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A review by misajane79
Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet
1.0
You all know that I'm all about books that connect ordinary people to big events in history. And yet, I wanted to throw this book across the room on multiple occasions. If this hadn't been a book club book (and I hadn't of skipped the last few choices), I never would have finished it.
The first chunk of the book is a typical, growing up post-WWII story. And then, they start contrasting the story of his first love (rich girl, poor boy) against the Cuban Missile Crisis. And things get weird. There are long sections about the missile crisis from JFK's perspective that just don't work.
Explosions (see the title) are a recurring theme: he's born a few weeks early because of a bomb. Right after he loses his virginity, he and his girl get blown up by a bomb left over from WWII. He never talks to the girl again until she happens to call him on the morning of September 11. Yep, you guessed--she delays him just long enough to save his life. And that's the end. Seriously?
But what confused me the most was this: it's supposed to be a young adult novel. And I can't for the life of me figure out why teens would want to read a book in which an old man remembers how he lost his virginity and keeps wandering off to lectures on the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I'm changing my rating to one star. Ugghh.
The first chunk of the book is a typical, growing up post-WWII story. And then, they start contrasting the story of his first love (rich girl, poor boy) against the Cuban Missile Crisis. And things get weird. There are long sections about the missile crisis from JFK's perspective that just don't work.
Explosions (see the title) are a recurring theme: he's born a few weeks early because of a bomb. Right after he loses his virginity, he and his girl get blown up by a bomb left over from WWII. He never talks to the girl again until she happens to call him on the morning of September 11. Yep, you guessed--she delays him just long enough to save his life. And that's the end. Seriously?
But what confused me the most was this: it's supposed to be a young adult novel. And I can't for the life of me figure out why teens would want to read a book in which an old man remembers how he lost his virginity and keeps wandering off to lectures on the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I'm changing my rating to one star. Ugghh.