engelsigh's review against another edition
4.0
This book was really hard to read because of the subject matter. It was well written though.
punkgremlin's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kimreadsthings's review against another edition
3.0
This is a good book. It's well written and characterized, and handles some tough subjects in a raw way. It just isn't the type of book that resonates with me emotionally.
carstensena's review against another edition
4.0
This completely sucked me in. Love books in which I'm not sure what's going on -- what's real and what's not. This is a great example and the second I've read recently, if you think of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. An interesting combo. Well-deserved Morris Award!
novelheartbeat's review against another edition
1.0
I can't even review this book because it was about nothing. I was so bored while reading it that watching paint dry would have been more entertaining. Oh, and by the way, it is NOT about werewolves.
ginnikin's review against another edition
I tried. I read the reviews that said, ooooh, twisty. But I just couldn't make it. *shrug* Not for me.
kblincoln's review against another edition
5.0
Unreliable narrators get me every time. And when you've got an angry, tennis-star with a fiercely protective older brother and a little sister he loves in a private school making anti-social choices because of some event he fears/craves tied to the full moon...well I'm hooked.
This probably isn't a book for everyone, though, Winston isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. He's violent, and hurts the people around him in various ways seemingly without an ounce of remorse.
But he's broken. And that's why he wormed his way into my heart. This is not an easy story. I could make parallel comparisons to Justine Larbalestier's Liar, wherein her unreliable narrator Micah Wilkins also seems to be crazy, but where Liar went one direction, Charm & Strange is definitely going down a darker, harder to swallow route.
There's lots of time jumping. Most of the time Winston and his friends spend hanging around talking at school or at parties or in the woods. You have to be tolerant of ambiguity, because Kuehn keeps some mysteries, that you suspect in that pins-and-needles don't really want to know what's going on way, but truth is held off until the end on many levels. And then when it ends, it's over. And you're left with a broken heart for Winston and his siblings.
Heart-rending portrait of an angry boy verging on the psychotic whose friends don't entirely give up on him. Nothing's explicit, but many mature themes are hinted at. While YA in sensibility, this is definitely for the older YA crowd.
This probably isn't a book for everyone, though, Winston isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. He's violent, and hurts the people around him in various ways seemingly without an ounce of remorse.
But he's broken. And that's why he wormed his way into my heart. This is not an easy story. I could make parallel comparisons to Justine Larbalestier's Liar, wherein her unreliable narrator Micah Wilkins also seems to be crazy, but where Liar went one direction, Charm & Strange is definitely going down a darker, harder to swallow route.
There's lots of time jumping. Most of the time Winston and his friends spend hanging around talking at school or at parties or in the woods. You have to be tolerant of ambiguity, because Kuehn keeps some mysteries, that you suspect in that pins-and-needles don't really want to know what's going on way, but truth is held off until the end on many levels. And then when it ends, it's over. And you're left with a broken heart for Winston and his siblings.
Heart-rending portrait of an angry boy verging on the psychotic whose friends don't entirely give up on him. Nothing's explicit, but many mature themes are hinted at. While YA in sensibility, this is definitely for the older YA crowd.
litwrite's review against another edition
4.0
Such a sad, well-written, heartbreaker of a novel. Not long, but I would say the perfect length. Werewolf as metaphor for puberty and growing up is not really new - it was handled exceedingly well in the excellent Canadian film Gingersnaps, but I also like the way it was handled here with the sinister undertones and the big reveal at the end. Kuehn works with the imagery very effectively and creates a dreamlike atmosphere that really succeeded for me.
I think this would be a great low budget indie flick, someone could handle this really well as to me it really had the air of let's say, Jeffrey Eugenides' [b:The Virgin Suicides|10956|The Virgin Suicides|Jeffrey Eugenides|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1319032910s/10956.jpg|812415], though obviously from a completely different POV.
I think this would be a great low budget indie flick, someone could handle this really well as to me it really had the air of let's say, Jeffrey Eugenides' [b:The Virgin Suicides|10956|The Virgin Suicides|Jeffrey Eugenides|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1319032910s/10956.jpg|812415], though obviously from a completely different POV.
petitesser's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
2.5