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inkstndfngrs's review against another edition
3.0
Dear Chris Colfer,
...When people joke about ending things with "and then everybody died" they aren't being serious.
Thanks,
Me.
...Just kidding. Sort of. Over all, the book was fine; I look forward to watching the movie. However, you get drawn into this story to have an abrupt time jump. What happened in between? Anything? Something! must have gone down! I would have liked to see more here.
Aside from the MC, I didn't find many of the other characters realistic or likeable. They had potential, but I just don't think that this was the proper venue for them.
Either way, this was a great first shot at YA fiction for Mr. Colfer, and I look forward to future works.
...When people joke about ending things with "and then everybody died" they aren't being serious.
Thanks,
Me.
...Just kidding. Sort of. Over all, the book was fine; I look forward to watching the movie. However, you get drawn into this story to have an abrupt time jump. What happened in between? Anything? Something! must have gone down! I would have liked to see more here.
Aside from the MC, I didn't find many of the other characters realistic or likeable. They had potential, but I just don't think that this was the proper venue for them.
Either way, this was a great first shot at YA fiction for Mr. Colfer, and I look forward to future works.
surpriseitem's review against another edition
2.0
ACTUALLY A 2.5
Struck By Lightening: Book Review
By: Chris Colfer
Okay, let me start off by saying I don’t watch Glee. I got through half of this book without knowing that Chris Colfer was a character on Glee, so I remain unbiased. I picked this up based on the size and the blackmailing. Now on with the review.
PLOT: Like I said before, I picked this book up because of the blackmailing. That ended up being my favorite part. Of course, I believe that it all happened far too fast. I mean, come on, oh, I bet you that’s Remy! Oh, look, Malarie has a video of Claire and Coach Walker! I’ve hit the jackpot! No. That is just unbelievable. The least he could’ve done was drag it out into a week, not just four days. It seems like Colfer just jammed it all into one place to get it over with. I also was not a fan of the diary entries. Do people get a journal and then write all about their tragic life in the first entry? No. I really wish it had been sprinkled about the entries and not just dumped onto you in the very first entry.
Also, I really disliked how it wasn’t amazing writing. I mean, I know diary entries aren’t supposed to have amazing word choice and all, but come on! With all of the rambling on about how he wants to be an editor of the New Yorker and all, he could’ve at least shown a bit of care about his own writing! The end came just too fast and out of nowhere. All of this build up to blackmailing for the magazine, and then BAM, everyone hates Carson and he doesn’t get into northwestern. And after a nice enough personal breakthrough, BOOM! He dies by...wait for it...Lightening! WOW! It would’ve been cool if he wasn’t an arrogant jerk, but more on that later.
SETTING: Oh my god. How many more of these suckish home town stories will there be? I mean, there wasn’t even any paranormal aspects or at least reunion. No. It was just, my life sucks, I’m in a town with dummies, can’t wait to get the heck out of my house my depressed mom lives in...blah, blah, blah. Completely unoriginal and boring.
CHARACTERS: Okay, first of all, no one can be that dumb. I mean, seriously. People that dumb must have a disease. They were so stupid; too stupid to the point of unbelievability. At least give Justin or Malarie something that they're good at, not just being hopeless little idiots. Carson was an arrogant little jerk. I mean, you don’t even think that you might not get it? You don’t even apply for a second choice college if you want to get out of that town so much? Idiot.
The mom and dad weren’t original either. Just normal old bums that divorce when the dad gets a new wife. How original. And then there was the gay drama guy, cheerleader, dumb jock, mean teacher, and stupid guidance counselor. How much more cliché can you get, folks?
WRITING: The writing was nothing special. I didn’t hate it, didn’t love it, either.
RATING: Overall, I gave this book a 2.5 Stars.
Struck By Lightening: Book Review
By: Chris Colfer
Okay, let me start off by saying I don’t watch Glee. I got through half of this book without knowing that Chris Colfer was a character on Glee, so I remain unbiased. I picked this up based on the size and the blackmailing. Now on with the review.
PLOT: Like I said before, I picked this book up because of the blackmailing. That ended up being my favorite part. Of course, I believe that it all happened far too fast. I mean, come on, oh, I bet you that’s Remy! Oh, look, Malarie has a video of Claire and Coach Walker! I’ve hit the jackpot! No. That is just unbelievable. The least he could’ve done was drag it out into a week, not just four days. It seems like Colfer just jammed it all into one place to get it over with. I also was not a fan of the diary entries. Do people get a journal and then write all about their tragic life in the first entry? No. I really wish it had been sprinkled about the entries and not just dumped onto you in the very first entry.
Also, I really disliked how it wasn’t amazing writing. I mean, I know diary entries aren’t supposed to have amazing word choice and all, but come on! With all of the rambling on about how he wants to be an editor of the New Yorker and all, he could’ve at least shown a bit of care about his own writing! The end came just too fast and out of nowhere. All of this build up to blackmailing for the magazine, and then BAM, everyone hates Carson and he doesn’t get into northwestern. And after a nice enough personal breakthrough, BOOM! He dies by...wait for it...Lightening! WOW! It would’ve been cool if he wasn’t an arrogant jerk, but more on that later.
SETTING: Oh my god. How many more of these suckish home town stories will there be? I mean, there wasn’t even any paranormal aspects or at least reunion. No. It was just, my life sucks, I’m in a town with dummies, can’t wait to get the heck out of my house my depressed mom lives in...blah, blah, blah. Completely unoriginal and boring.
CHARACTERS: Okay, first of all, no one can be that dumb. I mean, seriously. People that dumb must have a disease. They were so stupid; too stupid to the point of unbelievability. At least give Justin or Malarie something that they're good at, not just being hopeless little idiots. Carson was an arrogant little jerk. I mean, you don’t even think that you might not get it? You don’t even apply for a second choice college if you want to get out of that town so much? Idiot.
The mom and dad weren’t original either. Just normal old bums that divorce when the dad gets a new wife. How original. And then there was the gay drama guy, cheerleader, dumb jock, mean teacher, and stupid guidance counselor. How much more cliché can you get, folks?
WRITING: The writing was nothing special. I didn’t hate it, didn’t love it, either.
RATING: Overall, I gave this book a 2.5 Stars.
libbytx's review against another edition
5.0
Chris Colfer brings to life an interesting and unique array of characters in his novel “Struck by Lightning.” The book poked fun at the cliche cast system of high school with dry humor and dark sarcasm while also bringing to light some serious life questions.
“Struck by Lightning” takes place in a small town called Clover - a place that perfectly fits all the cliches of a small town and a small-town high school. Carson Phillips has always dreamed big about his future, and regardless of the ridicule and unlikely chances, had never given up on his dreams. When Carson discovers he needs to publish a literary magazine in order to earn acceptance into his dream college, Carson resorts to blackmailing the most popular kids in school. From there on out, the choices Carson makes unravels a messy, but often times hilarious, chain of events.
I will admit - the only reason I picked up “Struck by Lightning” happens to center around the fact that the movie adaption is one of my favorite movies. In any other circumstance, I would never have taken a second glance at the book. Thank goodness I did read the book though, it now has become one of my favorites. Chris Colfer brought to life and gave a name to the sarcastic, moody teenager hidden inside us all.
A lot of times people use the expression “I couldn’t put the book down” as a way to accentuate what a good book they read, but when I say I couldn’t put “Struck By Lightning” down, I mean it literally. After sitting for three hours I had read the whole book cover to cover. Not once did the plot slow down and never did I feel like Colfer overloaded a chapter with information. From beginning to end, I was intrigued.
The fact that I could not decide if I actually liked Carson Phillips became something that fascinated me throughout the entirety of the novel. He had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor which appealed to me, but overall, he simply was a terrible person. He had no problem exploiting people for his gain, but I just could not will myself hate him. I remained on the edge until the very end of the book. By the time I turned the final page I could not feel any hate or love towards Carson, only pity. Colfer created a character that relates to almost everyone in one way or another, and because the book appears in the form of journal entries, the author cannot sway the reader to like the character more. Liking or hating Carson completely depends on the person reading the book, making “Struck By Lightning” a unique reading experience for every reader.
“Struck by Lightning” takes place in a small town called Clover - a place that perfectly fits all the cliches of a small town and a small-town high school. Carson Phillips has always dreamed big about his future, and regardless of the ridicule and unlikely chances, had never given up on his dreams. When Carson discovers he needs to publish a literary magazine in order to earn acceptance into his dream college, Carson resorts to blackmailing the most popular kids in school. From there on out, the choices Carson makes unravels a messy, but often times hilarious, chain of events.
I will admit - the only reason I picked up “Struck by Lightning” happens to center around the fact that the movie adaption is one of my favorite movies. In any other circumstance, I would never have taken a second glance at the book. Thank goodness I did read the book though, it now has become one of my favorites. Chris Colfer brought to life and gave a name to the sarcastic, moody teenager hidden inside us all.
A lot of times people use the expression “I couldn’t put the book down” as a way to accentuate what a good book they read, but when I say I couldn’t put “Struck By Lightning” down, I mean it literally. After sitting for three hours I had read the whole book cover to cover. Not once did the plot slow down and never did I feel like Colfer overloaded a chapter with information. From beginning to end, I was intrigued.
The fact that I could not decide if I actually liked Carson Phillips became something that fascinated me throughout the entirety of the novel. He had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor which appealed to me, but overall, he simply was a terrible person. He had no problem exploiting people for his gain, but I just could not will myself hate him. I remained on the edge until the very end of the book. By the time I turned the final page I could not feel any hate or love towards Carson, only pity. Colfer created a character that relates to almost everyone in one way or another, and because the book appears in the form of journal entries, the author cannot sway the reader to like the character more. Liking or hating Carson completely depends on the person reading the book, making “Struck By Lightning” a unique reading experience for every reader.
mckinlay's review against another edition
3.0
i was totally ready to give this 4 stars but the ending pissed me off.
berkekilic's review against another edition
4.0
Yorumun orijinali: http://kitaphayvaniningunlugu.blogspot.com/2013/08/kitap-yorumu-struck-by-lightning-carson.html
Sen nasıl tatlı bir kitapsın öyle!
Struck By Lightning tam Chris'den beklediğim gibi bir kitaptı. Komik, eğlenceli, azıcık da duygusal. Chris Colfer'i tanımayanlar vardır belki diye söylüyorum (gerçekten var mı öyle insanlar?) kendisi Glee'de meşhur olup gözümüzün önünde bebelikten süper seksi bir adama dönüşmüş, ardından The Wishing Spell adlı ilk çocuk romanını yayımlamıştır. Aynı zamanda The Wishing Spell ilk kitabı. Sonra Struck By Lightning'i yazdı ve son olarak The Wishing Spell'in devam kitabı The Enchantress Returns geçtiğimiz ay çıktı.
Sevimlilik abidesi olması ve eşsiz bir sese sahip olmasının yanında yetenekli bir yazarmış da, bu kitapla onu anladım. Görüldüğü üzere ben Chris'i çok severim. Gelsin abim olsun (zaten benden iki yaş büyük, hayatımı sorgulamama neden oluyor bu çocuk), ailemizin bir ferdi olsun, birlikte nerdlüğün dibine vuralım istiyorum. Tabii bu isteklerim gerçekleşiyor mu, hayır. Hiç oralara girmeyelim bence şimdi.
Konuyu Struck By Lightning'e, yani Carson Philips'in günlüğüne, döndürecek olursam; Carson Phillips hayatını gazeteci olmaya adamış bir lise son sınıf öğrencisi. Tek amacı var; Northwestern'de okuyup daha sonra The New Yorker'da editör olarak doğup büyüdüğü ve nefret ettiği kasabadan kurtulmak.
Carson'un bildiğin berbat bir ailesi var. Babası annesini terk ettikten sonra adamı ancak iki kere görebilmiş. Annesi hayatı içki içip kendini kaybetmekten ibaret olan bir kadın. Tek sevdiği büyüğü Alzheimer hastası olan büyükannesi. Eh, okulda da çok sevildiği söylenemez. Uzun lafın kısası, hayalleri Carson'un "tutunabileceği" tek şey.
Carson'un hayallerini gerçekleştirme çabaları bir süre sonra daha bir sert hâle geliyor çünkü Northwestern'e girmesi için okul gazetesini adeta tek başına çıkarmasının yanında bir yandan da edebiyat dergisi çıkarmaya karar veriyor. Carson'un hedefine ulaşmak için yapmayacağı şey yok. Mesela şantaj. Neden olmasın? Kendisine yardım edebilmesi için okulun en popüler çocuklarının bile küçük sırlarını yakalayıp onlara şantaj yapıyor. Bu, tüm okulun kendisinden nefret etmesini sağlasa da. Zafere giden yolda her şey mübahtır!
Carson'u okumak cidden çok eğlenceli. Sürekli birilerine laf sokması, iç sesleri ve insanlara bazen bilerek bazen farkında olmadan yardımcı olması sayfaların su gibi akmasını sağladı. Kitap zaten çok uzun değil. Bir de ritmi tutturunca bir günde bitirdim ben.
Struck By Lightning, bana lise yıllarımdan birkaç anıyı da hatırlattı. Carson'un derslere olan tavrıyla oldukça özdeşleşiyoruz, o kadarını söyleyeyim. Ayrıca kitabın içinde de yer verilen edebiyat dergisinde yayımlanan yazıları sırıta sırıta okudum. Bol çeşnili bir karakter salatasıydı resmen.
Sonuç olarak; kitabı zevkle okudum. Sonunda içim buruk kalsa da yüzümde gülümsemeyle hatırlayacağımı biliyorum. Struck By Lightning'in bir de filmi var. İzninizle şimdi ona uçuş yapıyorum. Filmin senaristi, yapımcısı ve baş rolü yine Chris. Eh, çok bekletmeye gelmez.
Sen nasıl tatlı bir kitapsın öyle!
Struck By Lightning tam Chris'den beklediğim gibi bir kitaptı. Komik, eğlenceli, azıcık da duygusal. Chris Colfer'i tanımayanlar vardır belki diye söylüyorum (gerçekten var mı öyle insanlar?) kendisi Glee'de meşhur olup gözümüzün önünde bebelikten süper seksi bir adama dönüşmüş, ardından The Wishing Spell adlı ilk çocuk romanını yayımlamıştır. Aynı zamanda The Wishing Spell ilk kitabı. Sonra Struck By Lightning'i yazdı ve son olarak The Wishing Spell'in devam kitabı The Enchantress Returns geçtiğimiz ay çıktı.
Sevimlilik abidesi olması ve eşsiz bir sese sahip olmasının yanında yetenekli bir yazarmış da, bu kitapla onu anladım. Görüldüğü üzere ben Chris'i çok severim. Gelsin abim olsun (zaten benden iki yaş büyük, hayatımı sorgulamama neden oluyor bu çocuk), ailemizin bir ferdi olsun, birlikte nerdlüğün dibine vuralım istiyorum. Tabii bu isteklerim gerçekleşiyor mu, hayır. Hiç oralara girmeyelim bence şimdi.
Konuyu Struck By Lightning'e, yani Carson Philips'in günlüğüne, döndürecek olursam; Carson Phillips hayatını gazeteci olmaya adamış bir lise son sınıf öğrencisi. Tek amacı var; Northwestern'de okuyup daha sonra The New Yorker'da editör olarak doğup büyüdüğü ve nefret ettiği kasabadan kurtulmak.
Carson'un bildiğin berbat bir ailesi var. Babası annesini terk ettikten sonra adamı ancak iki kere görebilmiş. Annesi hayatı içki içip kendini kaybetmekten ibaret olan bir kadın. Tek sevdiği büyüğü Alzheimer hastası olan büyükannesi. Eh, okulda da çok sevildiği söylenemez. Uzun lafın kısası, hayalleri Carson'un "tutunabileceği" tek şey.
"Don't try to find the ideas, let the ideas find you," I said, unsure if I even knew what I was talking about. "It's one of the most amazing experiences, finding something to write about, or realizing something for the first time. It comes out of nowhere and just hits you. Then it's all you can think about and it goes through your body and tries to escape and be expressed in any way possible...It's a lot like...like..."
"Lightning?" Malerie asked me.
"Yeah," I said. "Like lightning."
Carson'un hayallerini gerçekleştirme çabaları bir süre sonra daha bir sert hâle geliyor çünkü Northwestern'e girmesi için okul gazetesini adeta tek başına çıkarmasının yanında bir yandan da edebiyat dergisi çıkarmaya karar veriyor. Carson'un hedefine ulaşmak için yapmayacağı şey yok. Mesela şantaj. Neden olmasın? Kendisine yardım edebilmesi için okulun en popüler çocuklarının bile küçük sırlarını yakalayıp onlara şantaj yapıyor. Bu, tüm okulun kendisinden nefret etmesini sağlasa da. Zafere giden yolda her şey mübahtır!
Carson'u okumak cidden çok eğlenceli. Sürekli birilerine laf sokması, iç sesleri ve insanlara bazen bilerek bazen farkında olmadan yardımcı olması sayfaların su gibi akmasını sağladı. Kitap zaten çok uzun değil. Bir de ritmi tutturunca bir günde bitirdim ben.
"Because a life without meaning, without drive or focus, without dreams or goals, isn’t a life worth living. Like having a great idea, life comes at you fast. It hits you and tries to escape and be expressed in any ways possible. In a way, it’s a lot like…lightning."
Struck By Lightning, bana lise yıllarımdan birkaç anıyı da hatırlattı. Carson'un derslere olan tavrıyla oldukça özdeşleşiyoruz, o kadarını söyleyeyim. Ayrıca kitabın içinde de yer verilen edebiyat dergisinde yayımlanan yazıları sırıta sırıta okudum. Bol çeşnili bir karakter salatasıydı resmen.
Sonuç olarak; kitabı zevkle okudum. Sonunda içim buruk kalsa da yüzümde gülümsemeyle hatırlayacağımı biliyorum. Struck By Lightning'in bir de filmi var. İzninizle şimdi ona uçuş yapıyorum. Filmin senaristi, yapımcısı ve baş rolü yine Chris. Eh, çok bekletmeye gelmez.
gabyshedwick's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed Struck by Lightning. It was a quick and easy read because I've already seen the film. Although, I enjoyed the writing and I thought the characters were very funny, I missed the aftermath of what happened to Carson. However, Carson witty, sarcastic comments made up for it and overall I would give this book a solid 4 stars.
_reedmylife_'s review against another edition
5.0
This book is hilarious! I laughed through most of the book. Carson Phillips is a sarcastic asshole but I respect him. He tried to make a path for himself and being an asshole was the only way, he thought.
arundlestl's review against another edition
2.0
The voice wasn't consistent, but most of the time I agreed with Carson. I didn't think all the language was necessary. The worst past was the ending. It's as if the author had written himself into a corner, so he just just brought the book to a screeching halt with no resolution. That had the bonus of giving the book a stupid title. If the last 10 pages had been different, this book would have earned at least one more star.
_camk_'s review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Struck By Lightning is fast and easy read that's thoroughly entertaining.
+One liners: Colfer, no matter if he is writing or on screen has a knack for delivering hilarious one-liners.
-Tie up: I would have liked to have known what happened to the rest of the characters. They just fell off the grid after handing in their literary submissions.
+One liners: Colfer, no matter if he is writing or on screen has a knack for delivering hilarious one-liners.
-Tie up: I would have liked to have known what happened to the rest of the characters. They just fell off the grid after handing in their literary submissions.