Reviews

My Diary from the Edge of the World by Jodi Lynn Anderson

jenniferreads2's review against another edition

5.0

I did not expect to fall so in love with this book. It was heartfelt, heartwarming, honest and memorable with a delightful twist of fantasy/other worldly. I loved the growth the main character had throughout the book. I enjoyed the truth it displayed of family, loss and growing up. It isn’t the most action packed story but for a middle grade book it was extremely poignant and lovely.

brandypainter's review against another edition

1.0

Let me say the one good thing I can: The MG voice here is strong and well done. It definitely gets you invested and keeps you reading. However, that also left me feeling greatly betrayed and incredibly angry by the time I reached the end of the book. I wanted to rage and shake my fists at the sky, "I READ 400 PAGES FOR THAT???" Ugh. Engaging voice aside, it is just not worth it. The story takes place in an alternate modern US world where fantastical creatures (dragons, mermaids, sasquatches, etc. exist and so infrastructure (highways, railways, etc.) did not develop as they did in our world. What was able to develop was bad fast food. Plenty of Taco Bells and Dairy Queens to be found! It got to the point where I was ready to set the book on fire if Taco Bell was mentioned one more time. The world being so similar to ours was a big problem for me. The history of the US and its technological development would be VERY DIFFERENT if the entire middle of the country were uninhabitable. Where were the First Nations peoples? Wouldn't regions have developed their own governments and ways of surviving? The. World. Makes. No. Sense. You want to know what else this alternate world has besides fantastical creatures? Ominous clouds that show up in your town, then your street, then your house. They hover just outside waiting to take the soul of an unknown occupant. Dun Dun Duh. Want to try to outrun the cloud? It will follow you. There is no escaping the Clouds of Death. The whole plot of the book revolves around an attempt at this. Road Trip! Gracie (the main character) and her family hightail it out of their town trying to not let the doomed person from their house die. And that's the book. Family road trip to escape a Death Cloud. (They pick up an orphan and Sasquatch on the way. Hilarious right?) The ending made me furious from a thematic angle and a plot/storytelling angle. Also a characterization angle. It is the thematic angle that made the most upset though which I can't talk about without spoiling the book. See cut below if youre curious.

Spoiler

Everyone in the family assumes the cloud is there for the lovable and all around charming younger brother of the family, Sam. He is sickly. But the father suffers from depression regularly so that's an issue too. Turns out the cloud is really there for the oldest sister and SHE KNEW IT ALL ALONG. At the end she's all, time to go and lets the cloud just sort of suck her up while she waves. Is this supposed to be some long protracted metaphor for suicide? I don't know. (The cloud mechanics make no sense to me because the world building is not awesome.) But that's how it felt. And her family is all waving at her and crying? She gets to say goodbye to everyone. So yay? I just...NO!

thecontrarybookworm's review against another edition

5.0

TOTAL - ★★★★★

This book . . . wow. I blew through it in two days rather than ten, like the last book I read.
_____

Plot - ★★★★★

The plot goes pretty quickly, but it's not afraid to go slow at points, which I loved. It's at the slow parts where the relationships between the characters are expanded upon and the main character's thoughts and emotions are shown best.

Writing - ★★★★★

Anderson has done a marvelous job of telling a story in diary form from the head of a quirky twelve-year-old. It's not the easiest thing to pull off, but it was done very well.

Characters - ★★★★★

At first I wasn't sure that I liked all of the characters, but when everything clicked into place at the end, I loved them all and I was emotionally scarred.

molly_dettmann's review against another edition

4.0

What a sweet, adventure of a fantasy with family at its heart. Teens/children that are fans of dairy format in books, will love this one especially. I really enjoyed the setting of a weird hybrid of present-day life, with fantastical elements. Ultimately this was a sweet story about the love of a family and I will not forget about it anytime soon.

duckyquack's review

emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

marmoset737's review against another edition

5.0

Just so lovely. An adventure/fantasy/coming of age story about family for tweens.

heathersbike's review against another edition

4.0

This was good. Fun world, diary format (not my favorite, but well executed. )

greergreer's review against another edition

5.0

Magical Realism, alternate flat Earth, Dragons and T.J Maxx's. This was a wonderful book it made me laugh, and yep, it made me cry.

aurodon's review against another edition

I thought this was going to be a fun adventure book, but it's very much a story of a young girl learning to deal with difficult grown-up things. Not exactly a coming-of-age story, but the closest thing to it. While it has fun elements, the overall story is rather somber and I would probably not give this book to anyone under the age of 11 or 12, or possibly even 13-15 depending on their personality.

cactuspunk's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75