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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
I agreed to read this novella in exchange for an honest review and only knew that it had something to do with sisters and high school. Once I started reading, though, I had a very hard time stepping away from the story. It's told in three overlapping voices - Susanna, May, and May's diary. The layout and font made it very clear who was speaking without it ever getting repetitive or awkward. Although fairly short, nothing seemed rushed, glossed over, or completely left out (my biggest complaints with most short stories/novellas).
I didn't read much YA lit as a teenager, mainly because I never identified with the characters or plots. Even today, I am highly critical of books focusing on adolescents and high school as they're usually so contrived and not even remotely related to my experiences. May and Susanna are very REAL characters - they are an awful lot like my creative, honors student friends and I were. And they're dealing with the same issues we faced (family tensions, dating, sex, seemingly constant uncertainty, body image issues, etc.) I wouldn't classify four sparks fall as YA, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to teenage readers.
I didn't read much YA lit as a teenager, mainly because I never identified with the characters or plots. Even today, I am highly critical of books focusing on adolescents and high school as they're usually so contrived and not even remotely related to my experiences. May and Susanna are very REAL characters - they are an awful lot like my creative, honors student friends and I were. And they're dealing with the same issues we faced (family tensions, dating, sex, seemingly constant uncertainty, body image issues, etc.) I wouldn't classify four sparks fall as YA, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to teenage readers.
Here's another CClap publishing e-book, another one that I have really enjoyed so far. Actually I think I like this one more than the one by Ben Tanzer. It is a novella, a super emotional and beautiful novella. Novellas should be published more often, I'm not sure what made publishers think that novellas aren't important and wonderful to read like novels. I just said novellas way too many times in this post.
The plot is pretty much a coming of age story, the story of a pair of twins who can occasioanlly hear a fragment of each others thoughts since they are identical. Susanna is the twin who was born with a frail and sickly body and her sister, May, is healthy and seems to be more popular and charismatic than Susanna. They are both extremely intelligent, and May is an aspiring writer and a lover of manga and books. Susanna has always felt inferior compared to her sister and steals her diary to destroy her sisters words. Her revenge turns into way of learning everything about her sister, her sisters thoughts had helped her understand her better and walk in her shoes. Instead of revenge, she learns more about her sister and finds that May is actually just as insecure as her. Susanna grows up and matures by reading her sister's thoughts, she protects her from trouble and realizes that her sister had always loved her despite their differences.
I love Four Sparks Fall because it is so touching and real, funny and depressing. There are few coming of age novels that don't include a love triangle with cardboard characters or fantasy adventures, not that fantasy is bad or anything. Sure, twins don't hear each others thoughts in real life, but I don't know, I really loved this book, it was just so raw and sad, insert any generic, positive adjective.
Rating: 5/5
The plot is pretty much a coming of age story, the story of a pair of twins who can occasioanlly hear a fragment of each others thoughts since they are identical. Susanna is the twin who was born with a frail and sickly body and her sister, May, is healthy and seems to be more popular and charismatic than Susanna. They are both extremely intelligent, and May is an aspiring writer and a lover of manga and books. Susanna has always felt inferior compared to her sister and steals her diary to destroy her sisters words. Her revenge turns into way of learning everything about her sister, her sisters thoughts had helped her understand her better and walk in her shoes. Instead of revenge, she learns more about her sister and finds that May is actually just as insecure as her. Susanna grows up and matures by reading her sister's thoughts, she protects her from trouble and realizes that her sister had always loved her despite their differences.
I love Four Sparks Fall because it is so touching and real, funny and depressing. There are few coming of age novels that don't include a love triangle with cardboard characters or fantasy adventures, not that fantasy is bad or anything. Sure, twins don't hear each others thoughts in real life, but I don't know, I really loved this book, it was just so raw and sad, insert any generic, positive adjective.
Rating: 5/5
My thoughts: This story is very good. I enjoyed the fact that it was very believable. The characters are exactly what you would expect them to be given their circumstances. This story is one that could be common place in today's society.
The layout of the book is tricky to navigate. It gives indication that it is about a set of twins but leaves you to interpret which one is speaking at which time. Once you figure out that one twin is in italics and the other isn't, it's enjoyable.
The sexual abuse and let's face it, it was.....is too much. She deserves what she got for going about things the wrong way.
My rating: 3 stars
The layout of the book is tricky to navigate. It gives indication that it is about a set of twins but leaves you to interpret which one is speaking at which time. Once you figure out that one twin is in italics and the other isn't, it's enjoyable.
The sexual abuse and let's face it, it was.....is too much. She deserves what she got for going about things the wrong way.
My rating: 3 stars