess?) - she is wandering around the hospital, watching her doctors, nurses, friends, and family interact with her comatose body. She also narrates multiple flashbacks to her life - her family history, her relationship with her boyfriend Adam, and her friendship with her best friend Kim. Through the course of it all, she is trying to decide whether she wants to come out of her coma and live or die to be with her parents (it's not suicidal - it makes sense once she learns her parents have died).
I think the books is engaging, interesting, and a quick read - all nice for a schoolwide summer read. It's also very different from what we have assigned prior to this point. I'm interested to see what others (especially students) think. There is some profanity that could be a concern; however, it didn't really bother me - it seems really natural in context of the story rather than gratuitous. The girls' parents are also very permissive, which could be a concern - they allow/encourage a lot of risky behaviors that parents would very likely not want their students engaging in; however, this isn't the primary focus of the book. I think the biggest issue I (and a couple other teachers who have read it) have is that it is from a perspective that it would be very difficult for our students to relate to - the girl is a classical musician (which plays a big role in the book), and her parents are very white-punk-hipster (which also plays a big role in the book). I don't know if the fact that these qualities are not really familiar to our students will make them less likely to engage with the characters and the novel, or if the fact that she is a teenager will overrule that. It is also a bit more girl-skewed, though not particularly girly. The protagonist's relationship plays a rather large role.
Great, detailed review, Ms. Handley. I second the already mentioned concerns about the likely difficulty our students might have relating to (or liking) the hipster, permissive parents and the classically trained protagonist. The fact that this is a love, love, love story is something out students will surely appreciate and enjoy, however. It's a very (very) very sad story - but, it ends on a promising note...
Ms. Handley did an excellent job highlighting the pros and cons of this novel. I think many students would be engaged by the novel (it would probably be on Amazon's "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" for Thirteen Reasons Why and Lovely Bones) and there is a sequel (Where She Went) which is always a good way to encourage students to read more, but I don't know that the protagonist, her boyfriend, family, and/or life situation is something our students will relate to. I would imagine some students would look past this, but some will use it as (another) excuse not to read. It might be helpful to have some of our seniors read the book and share their thoughts, as I don't want to discount it entirely.
I didn't particularly care for this book. While there were parts I found compelling, there were too many points where I became frustrated or bored by the story. The protagonist's perpetual self-doubt and sense of not being cool enough for her boyfriend, I found annoying. Once the narrator had her accident and is watching the events unfold around her, the narrative structure becomes repetitive: there are a couple pages on the present-day car accident aftermath, then a couple pages of back story, followed by a couple pages of car accident, then a couple pages of back story. The car accident plot line had me engaged and interested, but several of the back story sections, which jump to various points in her life without the aid of being chronological, were slow and at points uninteresting. Students may get confused or turned off by the lack of chronological order to her life story. I was fine with the permissive parents in the story, but I think many of our students’ parents would have trouble with that approach to parenting and may not appreciate that element of a mandatory reading assignment. I concur with previous concerns about how well our students will relate to a classically trained cello player with white hipster parents. I don't think this is a strong choice for summer reading. It's not an aversion I'd go to the wall for, but I feel there are better choices.
I thought that this book was great! I love the romance between Mia and Adam when he found out about mia being in the hospital from her best friend Kim. I loved how he tried to get into the ICU even though he was not aloud to, he never left her side and i really liked it! I think this book would be great for the summer reading! It keeps you guessing what would happen next:)
I liked the book but in some parts it was kind of confusing that I had to reread to understand what was going on. I liked the relationship she had with her family and it was sad what she had to go through but it demonstrated what a tragedy to a person can either brake them or make them capable to handle a situation similar to Mia
I was not expecting much from this book, but I ended up REALLY liking it. It's about a girl named Mia, whose family gets in a fatal car crash. Her parents both die on the scene, and her younger brother Teddy is taken to a different hospital from her. The story is narrated from the perspective of Mia's disembodied soul (I guess?) - she is wandering around the hospital, watching her doctors, nurses, friends, and family interact with her comatose body. She also narrates multiple flashbacks to her life - her family history, her relationship with her boyfriend Adam, and her friendship with her best friend Kim. Through the course of it all, she is trying to decide whether she wants to come out of her coma and live or die to be with her parents (it's not suicidal - it makes sense once she learns her parents have died).
ReplyDeleteI think the books is engaging, interesting, and a quick read - all nice for a schoolwide summer read. It's also very different from what we have assigned prior to this point. I'm interested to see what others (especially students) think. There is some profanity that could be a concern; however, it didn't really bother me - it seems really natural in context of the story rather than gratuitous. The girls' parents are also very permissive, which could be a concern - they allow/encourage a lot of risky behaviors that parents would very likely not want their students engaging in; however, this isn't the primary focus of the book. I think the biggest issue I (and a couple other teachers who have read it) have is that it is from a perspective that it would be very difficult for our students to relate to - the girl is a classical musician (which plays a big role in the book), and her parents are very white-punk-hipster (which also plays a big role in the book). I don't know if the fact that these qualities are not really familiar to our students will make them less likely to engage with the characters and the novel, or if the fact that she is a teenager will overrule that. It is also a bit more girl-skewed, though not particularly girly. The protagonist's relationship plays a rather large role.
Great, detailed review, Ms. Handley. I second the already mentioned concerns about the likely difficulty our students might have relating to (or liking) the hipster, permissive parents and the classically trained protagonist. The fact that this is a love, love, love story is something out students will surely appreciate and enjoy, however. It's a very (very) very sad story - but, it ends on a promising note...
ReplyDeleteMs. Handley did an excellent job highlighting the pros and cons of this novel. I think many students would be engaged by the novel (it would probably be on Amazon's "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" for Thirteen Reasons Why and Lovely Bones) and there is a sequel (Where She Went) which is always a good way to encourage students to read more, but I don't know that the protagonist, her boyfriend, family, and/or life situation is something our students will relate to. I would imagine some students would look past this, but some will use it as (another) excuse not to read. It might be helpful to have some of our seniors read the book and share their thoughts, as I don't want to discount it entirely.
ReplyDeleteI didn't particularly care for this book. While there were parts I found compelling, there were too many points where I became frustrated or bored by the story. The protagonist's perpetual self-doubt and sense of not being cool enough for her boyfriend, I found annoying. Once the narrator had her accident and is watching the events unfold around her, the narrative structure becomes repetitive: there are a couple pages on the present-day car accident aftermath, then a couple pages of back story, followed by a couple pages of car accident, then a couple pages of back story. The car accident plot line had me engaged and interested, but several of the back story sections, which jump to various points in her life without the aid of being chronological, were slow and at points uninteresting. Students may get confused or turned off by the lack of chronological order to her life story. I was fine with the permissive parents in the story, but I think many of our students’ parents would have trouble with that approach to parenting and may not appreciate that element of a mandatory reading assignment. I concur with previous concerns about how well our students will relate to a classically trained cello player with white hipster parents. I don't think this is a strong choice for summer reading. It's not an aversion I'd go to the wall for, but I feel there are better choices.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this book was great! I love the romance between Mia and Adam when he found out about mia being in the hospital from her best friend Kim. I loved how he tried to get into the ICU even though he was not aloud to, he never left her side and i really liked it! I think this book would be great for the summer reading! It keeps you guessing what would happen next:)
ReplyDeleteI liked the book but in some parts it was kind of confusing that I had to reread to understand what was going on. I liked the relationship she had with her family and it was sad what she had to go through but it demonstrated what a tragedy to a person can either brake them or make them capable to handle a situation similar to Mia
ReplyDelete