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celestihel's review against another edition
3.0
This one is a snapshot of struggling families, first loves, hard moral dilemmas, violence and all the other things that go with being an adolescent in the imploding family. The narrative jumped back and forth in time but not in a jarring way. In the end there is no satisfactory resolve, as is usually true in life, and you are left with a snapshot of a domino situation gone horribly wrong.
I feel, as I did with the author's collection of short stories The Littlest Hitler, that the shock content is a little too forced. I'm thinking that this is just his style and it's not for me, but the only complaint I have is the wide-eyed showcasing of horror and otherness. The story would be just as full, just as alarming, without the added gesturing.
I feel, as I did with the author's collection of short stories The Littlest Hitler, that the shock content is a little too forced. I'm thinking that this is just his style and it's not for me, but the only complaint I have is the wide-eyed showcasing of horror and otherness. The story would be just as full, just as alarming, without the added gesturing.
turophile's review against another edition
3.0
Spoiler alert.
This book was okay, not great. The whole hook is that the narrator's first girl friend is writing a memoir about their relationship and wants him to read it before it's published to assure her that he won't sue. The hook with the memoir - story within a story- is that she writes chapters as if from his point of view.
I found this confusing in that there were chapters where I wasn't sure if the narrator was talking, or it was the girlfriend (Kat) pretending to be the narrator. It's fine to have innovative devices, but I don't think you should confuse the reader too much which can get in the way of telling the story.
My bigger problem with the story relates to the title. The "misconception" at issues arises midway through the book. In a flashback the girlfriend Katreveals she's pregnant. She had not slept with the Narrator, Cedar, but he goes with her to the clinic for a pregnancy test. There Kat spills the story. I read the story and thought, oh, she hooked up with this guy she met on vacation and got pregnant. A chapter later, Cedar reveals to his parents, and later to others, that Kat's soon to be step father raped her. Bad things ensue as a result. Except, I'm scratching my head wondering - why does Cedar think that. Seems pretty clear the step father did not rape her.
At the end of the book it is revealed that her stepfather did not rape Kat, which I assume most readers knew all along. This would not be a problem, except the story seems to hinge on the misconception that it was a rape.
This book was okay, not great. The whole hook is that the narrator's first girl friend is writing a memoir about their relationship and wants him to read it before it's published to assure her that he won't sue. The hook with the memoir - story within a story- is that she writes chapters as if from his point of view.
I found this confusing in that there were chapters where I wasn't sure if the narrator was talking, or it was the girlfriend (Kat) pretending to be the narrator. It's fine to have innovative devices, but I don't think you should confuse the reader too much which can get in the way of telling the story.
My bigger problem with the story relates to the title. The "misconception" at issues arises midway through the book. In a flashback the girlfriend Katreveals she's pregnant. She had not slept with the Narrator, Cedar, but he goes with her to the clinic for a pregnancy test. There Kat spills the story. I read the story and thought, oh, she hooked up with this guy she met on vacation and got pregnant. A chapter later, Cedar reveals to his parents, and later to others, that Kat's soon to be step father raped her. Bad things ensue as a result. Except, I'm scratching my head wondering - why does Cedar think that. Seems pretty clear the step father did not rape her.
At the end of the book it is revealed that her stepfather did not rape Kat, which I assume most readers knew all along. This would not be a problem, except the story seems to hinge on the misconception that it was a rape.
jasminenoack's review against another edition
5.0
Attention Karen: I believe this book to be fantastic.
I read this book two weeks before it is out!!!
Do not let the jacket confuse you this book is not terrible. Although nothing on the outside screams Ryan Boudinot (it screams Chbosky honestly, which is not so enticing [although the harkaway paperback also looks crap so maybe it's a fad:]) the first sentence is the Ryan that we know and love from littlest hitler, "I was suspended in the eighth grade for bringing my semen to science class." It just gets better from there. It is a bit of a confusing meta-novel at first (and perhaps always, a bit derrida recreates the characters feelings [yes Karen I know you hate philosophy:]) although still utterly fabulous. There are a lot of levels and it feels a bit like he wrote the stories as those little russian dolls that sit inside each other. I hate to do this to authors (or I don't) but this is what cloud atlas should be, not that what it is isn't also good this is just better. All those people who loved the other book should read this one, and hopefully you will love it as much as me.
I read this book two weeks before it is out!!!
Do not let the jacket confuse you this book is not terrible. Although nothing on the outside screams Ryan Boudinot (it screams Chbosky honestly, which is not so enticing [although the harkaway paperback also looks crap so maybe it's a fad:]) the first sentence is the Ryan that we know and love from littlest hitler, "I was suspended in the eighth grade for bringing my semen to science class." It just gets better from there. It is a bit of a confusing meta-novel at first (and perhaps always, a bit derrida recreates the characters feelings [yes Karen I know you hate philosophy:]) although still utterly fabulous. There are a lot of levels and it feels a bit like he wrote the stories as those little russian dolls that sit inside each other. I hate to do this to authors (or I don't) but this is what cloud atlas should be, not that what it is isn't also good this is just better. All those people who loved the other book should read this one, and hopefully you will love it as much as me.
stevielynne's review against another edition
2.0
One of the worst, most self-indulgent, borderline offensive books I've read this year...and I read 50 Shades in April.
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