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myriadreads's review against another edition
4.0
In Thumped, most women in the U.S. are sterile by age 18 due to a virus. Teen girls become powerful players in the "pregging" biz, and all of the branding power that a commercialized nation can summon is bent to the cause of convincing teens to pregg their eggs, pronto.
shhchar's review against another edition
1.0
I wasn't very impressed with the first book, but I did like it. I'm not sure where Thumped went so wrong. The characters were unappealing, and I predicted the ending many pages in advance.
Harmony was just as naive as she was in the first book, just more delusional. Jondoe (which is a ridiculous name, I might add) annoyed me with his delusions as well. Zen and Melody, my favorites in the first book, seemed as if they were completely different characters in this book. Their relationship troubles only irked me, they didn't make me concerned for their wellbeings. The additional character twist/plot of Ventura seemed too unexplored to even be mentioned.
I could go into more detail, and more things I considered irrelevant and poorly dealt with (cough birthmother cough) but I'll just leave this review as is. If you liked the first novel, you'll like the second. If you were on the fence with the first one, I don't recommend the second.
Harmony was just as naive as she was in the first book, just more delusional. Jondoe (which is a ridiculous name, I might add) annoyed me with his delusions as well. Zen and Melody, my favorites in the first book, seemed as if they were completely different characters in this book. Their relationship troubles only irked me, they didn't make me concerned for their wellbeings. The additional character twist/plot of Ventura seemed too unexplored to even be mentioned.
I could go into more detail, and more things I considered irrelevant and poorly dealt with (cough birthmother cough) but I'll just leave this review as is. If you liked the first novel, you'll like the second. If you were on the fence with the first one, I don't recommend the second.
mandey1's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this one better than the first, but still not a favorite.
this_fishy_reads's review against another edition
2.0
Reading this was such a chore.
The only reason I picked up Bumped and Thumped was because I loved McCafferty's Jessica Darling series when I was a teenager. But the writing in these two books is so forced and stilted that I'm afraid to go back and find out Jess actually sucked the big one.
The themes here are totally commendable, too--the commercialization of sex, the sexualization of kids--but their handling is so freaking heavy-handed. McCafferty rushed through the ending like even she didn't want to be there.
The only reason I picked up Bumped and Thumped was because I loved McCafferty's Jessica Darling series when I was a teenager. But the writing in these two books is so forced and stilted that I'm afraid to go back and find out Jess actually sucked the big one.
The themes here are totally commendable, too--the commercialization of sex, the sexualization of kids--but their handling is so freaking heavy-handed. McCafferty rushed through the ending like even she didn't want to be there.
sarahanne8382's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this sequel to Bumped just a little bit more than the story it follows (and you must read Bumped in order to appreciate Thumped. While in the first one I had trouble getting into the satirical tone, this time I knew what to expect, and as events unfold, this one has quite a bit of heart.
In Bumped we left sisters Melody and Harmony shortly after Harmony slept with the guy Melody was paid to be impregnated by. Harmony's adventure with Jondoe only began to give us an idea of her personality and this time around we finally get to understand her more fully.
The action in Thumped starts up 35 weeks later as both girls are approaching their identical due dates with twin girls. Melody returned to Goodside shortly after bumping with Jondoe, but is now stifling under their strict control and needs to be with her sister as their deliveries approach. Most of the book follows her emotional journey to be free of the strict rules she grew up under as she strives for the opportunity to make her own life choices. The other main characters in the book, including Melody, have a similar break from oppression as they all learn how to make their own decisions about what they will do with their lives and who they will do it with.
I still found myself chuckling at several points in this book and the satirical setting definitely carries over from the first book, but McCafferty also makes some serious points here. When it's time for the girls to actually deliver, the control the government has over the whole process is frightening. As someone who not that long ago delivered a baby it was scary enough trusting the care of myself and my baby to doctors and nurses I trusted to follow my wishes, but watching the girls in this book basically not be given a choice about how they will deliver, whether or not they'll have drugs, whether or not they'll be able to breastfeed, made me scared to get anywhere near one of their hospitals if I was even thinking about becoming pregnant. Also the way the hysteria of adults not being able to become parents is used as an excuse to control the reproductive abilities of teenage girls is pretty disgusting. And yet all of this being told how you can and can't protect yourself from unwanted pregnancy feels eerily familiar.
In the end McCafferty's characters find their way, and this series that initially had me laughing uncomfortably ended up making me cry because there were just so many feelings to be had at the end of it all.
If you made it through Bumped and are dying to know what happened to Melody and Harmony, then you must read Thumped, but realize that you'll be getting much more of an emotional punch this time around.
In Bumped we left sisters Melody and Harmony shortly after Harmony slept with the guy Melody was paid to be impregnated by. Harmony's adventure with Jondoe only began to give us an idea of her personality and this time around we finally get to understand her more fully.
The action in Thumped starts up 35 weeks later as both girls are approaching their identical due dates with twin girls. Melody returned to Goodside shortly after bumping with Jondoe, but is now stifling under their strict control and needs to be with her sister as their deliveries approach. Most of the book follows her emotional journey to be free of the strict rules she grew up under as she strives for the opportunity to make her own life choices. The other main characters in the book, including Melody, have a similar break from oppression as they all learn how to make their own decisions about what they will do with their lives and who they will do it with.
I still found myself chuckling at several points in this book and the satirical setting definitely carries over from the first book, but McCafferty also makes some serious points here. When it's time for the girls to actually deliver, the control the government has over the whole process is frightening. As someone who not that long ago delivered a baby it was scary enough trusting the care of myself and my baby to doctors and nurses I trusted to follow my wishes, but watching the girls in this book basically not be given a choice about how they will deliver, whether or not they'll have drugs, whether or not they'll be able to breastfeed, made me scared to get anywhere near one of their hospitals if I was even thinking about becoming pregnant. Also the way the hysteria of adults not being able to become parents is used as an excuse to control the reproductive abilities of teenage girls is pretty disgusting. And yet all of this being told how you can and can't protect yourself from unwanted pregnancy feels eerily familiar.
In the end McCafferty's characters find their way, and this series that initially had me laughing uncomfortably ended up making me cry because there were just so many feelings to be had at the end of it all.
If you made it through Bumped and are dying to know what happened to Melody and Harmony, then you must read Thumped, but realize that you'll be getting much more of an emotional punch this time around.
jenlynnhill's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't really care for this book, I felt like it didn't answer all the questions raised in the first book, and that the author was trying to wrap up all of the loose ends. I think it would have been more successful as a trilogy, if the story was fleshed out a little more.
90sinmyheart's review against another edition
4.0
Fantastic, although I fear what the third book, if it is to be written, will be called h(umped)