marie_thereadingotter's review
2.0
This book falls somewhere between a 2.5 and a 3 star book.
I received this book from NetGalley for review
I don't know really how to feel about this book/story. It wasn't exactly a linear story but more of a collection of memories. The writing was hard for me to get into, mostly because it's set in England and I wasn't familiar with most of the terms used. The characters were, well I don't know how to classify them. This may be the old person in me talking, but they seemed to be too young (They were 15 -16) to be doing the things that happened in this book. (lots of sex, drinking and drugs). So there was no connection to any of the characters on any level. I couldn't even grasp the motivations of their choices.
This certainly was an interesting book, I will give it that.
I received this book from NetGalley for review
I don't know really how to feel about this book/story. It wasn't exactly a linear story but more of a collection of memories. The writing was hard for me to get into, mostly because it's set in England and I wasn't familiar with most of the terms used. The characters were, well I don't know how to classify them. This may be the old person in me talking, but they seemed to be too young (They were 15 -16) to be doing the things that happened in this book. (lots of sex, drinking and drugs). So there was no connection to any of the characters on any level. I couldn't even grasp the motivations of their choices.
This certainly was an interesting book, I will give it that.
dany_cp03's review
3.0
**ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Just FYI, I'm rating this 2.5 stars. I wasn't really sure when I first finished the book. I was debating on giving it 2 or 3 stars, so now that I've had time to think about it, I'm going to go with 2.5 (I know, shocker!)
It's hard to write this review because I really wanted to like this book. When I first read the description, I really thought it was going to be an interesting story. We have this detached 15 year old, who is not lacking any education by any means, he just does his best to not care about his education or anything else for that matter. For him, everything is the same and will end the same way. So, why bother, right? That's what he thinks, anyway. He spends his days pondering on meaningless life stuff, like how good of a stoner you are depending on whether you know the right amount you need to use to get stone but not get caught and if Pepsi is better than Coke (which is not). His life has been the same since he was born, until the day he meets the new girl in town. A girl named Rainbow. You would think the right person would make you want to be a better person, right? It might not be that simple.
My name is Flick and these are my images of my disconnected life, my forgettable weeks and unforgettable weekends. I am one of the disaffected youth.
From the first page, there was something with Flick that made it hard for me to connect with his character, which made it hard for me to connect with the story and get really into it. Maybe it was the way he talk with all his sarcasm and cynicism about life, maybe it was because of the bad decisions he constantly made, or the fact that he had no sense of purpose, no interest in anything. It may have been the drug use, it may have been all of the above. There were times though, in which I felt he was finding his own way in life, that he realized the way he was living and wanted to do something different, something to change its current course. I liked that Flick. He had ambitions, he wanted to do something productive out of his life. He wanted to change.
But then, he came back to his normal self. It was almost impossible for me to relate to him. My problem with him was that, even when he knew he could do something to change his life, something that mattered, he just didn't. He knew he was smart, he just chose to not use that for something good. He was letting himself burn slowly.
Then, we had Rainbow. She was a pretty interesting character. She had a voice and she stood up for herself. She was everything Flick was not, and she was everything he wanted for him and his life. She was the light in his dark life. I really liked her and the way she made Flick act and think, even though sometimes his addictions got to him more than she did. She was capable of getting a smile out of everyone. Flick saw that, and he felt it. I just read in a GR review that if the book had been from Rainbow's POV it would've been something completely different. I have to say, I agree. Well beyond the fact that she was adopted by a lesbian couple, it's the fact that she managed to be and do her best every single day. Her character is strong and won't take any crap from anyone, which I didn't get from Flick. He's a cynic, yes, but he still needed to grow up.
I guess I'm a sucker for the romance, the happy endings and everything in between. The ending in this book was just lacking something. It left me thinking "that's it?, that's how it all ends?", and not in a cliff-hanger kind of way. I didn't have any closure. Time passed and I felt nothing was really resolved.
I really wanted to like this book, but it was hard.
Just FYI, I'm rating this 2.5 stars. I wasn't really sure when I first finished the book. I was debating on giving it 2 or 3 stars, so now that I've had time to think about it, I'm going to go with 2.5 (I know, shocker!)
It's hard to write this review because I really wanted to like this book. When I first read the description, I really thought it was going to be an interesting story. We have this detached 15 year old, who is not lacking any education by any means, he just does his best to not care about his education or anything else for that matter. For him, everything is the same and will end the same way. So, why bother, right? That's what he thinks, anyway. He spends his days pondering on meaningless life stuff, like how good of a stoner you are depending on whether you know the right amount you need to use to get stone but not get caught and if Pepsi is better than Coke (which is not). His life has been the same since he was born, until the day he meets the new girl in town. A girl named Rainbow. You would think the right person would make you want to be a better person, right? It might not be that simple.
My name is Flick and these are my images of my disconnected life, my forgettable weeks and unforgettable weekends. I am one of the disaffected youth.
From the first page, there was something with Flick that made it hard for me to connect with his character, which made it hard for me to connect with the story and get really into it. Maybe it was the way he talk with all his sarcasm and cynicism about life, maybe it was because of the bad decisions he constantly made, or the fact that he had no sense of purpose, no interest in anything. It may have been the drug use, it may have been all of the above. There were times though, in which I felt he was finding his own way in life, that he realized the way he was living and wanted to do something different, something to change its current course. I liked that Flick. He had ambitions, he wanted to do something productive out of his life. He wanted to change.
But then, he came back to his normal self. It was almost impossible for me to relate to him. My problem with him was that, even when he knew he could do something to change his life, something that mattered, he just didn't. He knew he was smart, he just chose to not use that for something good. He was letting himself burn slowly.
Then, we had Rainbow. She was a pretty interesting character. She had a voice and she stood up for herself. She was everything Flick was not, and she was everything he wanted for him and his life. She was the light in his dark life. I really liked her and the way she made Flick act and think, even though sometimes his addictions got to him more than she did. She was capable of getting a smile out of everyone. Flick saw that, and he felt it. I just read in a GR review that if the book had been from Rainbow's POV it would've been something completely different. I have to say, I agree. Well beyond the fact that she was adopted by a lesbian couple, it's the fact that she managed to be and do her best every single day. Her character is strong and won't take any crap from anyone, which I didn't get from Flick. He's a cynic, yes, but he still needed to grow up.
I guess I'm a sucker for the romance, the happy endings and everything in between. The ending in this book was just lacking something. It left me thinking "that's it?, that's how it all ends?", and not in a cliff-hanger kind of way. I didn't have any closure. Time passed and I felt nothing was really resolved.
I really wanted to like this book, but it was hard.
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