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liralen's review
3.0
Not one of her better ones, I'm afraid - I picked this up at the thrift store to take on a plane ride under the theory that I wouldn't feel badly about leaving a thrift-store purchase on a plane or in a hostel or something, and... well, I didn't feel bad about leaving this book in the hostel, end stop.
It's not that the writing's bad - after all, it's Cynthia Voigt. Actually, on that criterion alone I gave it three stars rather than two. But the characters are pretty flat (the only interesting character - Niki - is actually pretty tame, all things considered, and looked down upon for her "wildness") and a lot of the drama contrived. Not a bad read, but nor a terribly interesting one.
It's not that the writing's bad - after all, it's Cynthia Voigt. Actually, on that criterion alone I gave it three stars rather than two. But the characters are pretty flat (the only interesting character - Niki - is actually pretty tame, all things considered, and looked down upon for her "wildness") and a lot of the drama contrived. Not a bad read, but nor a terribly interesting one.
bluebellvine's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
finesilkflower's review
3.0
Part melodramatic sports anime, part philosophic meditation on the meaning of life. Three roommates at a 60s women's college form a volleyball team. Main character Ann is a boring drip; Niki, the sailor-mouthed rebel, radiates off the page, more lively than her surroundings; team captain Hildy is a wise and steady leader with an unusually strict moral compass.
I was surprised that this was written in the 80s, around the same time as "Homecoming"; it felt like an earlier work, more rough and obvious.
What is up the with the metaphor of the glasses? While I appreciated the drama of the climactic moment where Hildy THROWS OFF her glasses in order to play better (peak sports anime, you could just see and hear the gleam fx as they fly through the air), I found it confusing what Voigt was trying to say here. The surface reading is that seeing the details of a situation clouds your judgment and you can live a truer, clearer life if you're not bogged down by those things. But those details are reality; they are true. Is she saying that it is possible to be virtuous only if you ignore certain truths? What kind of message is that?
What does the title mean?
Queer Readings: No queer content, disappointingly, since I was sure a book about volleyball players in a women's college with "lovers" in the title would be THE ONE.
Spoiler
She is so transparently Christlike that I called the "she dies at the end" twist within a few pages of her introduction.I was surprised that this was written in the 80s, around the same time as "Homecoming"; it felt like an earlier work, more rough and obvious.
Spoiler
Lingering QuestionsWhat is up the with the metaphor of the glasses? While I appreciated the drama of the climactic moment where Hildy THROWS OFF her glasses in order to play better (peak sports anime, you could just see and hear the gleam fx as they fly through the air), I found it confusing what Voigt was trying to say here. The surface reading is that seeing the details of a situation clouds your judgment and you can live a truer, clearer life if you're not bogged down by those things. But those details are reality; they are true. Is she saying that it is possible to be virtuous only if you ignore certain truths? What kind of message is that?
What does the title mean?
Queer Readings: No queer content, disappointingly, since I was sure a book about volleyball players in a women's college with "lovers" in the title would be THE ONE.
bowienerd_82's review
2.0
This was another one I ended up reading because it was discussed in [b:Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading|5644891|Shelf Discovery The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading|Lizzie Skurnick|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255792799s/5644891.jpg|5816338].
But this ended up being one of the oddest books I've read in awhile. I truly have to question exactly what the author's intentions were. If Milton came back to life, and decided to write a YA book in which God and Satan were female roommates, it would probably read a bit like the dialogue between Hildy and Niki.
Voigt also relied a little too much on volleyball as a metaphor, which was a practice that really didn't hold my interest. Beyond volleyball, almost all the action was internal, but not in a particularly fabulous way (see Milton YA above). Generally, a rather unsatisfying book.
But this ended up being one of the oddest books I've read in awhile. I truly have to question exactly what the author's intentions were. If Milton came back to life, and decided to write a YA book in which God and Satan were female roommates, it would probably read a bit like the dialogue between Hildy and Niki.
Voigt also relied a little too much on volleyball as a metaphor, which was a practice that really didn't hold my interest. Beyond volleyball, almost all the action was internal, but not in a particularly fabulous way (see Milton YA above). Generally, a rather unsatisfying book.
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