A review by jang
When Reason Breaks by Cindy L. Rodriguez
4.0
The book is so interesting mainly because of the characters. Idk, that depressive recluse politician's daughter and the manic goth furiosa characters worked for me.
I was a bit confused at first but the infusion of errthing Emily Dickinson into the novel was educational, I liked how her poems represented the mood or the personalities of the two main characters. I wasn't familiar with Dickinson tbh because we didn't really cover her that much in college Lit but from some of the poems of her I've read, I know that she was dark and her poems could only ever really be unleashed by smartass poets and people who have mad passion for those things. But I like how the author interweaved bits or phrases from her poems at the beginning of each chapter.
The characters were the reason I couldn't put the book down. I wanted to say that I understand people with anger management problems but I've never seen one who was breathlessly violent and impulsive that's why Elizabeth's character really got my attention. Which also sucked because I ended up paying more attention to her attitude and her "suicide notes" than to the other heroine Emily, who was more depressive and was actually suicidal.
The thing that irked me about the novel was the parts that remained unexplained. Emily's triggers and her problems were never really specifically revealed, readers only got a sense that it came from her uptight and self-righteous politician father. Because he was a damn perfectionist his kids weren't even allowed to have fun. The root of Elizabeth's temperament issues were never discussed, too. The story only revealed that she attacked her father out of feeling betrayed and pain, and that's where things got out of hand. Am I spoiling too much? Who cares?!!
What I loved most about the book was how deeply it affected me towards the end and how it made me cry. HAHAHA how predictably me, bawling because of a YA book! But seriously, that super tense fight between Emily and Elizabeth and the suicide and their change of hearts.. Oh man. I'm such a cliché I enjoy a resolute hopeful happy endings every once in a while.
I liked the writing. Elizabeth's resolution happened too fast for me. But I liked how Emily admitted that she still wasn't okay because that right there is real life. Things will take a while to heal, that's what happened to Emily and I liked that she's willing to embrace that positive change even if it would take a while.
I was a bit confused at first but the infusion of errthing Emily Dickinson into the novel was educational, I liked how her poems represented the mood or the personalities of the two main characters. I wasn't familiar with Dickinson tbh because we didn't really cover her that much in college Lit but from some of the poems of her I've read, I know that she was dark and her poems could only ever really be unleashed by smartass poets and people who have mad passion for those things. But I like how the author interweaved bits or phrases from her poems at the beginning of each chapter.
The characters were the reason I couldn't put the book down. I wanted to say that I understand people with anger management problems but I've never seen one who was breathlessly violent and impulsive that's why Elizabeth's character really got my attention. Which also sucked because I ended up paying more attention to her attitude and her "suicide notes" than to the other heroine Emily, who was more depressive and was actually suicidal.
The thing that irked me about the novel was the parts that remained unexplained. Emily's triggers and her problems were never really specifically revealed, readers only got a sense that it came from her uptight and self-righteous politician father. Because he was a damn perfectionist his kids weren't even allowed to have fun. The root of Elizabeth's temperament issues were never discussed, too. The story only revealed that she attacked her father out of feeling betrayed and pain, and that's where things got out of hand. Am I spoiling too much? Who cares?!!
What I loved most about the book was how deeply it affected me towards the end and how it made me cry. HAHAHA how predictably me, bawling because of a YA book! But seriously, that super tense fight between Emily and Elizabeth and the suicide and their change of hearts.. Oh man. I'm such a cliché I enjoy a resolute hopeful happy endings every once in a while.
I liked the writing. Elizabeth's resolution happened too fast for me. But I liked how Emily admitted that she still wasn't okay because that right there is real life. Things will take a while to heal, that's what happened to Emily and I liked that she's willing to embrace that positive change even if it would take a while.