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zdkb24's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
april_golden's review against another edition
3.0
This is a very dark novel, and during most of it, I just felt uncomfortable and "icky." Some blurbs compared it to Gillian Flynn, but I think this is much darker. In fact, I'm not sure I even really enjoyed reading it, like I do Flynn's novels. I can admire the way it is written and the skill it took to craft the book, but I'm not certain I really liked it. I gave it three stars because giving it less feels wrong, but this is not the kind of book you finish and think, "that was awesome."
A huge part of my uncomfortability with this book is the characters. To me, their actions rang false, but I don't feel this is the author's fault. Rather, it's just that I am so unlike the characters in this novel that I could not relate to their motivations. I never felt that I understood anyone in this book, with the exception of Caro toward the end of the novel, and for most of it I was screaming at them in my head to do something other than what they were doing.
A huge part of my uncomfortability with this book is the characters. To me, their actions rang false, but I don't feel this is the author's fault. Rather, it's just that I am so unlike the characters in this novel that I could not relate to their motivations. I never felt that I understood anyone in this book, with the exception of Caro toward the end of the novel, and for most of it I was screaming at them in my head to do something other than what they were doing.
karieh13's review against another edition
3.0
“Save Yourself” is a novel about people trying to escape the confines of their lives. Patrick, a young man whose father is in jail for killing a young boy while driving drunk, is trying to go on with what remains of the life he once knew. His father is gone, jailed after Patrick notified the police about the accident, his former job is gone – only his home and his brother remain – although even those carry scars from the past. Very little about his life seems positive. He seems barely tethered to his environment.
“…Patrick had read a sudden wariness in people, as if bad luck was catching and he was a carrier. The sidelong glances and pauses in conversation that stretched just a beat too long; the police cruisers that seemed to drive past their house on Division Street more often than they once had, or linger in the rearview a block longer than was reasonable; the weird sense of disengagement, of nonexistence, when cashiers and waitresses and bank clerks who saw his name on his credit card or paycheck couldn’t quite seem to focus their eyes on him. Like he was nonstick, made of Teflon, and their gazes couldn’t get purchase.”
Patrick is constantly trying to figure out how to do the right thing – even as he tries to figure out what the right thing is. His last major decision, the one to turn his father over to the police, resulted in such a cataclysm, that at times he seems paralyzed.
As hollowed out as he is, his observations on his world and the people around him are sometimes dead on. At his new job working in a convenience store - “The store was filled with hollow-eyes people standing in line: at the sandwich counter, at the soda fountain, at the register. All of them waiting, waiting, their hands full of candy, chips, cups of coffee, money. It was like purgatory, with snacks.”
He encounters Layla, Caro and Verna – more people trying to redefine themselves against the circumstances of their lives. All of the main characters in the book are so unsure, so unable to see anything ahead of them as they try to escape from their past and the ties of their family. Ties that imprison, restrain and diminish them. Even that which was good from their past has been tainted.
“Patrick didn’t generally trust memories that glittered like that, because he’d found that if you spend too much time with them you discovered unpleasant things you’d tried to forget: a broken finger that never straightened again, a treasured ball or glove held where you couldn’t reach it even if you jumped, a monster lying in wait to terrify you at home. Drunk monsters. Dying monsters. Rooms with open curtains that still felt dark.”
The desperate actions of the characters result in an even more desolate future – but as the book ends – somewhere deep inside – there is the smallest glimmer of hope. Hope that where we come from, what happens to us – does not absolutely determine who we are.
“…Patrick had read a sudden wariness in people, as if bad luck was catching and he was a carrier. The sidelong glances and pauses in conversation that stretched just a beat too long; the police cruisers that seemed to drive past their house on Division Street more often than they once had, or linger in the rearview a block longer than was reasonable; the weird sense of disengagement, of nonexistence, when cashiers and waitresses and bank clerks who saw his name on his credit card or paycheck couldn’t quite seem to focus their eyes on him. Like he was nonstick, made of Teflon, and their gazes couldn’t get purchase.”
Patrick is constantly trying to figure out how to do the right thing – even as he tries to figure out what the right thing is. His last major decision, the one to turn his father over to the police, resulted in such a cataclysm, that at times he seems paralyzed.
As hollowed out as he is, his observations on his world and the people around him are sometimes dead on. At his new job working in a convenience store - “The store was filled with hollow-eyes people standing in line: at the sandwich counter, at the soda fountain, at the register. All of them waiting, waiting, their hands full of candy, chips, cups of coffee, money. It was like purgatory, with snacks.”
He encounters Layla, Caro and Verna – more people trying to redefine themselves against the circumstances of their lives. All of the main characters in the book are so unsure, so unable to see anything ahead of them as they try to escape from their past and the ties of their family. Ties that imprison, restrain and diminish them. Even that which was good from their past has been tainted.
“Patrick didn’t generally trust memories that glittered like that, because he’d found that if you spend too much time with them you discovered unpleasant things you’d tried to forget: a broken finger that never straightened again, a treasured ball or glove held where you couldn’t reach it even if you jumped, a monster lying in wait to terrify you at home. Drunk monsters. Dying monsters. Rooms with open curtains that still felt dark.”
The desperate actions of the characters result in an even more desolate future – but as the book ends – somewhere deep inside – there is the smallest glimmer of hope. Hope that where we come from, what happens to us – does not absolutely determine who we are.
tobesmagobes's review against another edition
5.0
There was a lot that is super problematic in this book but that didn't stop me from loving it utterly and seeing a lot of myself in it for better or (mostly) worse.
michey2015's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a lot. 3 stars because the content was a little unsettling to me.
readingwithhippos's review against another edition
4.0
People often describe books like this as “gripping” or “heart-stopping,” and while both may be apt, I'm going to try to avoid cliches. Instead, I'll tell you this book so absorbed me, I did extra minutes on the exercise bike just so I could finish it. That sounds so crazy I feel like I need to reiterate: this book caused me to exercise more than I intended to when I began. It's been a weird few days.
The book follows two primary characters and their dysfunctional, messed-up families: Patrick, a convenience store clerk, and Layla, a teenage goth girl. Patrick is immobilized by guilt; he turned his father in to the police for killing a child while driving drunk, and now his dad is in prison. Patrick wanted to do the right thing, but his brother Mike is furious with him for betraying their dad. Then, because his relationship with his brother isn't tense enough, Patrick crosses a line with Mike's girlfriend, Caro, who is busy ignoring her own troubled past.
Layla's father is a pastor who runs an abstinence ministry. Once the literal poster child for virginity, Layla has decided she's had enough of her parents and religion, and rebels in all the ways one would expect. Her younger sister Verna watches with concern as Layla cavorts around in fishnets and layers of black eyeliner. Bullied horribly at school and desperate for a way to belong, Verna allows herself to be sucked into Layla's group of friends, led by a sinister, black-clad boy who calls himself Justinian.
Even though the chapters alternate between their two mostly separate lives, Patrick and Layla are inextricably connected. You can tell the fuse has been lit, the explosion of their combined desperation is coming, but you won't be prepared for the impact when the climactic scene arrives.
This book is one of the darkest I've read in recent memory. Even as I cringed reading some of the passages, even as I shuddered at what the characters did to themselves and each other, I never once wanted to put the book down. If it had been a movie, I would have clapped my hands over my eyes and watched some parts through the slits between my fingers. The point is, though, I still would have watched.
For the full text of this recommendation and many others, please visit www.readingwithhippos.com
The book follows two primary characters and their dysfunctional, messed-up families: Patrick, a convenience store clerk, and Layla, a teenage goth girl. Patrick is immobilized by guilt; he turned his father in to the police for killing a child while driving drunk, and now his dad is in prison. Patrick wanted to do the right thing, but his brother Mike is furious with him for betraying their dad. Then, because his relationship with his brother isn't tense enough, Patrick crosses a line with Mike's girlfriend, Caro, who is busy ignoring her own troubled past.
Layla's father is a pastor who runs an abstinence ministry. Once the literal poster child for virginity, Layla has decided she's had enough of her parents and religion, and rebels in all the ways one would expect. Her younger sister Verna watches with concern as Layla cavorts around in fishnets and layers of black eyeliner. Bullied horribly at school and desperate for a way to belong, Verna allows herself to be sucked into Layla's group of friends, led by a sinister, black-clad boy who calls himself Justinian.
Even though the chapters alternate between their two mostly separate lives, Patrick and Layla are inextricably connected. You can tell the fuse has been lit, the explosion of their combined desperation is coming, but you won't be prepared for the impact when the climactic scene arrives.
This book is one of the darkest I've read in recent memory. Even as I cringed reading some of the passages, even as I shuddered at what the characters did to themselves and each other, I never once wanted to put the book down. If it had been a movie, I would have clapped my hands over my eyes and watched some parts through the slits between my fingers. The point is, though, I still would have watched.
For the full text of this recommendation and many others, please visit www.readingwithhippos.com
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
2.0
Sometimes I enjoy novels despite them being bleak and dark. Life's not a picknick, after all, and you can't subsist on escapist fiction alone. I'm fine with fictional grimness and grief, but not so good with excessive gloominess. Dark and dismal is not the same thing as realistic and moving. In Save Yourself, everything is ugly and shabby and everyone is miserable. Here you have horrendous bullying and abuse, Christian nuts and a gothy vampire wannabe who hilariously calls himself Justinian, but the pitch-blackness of it all becomes very dull. The characters are well-rounded and believable, and occasionally tugged at my heart-strings (Caro's futile attempt to get rid of the beer cooler in the living room - man, that was sad) but ultimately I didn't want to spend any time with them.
readingbookswater's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
sjj169's review against another edition
5.0
Patrick and Mike's dad ran down a young boy. Drunk driving. They are now on their own and live with their own demons.
Mike was strong and good-looking and he made her feel safe, but that wasn't the kind of thing he thought about. Patrick might have understood, but Caro thought Patrick had grown acclimated to misery, and even as he knew the beer cooler was poison he wouldn't have been able to get rid of it.
This book was so personal for me. My dad spent 26 years in prison. I know that feeling of your demons eating you alive. I'm not throwing this into the review as a pity party. He is a great man and I'm proud to have him as my dad. I just know the feelings these kids are having.
Caro grew up with a mentally ill mom. She sleeps with too many men in order to just find someone that wants/needs her. She ends up as Mike's girlfriend.
it was a nice thing for him to say, the sort of thing that always got to her. Caro needed to be important. It was boring and typical and transparent as hell, even to her, but she couldn't turn it off any more than she could quit having arms.
Patrick works nights at a 7/11 type store and ends up kinda getting stalked by Layla. A goth type girl with so much going on in her head that I couldn't decide if I wanted to smack her or cry for her.
Her parents are those type parents who fight the school board to keep sex ed out of the school. Purity rings. The whole nine yards.
Her little sister Verna has so much to face starting high school. A sister that was involved with a favorite teacher that was involved in the sex-ed scandal, she is super religious, no friends other than her sister. The bullying in the book could be a trigger if you've ever been bullied. I wanted to smash and roar.
Little sister Verna gets involved in big sister Layla's world.
You have to read this book!!
Dark fiction at it's finest. I didn't know when I started reading this book that the author was Stephen King's daughter in law..What the heck is up with that family. Do they just ooze awesome in the pages they touch?
I received a copy of this book from blogging for books in exchange for an honest review.
Mike was strong and good-looking and he made her feel safe, but that wasn't the kind of thing he thought about. Patrick might have understood, but Caro thought Patrick had grown acclimated to misery, and even as he knew the beer cooler was poison he wouldn't have been able to get rid of it.
This book was so personal for me. My dad spent 26 years in prison. I know that feeling of your demons eating you alive. I'm not throwing this into the review as a pity party. He is a great man and I'm proud to have him as my dad. I just know the feelings these kids are having.
Caro grew up with a mentally ill mom. She sleeps with too many men in order to just find someone that wants/needs her. She ends up as Mike's girlfriend.
it was a nice thing for him to say, the sort of thing that always got to her. Caro needed to be important. It was boring and typical and transparent as hell, even to her, but she couldn't turn it off any more than she could quit having arms.
Patrick works nights at a 7/11 type store and ends up kinda getting stalked by Layla. A goth type girl with so much going on in her head that I couldn't decide if I wanted to smack her or cry for her.
Her parents are those type parents who fight the school board to keep sex ed out of the school. Purity rings. The whole nine yards.
Her little sister Verna has so much to face starting high school. A sister that was involved with a favorite teacher that was involved in the sex-ed scandal, she is super religious, no friends other than her sister. The bullying in the book could be a trigger if you've ever been bullied. I wanted to smash and roar.
Little sister Verna gets involved in big sister Layla's world.
You have to read this book!!
Dark fiction at it's finest. I didn't know when I started reading this book that the author was Stephen King's daughter in law..What the heck is up with that family. Do they just ooze awesome in the pages they touch?
I received a copy of this book from blogging for books in exchange for an honest review.
designergirl9's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this book so much. The writing itself is very solid and I think that Kelly Braffet is very talented I just felt the story was kind of strung out. It seemed to take too long to really feel like there was a momentum from all the information that we learned. I was interested enough to finish because as I stated before, the writing itself is strong and it does keep it interesting. I feel really mixed about this one.