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A review by popthebutterfly
Elektra's Adventures in Tragedy by Douglas Rees
3.0
Rating: 3/5
Genre: YA Contemporary
Recommended Age: 14+ (bigotry and trigger warnings for suicide)
Pages: 285
Author Website
Amazon Link
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through KidLitExchange. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Elektra Kamenides is well on her way to becoming a proper southern belle in the small Mississippi college town she calls home. That is, until her mother decides to uproot her and her kid sister Thalia and start over in California. They leave behind Elektra's father—a professor and leading expert on Greek mythology, and Elektra can't understand why. For her, life is tragedy, and all signs point to her family being cursed.
Their journey ends in Guadalupe Slough, a community of old Chicano families and oddball drifters sandwiched between San José and the southern shores of San Francisco Bay. The houseboat that her mother has bought, sight unseen, is really just an ancient trailer parked on a barge and sunk into a mudflat.
What would Odysseus do? Elektra asks herself. Determined to get back to Mississippi at all costs, she'll beg, cheat, and steal to get there. But things are not always what they seem, and home is wherever you decide to make it.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that was from the Greek American perspective nor one that relied so much on Greek mythology and culture (barring Percy Jackson because that’s on a level of its own). I really liked this contemporary look at a broken family and I feel that not a lot of books explore this topic. I also liked how well developed all of the main characters were. I found the story was very interesting and if you have a younger reader who is looking for an “adult” book this would be a good one to start them out on.
However, I personally feel there’s a lot of problems with this book. The side characters are very forgettable and the world building wasn’t that extensive. The writing was very choppy in parts and the book jumped timelines a lot, which made for an aggravating read. The ending was not full circle and it didn’t feel complete. The events in this book, while plausible, played very well for the many plot holes it contained and I felt that there were things that happened in the book that weren’t that well explained. I also didn’t like how suicide was kind of made of fun in this book. Suicide is a very serious issue and for someone to make a character who wanted to commit suicide, then on a dime change his mind and throw a party is a bit out of line in my opinion.
Verdict: A promising Greek tragedy that Homer shakes his head at.
Genre: YA Contemporary
Recommended Age: 14+ (bigotry and trigger warnings for suicide)
Pages: 285
Author Website
Amazon Link
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through KidLitExchange. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Elektra Kamenides is well on her way to becoming a proper southern belle in the small Mississippi college town she calls home. That is, until her mother decides to uproot her and her kid sister Thalia and start over in California. They leave behind Elektra's father—a professor and leading expert on Greek mythology, and Elektra can't understand why. For her, life is tragedy, and all signs point to her family being cursed.
Their journey ends in Guadalupe Slough, a community of old Chicano families and oddball drifters sandwiched between San José and the southern shores of San Francisco Bay. The houseboat that her mother has bought, sight unseen, is really just an ancient trailer parked on a barge and sunk into a mudflat.
What would Odysseus do? Elektra asks herself. Determined to get back to Mississippi at all costs, she'll beg, cheat, and steal to get there. But things are not always what they seem, and home is wherever you decide to make it.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that was from the Greek American perspective nor one that relied so much on Greek mythology and culture (barring Percy Jackson because that’s on a level of its own). I really liked this contemporary look at a broken family and I feel that not a lot of books explore this topic. I also liked how well developed all of the main characters were. I found the story was very interesting and if you have a younger reader who is looking for an “adult” book this would be a good one to start them out on.
However, I personally feel there’s a lot of problems with this book. The side characters are very forgettable and the world building wasn’t that extensive. The writing was very choppy in parts and the book jumped timelines a lot, which made for an aggravating read. The ending was not full circle and it didn’t feel complete. The events in this book, while plausible, played very well for the many plot holes it contained and I felt that there were things that happened in the book that weren’t that well explained. I also didn’t like how suicide was kind of made of fun in this book. Suicide is a very serious issue and for someone to make a character who wanted to commit suicide, then on a dime change his mind and throw a party is a bit out of line in my opinion.
Verdict: A promising Greek tragedy that Homer shakes his head at.