1001chapitres's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
J’ai trouvé ce roman dans une boîte à livres. La couverture couverte de plumes vertes et brillantes m’a attirée comme un aimant. Le résumé a fini de me convaincre: de jeunes touristes américaines qui embarquent avec un inconnu pour visiter un temple maya ? Voilà qui était prometteur.
On vous l’a assez répété si vous êtes une femme, une fille: faites attention. Votre vie, depuis votre plus jeune âge, est faites d’injonctions à la prudence. Méfiez-vous des inconnus, des véhicules suspects, des ruelles sombres, des rames de métro désertes, des boissons laissées sans surveillance, des passages souterrains mal éclairés… Marchez vite d’un pas décidé, ne flânez pas, ne regardez pas les hommes dans les yeux, soyez accompagnée c’est mieux. Vous rêvez d’aventure? A vos risques et périls et il ne faudra pas vous plaindre. C’est aux femmes d’avoir peur et de faire attention.
Justement, Anne, Michelle et Terri sont en terminale et rêvent d’aventures. Après des années d’une existence prudente dans l’Illinois, elles ont envie de cocktails, d’histoires d’une nuit et de journées à la plage sans crème solaire. Bien mal leur en prend…
J’ai aimé ce roman court et bien rythmé. Je sais qu’il a déçu certain·e·s qui attendaient un thriller haletant. Pour moi, il s’agit plus d’une réflexion sur la liberté et la prise de risques, assortie de descriptions hypnotisantes de la jungle mexicaine et des rituels mayas. Je regrette seulement son côté un peu inabouti, j’aurais aimé que l’autrice approfondisse le propos féministe qui sous-tend son roman.
On vous l’a assez répété si vous êtes une femme, une fille: faites attention. Votre vie, depuis votre plus jeune âge, est faites d’injonctions à la prudence. Méfiez-vous des inconnus, des véhicules suspects, des ruelles sombres, des rames de métro désertes, des boissons laissées sans surveillance, des passages souterrains mal éclairés… Marchez vite d’un pas décidé, ne flânez pas, ne regardez pas les hommes dans les yeux, soyez accompagnée c’est mieux. Vous rêvez d’aventure? A vos risques et périls et il ne faudra pas vous plaindre. C’est aux femmes d’avoir peur et de faire attention.
Justement, Anne, Michelle et Terri sont en terminale et rêvent d’aventures. Après des années d’une existence prudente dans l’Illinois, elles ont envie de cocktails, d’histoires d’une nuit et de journées à la plage sans crème solaire. Bien mal leur en prend…
J’ai aimé ce roman court et bien rythmé. Je sais qu’il a déçu certain·e·s qui attendaient un thriller haletant. Pour moi, il s’agit plus d’une réflexion sur la liberté et la prise de risques, assortie de descriptions hypnotisantes de la jungle mexicaine et des rituels mayas. Je regrette seulement son côté un peu inabouti, j’aurais aimé que l’autrice approfondisse le propos féministe qui sous-tend son roman.
librariann's review against another edition
Ages 13+ (language, sexual themes, alluded rape) Dreamy and lovely, though not a mystery in any true sense. Three friends go to Cancun for spring break. Something happens to one of them, the dreamer, the romantic, the one in touch with the past.
abigailbat's review against another edition
4.0
Their spring break trip to Mexico is supposed to be a fun way for Anne and Michelle to blow off some steam, but then things go horribly, horribly wrong.
The suspense builds and builds and by the time I reached the last third of this book I could not put it down. I enjoyed the suspense and the lush descriptions of the tropical jungle. The narration switches between Anne's voice in the past-tense first-person and Michelle's in the present-tense third-person. Although I understand why the author did that, the switch was jarring every time and I wish Ms. Kasischke had at least kept them in the same tense. Even with that flaw, I found the book to be enjoyable.
Read more on my blog:
http://abbylibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/11/book-review-feathered.html
The suspense builds and builds and by the time I reached the last third of this book I could not put it down. I enjoyed the suspense and the lush descriptions of the tropical jungle. The narration switches between Anne's voice in the past-tense first-person and Michelle's in the present-tense third-person. Although I understand why the author did that, the switch was jarring every time and I wish Ms. Kasischke had at least kept them in the same tense. Even with that flaw, I found the book to be enjoyable.
Read more on my blog:
http://abbylibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/11/book-review-feathered.html
alisondarpel's review against another edition
1.0
Nothing exciting happens till the last <100 pages left! Since things don't get exciting till later in the book, the exciting part goes by too quickly and is just sort of confusing. Wish she made it a little longer to explain things more in detail.
heykellyjensen's review against another edition
4.0
I had to change my rating after thinking about it some more.
Full review: http://www.catagator.org/?p=146
Full review: http://www.catagator.org/?p=146
ifthebook's review against another edition
5.0
This book can be taken in two ways - completely literally about a spring break gone horribly wrong, or with a touch of mystery that Aztec pyramids and kind strangers who know too much about mythology provide. Either makes for a very enjoyable read.
katiecoops's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to read Feathered because I enjoyed Boy Heaven by the same author. I'll see if it's as good.
maedo's review
2.0
Oh, this book. THIS BOOK. I loved it for the first two-thirds or maybe even three-fourths, and then it did a bunch of things I did not like. And I'm not just saying this because what I wanted to happen didn't happen -- I don't even know what I wanted to happen -- but because the things that did happen are cheap and easy and maybe a little offensive, too.
Things I did like in this book:
a.) Kasischke's writing style. Flowery but precise, effectively evoking place and feeling without the pretension of other "literary" writers who shall not be named here.
b.) The place. I can't think of another piece of YA fiction -- or even adult fiction -- that is centered around Chichen Itza or Mayan civilization in general. If you can, please rec that shit to me. I've always been obsessed with this subject, to the point that a horribly taught Mesoamerican archaeology course in college and my parents not wanting to go see Chichen Itza even though we were RIGHT THERE IN MEXICO LIKE AN HOUR AWAY and it was the first time my teenage self ever wanted to voluntarily see something historical, has not deterred me. Which brings me to the thing I liked best about the book...
c.) For about the middle third of the book, it explores the Michelle character's preoccupation with history, her own and also the history of Chichen Itza. And it transforms her. I guarantee that some people will be annoyed by this plot point, because it romanticizes (exoticizes?) Mayan culture, but I love the idea of a character being drawn to a culture and a history inexplicably. It's a real thing that happens, and is barely ever written about. I would rather read this plot than any true romance.
Which leads me to the elements of the book that I didn't like. Namely, that this romantic fascination with Mayan history crosses over into some cringeworthy "noble savage" territory when Michelle, the American girl left in the jungle naked to die, is lifted up and carried away by some living Mayans with "painted faces" (lol, really?), who then care for her until she is found by her mother. She becomes "wild" to the point that she actually forgets who she is. I considered that maybe she just had a bout of traumatic amnesia from what the boys did to her, but it wouldn't have lasted months and wouldn't have been almost complete amnesia. Crash and burn, book. Crash and burn.
In addition to this major quibble, after Michelle disappears and Anne returns to America, the book's hazy, transient tone becomes practical and moralizing. "Look, Michelle is all over CNN and NBC and Vogue, this is why you must be careful on spring break, ladies." Kasischke already makes the point that strangers are not to be trusted when Anne's distrust of strangers and Michelle's distrust of men in general are ignored to go with the Illinois boys, and bad things happen as a result. Must we really bring Nancy Grace into this too? (She's not name dropped in the book, but you know she'd be all over this if it were a real life case.)
All in all, Feathered probably deserves less than three stars. But I enjoyed so much of it for the three reasons listed above that I don't have the heart to be objective.
Things I did like in this book:
a.) Kasischke's writing style. Flowery but precise, effectively evoking place and feeling without the pretension of other "literary" writers who shall not be named here.
b.) The place. I can't think of another piece of YA fiction -- or even adult fiction -- that is centered around Chichen Itza or Mayan civilization in general. If you can, please rec that shit to me. I've always been obsessed with this subject, to the point that a horribly taught Mesoamerican archaeology course in college and my parents not wanting to go see Chichen Itza even though we were RIGHT THERE IN MEXICO LIKE AN HOUR AWAY and it was the first time my teenage self ever wanted to voluntarily see something historical, has not deterred me. Which brings me to the thing I liked best about the book...
c.) For about the middle third of the book, it explores the Michelle character's preoccupation with history, her own and also the history of Chichen Itza. And it transforms her. I guarantee that some people will be annoyed by this plot point, because it romanticizes (exoticizes?) Mayan culture, but I love the idea of a character being drawn to a culture and a history inexplicably. It's a real thing that happens, and is barely ever written about. I would rather read this plot than any true romance.
Which leads me to the elements of the book that I didn't like. Namely, that this romantic fascination with Mayan history crosses over into some cringeworthy "noble savage" territory when Michelle, the American girl left in the jungle naked to die, is lifted up and carried away by some living Mayans with "painted faces" (lol, really?), who then care for her until she is found by her mother. She becomes "wild" to the point that she actually forgets who she is. I considered that maybe she just had a bout of traumatic amnesia from what the boys did to her, but it wouldn't have lasted months and wouldn't have been almost complete amnesia. Crash and burn, book. Crash and burn.
In addition to this major quibble, after Michelle disappears and Anne returns to America, the book's hazy, transient tone becomes practical and moralizing. "Look, Michelle is all over CNN and NBC and Vogue, this is why you must be careful on spring break, ladies." Kasischke already makes the point that strangers are not to be trusted when Anne's distrust of strangers and Michelle's distrust of men in general are ignored to go with the Illinois boys, and bad things happen as a result. Must we really bring Nancy Grace into this too? (She's not name dropped in the book, but you know she'd be all over this if it were a real life case.)
All in all, Feathered probably deserves less than three stars. But I enjoyed so much of it for the three reasons listed above that I don't have the heart to be objective.
kristid's review
2.0
Two words: Spring Break. Anne, Michelle and Terri are heading to Cancun for their first real adventure. It’s going to be great, beaches, blue water, drinks galore and cute boys! But they also want to take in some of the history that Cancun has to offer. It just so happens that they met a guy at the bar that is going to the Chechen Itza and offers to give them a ride. "Don’t take rides from strangers!" Is yelling in the back of the girls minds, but somehow the man seems trustworthy enough that they justify taking his offer. Michelle is captivated by the ruins and she also seems to be captivated with Anders. This freaks Anne out and she talks Michelle into taking a ride home with some guys she met from the hotel. Hopefully they made the right decision.
Feathered was unlike anything I’ve ever read. It didn't reach out and grab me, but there was something that made me want to keep reading. The whole time I was thinking about the Natalee Holloway case and thinking please don’t let something like that happen! Kasischke easily blended folklore with modern day. The descriptions of the ruins are captivating! The chapters alternate between Anne and Michelle allowing a brief look into the minds of the girls. It truly makes you realize things that we take for granted and that you can’t always trust the familiar. If you are looking for a quick read full of mystery and suspense, this might be right up your alley.
Feathered was unlike anything I’ve ever read. It didn't reach out and grab me, but there was something that made me want to keep reading. The whole time I was thinking about the Natalee Holloway case and thinking please don’t let something like that happen! Kasischke easily blended folklore with modern day. The descriptions of the ruins are captivating! The chapters alternate between Anne and Michelle allowing a brief look into the minds of the girls. It truly makes you realize things that we take for granted and that you can’t always trust the familiar. If you are looking for a quick read full of mystery and suspense, this might be right up your alley.
hezann73's review
3.0
Three friends head to Cancun for Spring Break, but when two of them accept a ride from a stranger, one disappears and seems to be lost forever.
This was just an OK book - it was VERY preachy and a little too "mystical" in some places for my taste.
This was just an OK book - it was VERY preachy and a little too "mystical" in some places for my taste.