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leannep's review
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
Teenage fiction. New chip moves to country town 1966. 3 kids. Told thru perspective of middle child Sandy, yr9. Outsider. Anxious. Overshadowed by her older cooler sister both fall for local cool guy Billy.
Story about small town country town in WA. Racism. Hypocrisy. Horrible but how it was for many.
Story about small town country town in WA. Racism. Hypocrisy. Horrible but how it was for many.
novelty_reads's review
3.0
*Before you ask me why I read this book (considering I usually read fantasy, Sci-Fi or contemporary/romance) please know that I had to read this due to the school curriculum and that this book was definitely out of my reading-comfort zone.*
Now that I got that out of the way, I should probably properly start.
_________________________________________
Everybody said to me that this book was amazing. Everyone recommended it to me and said I’d love it too (even though the Goodreads reviews say otherwise) Truth be told, now having read the book and finished it, that it was a satisfactory read. But I personally wouldn’t put it on my favourites list.
The book was about these 3 siblings, Marianne, Sandy and Lawrence who move from Perth (Western Australia) with their parents, Glad(ys) and Frank to the country where their dad becomes the local cop.
Sandy hates it there until she meets the part-aboriginal boy: Billy Read, a skilled mechanic’s apprentice and the town’s heart-throb. As her affections for him grow, so does Marianne’s and Sandy begins to realise that her sister may just be her biggest rival.
Throughout the book, yes we see racism and different themes and issues but I think that it was not conveyed as well as it should’ve. Those issues were second to that of whining Sandy’s affections for Billy Read which was one of the major problems I had reading this.
I HATED Sandy. She was whiny and whingy and she complained A LOT. There was little to no character development about her and the whole cast of characters in fact. If you asked me what are Sandy’s favourite hobbies I would seriously have no idea how to answer to that one.
She was portrayed as introverted and shy but those are character TRAITS not hobbies or what she likes to do. Marianne was portrayed as extroverted and even though she was not the main character, she had a little bit more character built into her. She seemed to like going swimming and talking to friends and (probably) enjoyed sewing considering she sewed her own dress for the dance. But that was when it ended with me and Marianne's good terms.
I liked her character in the beginning but when it reached the middle and end I really started to hate her and that was not due to the whole “BILLY IS MINE” thing going on. It was more due to the fact that she seemed selfish even though Lawrinson probably intended for her to sound helpless or desperate.
She married this guy named Peter just because she was with a child and needed to pretend the baby was his.
????????????????????
I got pretty annoyed as you can probably tell but Bill Read (Yes there is a character called Billy Read and his uncle is called Bill Read. Yes, you can see the irony here) and Frank Lansing were so racist and sexist that it just was a bit too much.
I think the characters should've been better but overall, it was alright. The storyline was pretty good even though the characters weren’t.
ACTUAL RATING: 3.2 STARS
Now that I got that out of the way, I should probably properly start.
_________________________________________
Everybody said to me that this book was amazing. Everyone recommended it to me and said I’d love it too (even though the Goodreads reviews say otherwise) Truth be told, now having read the book and finished it, that it was a satisfactory read. But I personally wouldn’t put it on my favourites list.
The book was about these 3 siblings, Marianne, Sandy and Lawrence who move from Perth (Western Australia) with their parents, Glad(ys) and Frank to the country where their dad becomes the local cop.
Sandy hates it there until she meets the part-aboriginal boy: Billy Read, a skilled mechanic’s apprentice and the town’s heart-throb. As her affections for him grow, so does Marianne’s and Sandy begins to realise that her sister may just be her biggest rival.
Throughout the book, yes we see racism and different themes and issues but I think that it was not conveyed as well as it should’ve. Those issues were second to that of whining Sandy’s affections for Billy Read which was one of the major problems I had reading this.
I HATED Sandy. She was whiny and whingy and she complained A LOT. There was little to no character development about her and the whole cast of characters in fact. If you asked me what are Sandy’s favourite hobbies I would seriously have no idea how to answer to that one.
She was portrayed as introverted and shy but those are character TRAITS not hobbies or what she likes to do. Marianne was portrayed as extroverted and even though she was not the main character, she had a little bit more character built into her. She seemed to like going swimming and talking to friends and (probably) enjoyed sewing considering she sewed her own dress for the dance. But that was when it ended with me and Marianne's good terms.
I liked her character in the beginning but when it reached the middle and end I really started to hate her and that was not due to the whole “BILLY IS MINE” thing going on. It was more due to the fact that she seemed selfish even though Lawrinson probably intended for her to sound helpless or desperate.
She married this guy named Peter just because she was with a child and needed to pretend the baby was his.
????????????????????
I got pretty annoyed as you can probably tell but Bill Read (Yes there is a character called Billy Read and his uncle is called Bill Read. Yes, you can see the irony here) and Frank Lansing were so racist and sexist that it just was a bit too much.
I think the characters should've been better but overall, it was alright. The storyline was pretty good even though the characters weren’t.
ACTUAL RATING: 3.2 STARS
peachymeg's review
1.0
I have many issues with Bye Beautiful, namely the characterisation of Sandy. She's fourteen years old, yet she deals with most situations throughout the book with the outlook of a small child. She seems incapable of making decisions and is seen as weak under pressure. This would have been alright if her character had evolved but I didn't see any character progression throughout the book.
Also, the ending to me seemed clunky and unexplained, and totally strayed from the characters. It failed to tie in some of the issues in the book.
This is a book I will never read again, and if I had been given a choice, would not have read in the first place.
Also, the ending to me seemed clunky and unexplained, and totally strayed from the characters. It failed to tie in some of the issues in the book.
This is a book I will never read again, and if I had been given a choice, would not have read in the first place.
emilypaull's review
4.0
Read my review at my blog:
http://elimy.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/review-bye-beautiful-by-julia-lawrinson.html
http://elimy.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/review-bye-beautiful-by-julia-lawrinson.html
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