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A review by emmabeckman
The Last Boy and Girl in the World by Siobhan Vivian
4.0
I pretty much gave this 4 full stars because I really liked the premise! It was unique--I definitely haven't read another book with the same main plot line, but I've heard some history about situations where something like that happens.
There were, of course, a couple things that I didn't like with this book. First, I wish it had gone into more of the politics that are embedded in the story and that Keeley was more involved with the actual resistance movement, especially due to our current political climate even if the presence of politics in this book was purely metaphorical. I also didn't like how many loose ends there were. Many of them were small, but they definitely added up and that got distracting as I got close to the end. For example, what happened to Freckles? What happened with the principal in the end? I don't know, I just wanted a little more from those small things.
One thing that I really liked, though, was how the book was almost parodical in its humor. By that I mean this situation that they're in is kind of fantastical and unbelievable in its almost absurdity, but it's so very real for the characters that are living it. I think that made it really fun to read. And while I definitely didn't quite like any of the characters, they were fun to follow and interesting in their mystery for the most part. SPOILERS AHEAD I kind of liked that Jesse's background wasn't fully worked out and that Levi's relationship with his father wasn't fully broken down for the reader. I know one review that I read was very low because the reader didn't like how self-centered Keeley was, but I thought that added some dimension to this book because usually a main character/narrator will examine every detail of everyone's relationships with everyone, whereas Keeley was so primarily concerned with what people thought of her alone. I think that's a side of us as humans that we don't like to admit that we have so Keeley being able to not have to be ashamed or chide herself for being self-centered was something I liked about this book (although I can see why a lot of people wouldn't like it).
There were, of course, a couple things that I didn't like with this book. First, I wish it had gone into more of the politics that are embedded in the story and that Keeley was more involved with the actual resistance movement, especially due to our current political climate even if the presence of politics in this book was purely metaphorical. I also didn't like how many loose ends there were. Many of them were small, but they definitely added up and that got distracting as I got close to the end. For example, what happened to Freckles? What happened with the principal in the end? I don't know, I just wanted a little more from those small things.
One thing that I really liked, though, was how the book was almost parodical in its humor. By that I mean this situation that they're in is kind of fantastical and unbelievable in its almost absurdity, but it's so very real for the characters that are living it. I think that made it really fun to read. And while I definitely didn't quite like any of the characters, they were fun to follow and interesting in their mystery for the most part. SPOILERS AHEAD I kind of liked that Jesse's background wasn't fully worked out and that Levi's relationship with his father wasn't fully broken down for the reader. I know one review that I read was very low because the reader didn't like how self-centered Keeley was, but I thought that added some dimension to this book because usually a main character/narrator will examine every detail of everyone's relationships with everyone, whereas Keeley was so primarily concerned with what people thought of her alone. I think that's a side of us as humans that we don't like to admit that we have so Keeley being able to not have to be ashamed or chide herself for being self-centered was something I liked about this book (although I can see why a lot of people wouldn't like it).