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A review by jennifermreads
The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom
2.0
Received advanced reader copy from publisher via Baker & Taylor book supplier
After her father disappears, Gwendolyn learns he was much more than a paper-pusher for the state department. She then sets out across Europe to try to find him.
I started reading this ARC before I knew of the controversy surrounding the author. For a guy who worked in advertising it was a bozo, rookie interview move to say something so ridiculous to a group you were marketing towards: “The morality of the book is more complicated than a lot of YA so I wanted to try doing it on my own,” Bergstrom said. “In a lot of YA, the conflict takes place inside a walled garden, set up by outside adult forces. If you think of those stories as a metaphor for high school, they start to make a lot more sense, but that was one thing I wanted to depart from.” (Publisher’s Weekly 11/24/15).
That quote? It soured the book for me even more. I was already on the fence with it. I was having a hard time not just throwing the thing against the wall and screaming “They made this movie already you idiot! It was called Taken! Just switching the adult/teen roles doesn’t make it original!” I also had an incredibly difficult time believing that this particular teen could suddenly transform into a kick-ass spy. I guess her gymnastics background prepared her for killing people? Yes, she spent time training with an actual spy but can the mind AND body change so quickly – and so much – in such a short amount of time?! It just never hit “believable” for me. Alex Rider from Anthony Horowitz? That I believed. Tess from The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes? That I believed.
So, give me a book that was already riding a thin line and add in the Publisher’s Weekly article and what I end up with is regret I spent time reading the book at all.
After her father disappears, Gwendolyn learns he was much more than a paper-pusher for the state department. She then sets out across Europe to try to find him.
I started reading this ARC before I knew of the controversy surrounding the author. For a guy who worked in advertising it was a bozo, rookie interview move to say something so ridiculous to a group you were marketing towards: “The morality of the book is more complicated than a lot of YA so I wanted to try doing it on my own,” Bergstrom said. “In a lot of YA, the conflict takes place inside a walled garden, set up by outside adult forces. If you think of those stories as a metaphor for high school, they start to make a lot more sense, but that was one thing I wanted to depart from.” (Publisher’s Weekly 11/24/15).
That quote? It soured the book for me even more. I was already on the fence with it. I was having a hard time not just throwing the thing against the wall and screaming “They made this movie already you idiot! It was called Taken! Just switching the adult/teen roles doesn’t make it original!” I also had an incredibly difficult time believing that this particular teen could suddenly transform into a kick-ass spy. I guess her gymnastics background prepared her for killing people? Yes, she spent time training with an actual spy but can the mind AND body change so quickly – and so much – in such a short amount of time?! It just never hit “believable” for me. Alex Rider from Anthony Horowitz? That I believed. Tess from The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes? That I believed.
So, give me a book that was already riding a thin line and add in the Publisher’s Weekly article and what I end up with is regret I spent time reading the book at all.