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bookishblond's review against another edition
3.0
After I finished reading this angsty book, I drove to Target and bought a huge bag of Red Vines, and then drove to my boyfriend's UTD dorm room, because I have this memory of going to CiCi's Pizza and while Lauren G., Laura and I were chowing down on spinach Alfredo pizza, Stephen was sitting there eating Red Vines. ANYWAY. So, I sat cross-legged on his bed, ripped open the bag, and ate a Red Vine. Frowning, I ate a few more, and then just gave up and handed the bag to Stephen. What the heck? Why would you ever have a crazy Red Vine fettish when Twizzlers are so much better? Why do Red Vines even exist when there are Twizzlers out there? Red Vines are waxy and pure ick while Twizzlers are nothing but strawberry goodness!
That pretty much sums up how I feel about ths book, it that makes any sense at all.
That pretty much sums up how I feel about ths book, it that makes any sense at all.
kricketa's review against another edition
2.0
alternates between the narration of carlos and isabel, two teens attending the same high school. isabel's boyfriend died in a car accident a year earlier, and she's still struggling, preoccupied with death, sometimes absent even when her friends are talking to her.
carlos works as a guard in a small modern art museum. there he meets vanessa, a friend of isabel's, who eventually introduces the two narrators. carlos' girlfriend mira has just left him for another dude, and he and isabel are attracted to each other.
carlos, isabel, carlos' friend snake, and vanessa all meet up at the school dance. they have a few drinks in the parking lot. carlos & isabel go in and dance. snake & vanessa disappear. disaster has struck, but no one finds out about it until the next day. vanessa is dead. snake is in a coma. will carlos & isabel's crushes on each other survive?
then there's a bunch of other random stuff thrown in-- carlos & snake's friend will gets his girlfriend pregnant, and she has an abortion. some guy comes into the museum and pees on the floor. isabel's younger brother terrorizes her with lizards. carlos tries to make out with a fellow security guard who is comforting him. vanessa's old friend, sara approaches isabel at vanessa's funeral to badmouth the deceased. what? why? why all this stuff? all these meaningless details only confuse. what is the real story here? i have no idea. carlos & isabel have no chemistry. actually none of the characters do.
at the end, an art exhibit at the museum inspired carlos & isabel to wish for better things in the future. this sounds kind of nice, right? they wish for their relationship to work out and that their dead friends are happy in heaven. and then...! isabel also makes a wish for her friend heidi, that she will find a caring boyfriend, a better one than the guy she is currently crushing on. why doesn't isabel like heidi's crush? BECAUSE HE HAS A BIG FOREHEAD.
wtf?
carlos works as a guard in a small modern art museum. there he meets vanessa, a friend of isabel's, who eventually introduces the two narrators. carlos' girlfriend mira has just left him for another dude, and he and isabel are attracted to each other.
carlos, isabel, carlos' friend snake, and vanessa all meet up at the school dance. they have a few drinks in the parking lot. carlos & isabel go in and dance. snake & vanessa disappear. disaster has struck, but no one finds out about it until the next day. vanessa is dead. snake is in a coma. will carlos & isabel's crushes on each other survive?
then there's a bunch of other random stuff thrown in-- carlos & snake's friend will gets his girlfriend pregnant, and she has an abortion. some guy comes into the museum and pees on the floor. isabel's younger brother terrorizes her with lizards. carlos tries to make out with a fellow security guard who is comforting him. vanessa's old friend, sara approaches isabel at vanessa's funeral to badmouth the deceased. what? why? why all this stuff? all these meaningless details only confuse. what is the real story here? i have no idea. carlos & isabel have no chemistry. actually none of the characters do.
at the end, an art exhibit at the museum inspired carlos & isabel to wish for better things in the future. this sounds kind of nice, right? they wish for their relationship to work out and that their dead friends are happy in heaven. and then...! isabel also makes a wish for her friend heidi, that she will find a caring boyfriend, a better one than the guy she is currently crushing on. why doesn't isabel like heidi's crush? BECAUSE HE HAS A BIG FOREHEAD.
wtf?
brookeje60's review against another edition
3.0
i don't know why i thought this book was so weird. but i did. idk, it was just strange for me.
ps_a22's review against another edition
3.0
This book was the perfect balance of poetic and descriptive language and plot. The character voices were quite different and everything was very realistic.
I liked it. It was cute and simple and light-hearted.
A very nice quick read.
I liked it. It was cute and simple and light-hearted.
A very nice quick read.
catladyreba's review against another edition
2.0
Quick read, somewhat unsettling. Not so much the content, more in the way it was handled. Casual drinking is prevalent in both real and fictitious depictions of teenage life, but it was treated so casually here, and not, I felt, with any type of real resolution or consequences.
camillejoy's review against another edition
3.0
Overall, a good read. The lives of the characters are entwined deftly and the emotion rings true. I did not enjoy the alternating perspective chapters because I really wanted to stay in Carlos's head, not in Isabel's and there was just a little too much drama packed in-- unintended pregnancies and resulting fights about whether to end them, deaths of friends and boyfriends, neglectful parents-- it's a lot to fit into one book. I did like Carlos's character, and also thought that the setting was nicely evoked.
johannasalinas671's review against another edition
1.0
[a:David Hernandez|383634|David Hernandez|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1310009976p2/383634.jpg] succeeds in making this novel seem like it is written by a teenager. The characters are cliche broken teens who lack personality. True, there is a formula to writing a successful young adult novel (broken teen + broken teen = path to healing), yet in order for this formula to work the characters should also think like adults. I'm not saying that they need to be written on a difficult level, I'm saying that the characters must be complex (have characteristics that make them their own character outside of cliche). Hernandez attempts for Isabel and Carlos to be complex teenagers, yet it is more telling and not enough showing. Perhaps if this story had been written in 3rd person point of view rather than 1st, the story would have worked better. By using 1st person, the readers are able to see the lack of personality in the story. 3rd person point of view would have just concentrated on the story, rather than the cliche characters.
srousseau's review against another edition
4.0
Good book told in alternating voice. Lets you cruise along and then gets you. Realistic Fiction. California setting, Latino character.
oliviadland's review against another edition
5.0
Thought it was a great book. I like Isabels character with her dealing with her boyfriend's death and all. But I thought Vanessa's story with the girl coing up to Carlos and Isabel at Vanessa's funeral. Thoought it was a great book