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A review by ashurq
The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone
2.0
Rich Girl Goes on Extravagant Cruise with Dying Grandma & Complains A Lot
That's basically what you're getting with this book. I had such high expectations and with everyone's high reviews, I feel extremely let down. I did not find Maddie likable. At all. She's selfish and entitled and extremely immature. In fact, basically every character in this book is selfish, entitled, and extremely immature (with the exception of Bob Johns, I liked that guy).
We're introduced to a HUGE cast of characters which makes it very difficult to keep things straight as the story progresses. In general, I felt that the characters in this book were underdeveloped and experienced minimal growth throughout the story. I especially had an issue with Maddie's grandma, Astrid. My grandma has very few personal boundaries herself, but she's not the kind of person who would peer pressure an underage granddaughter into getting an impulsive butt tattoo. I just felt like Astrid needed to be more of an adult about a lot of things. I get that she's supposed to be this "cool" and "classy" lady, but it came off feeling kind of cheap.
There are so many small things in this book that are so nonsensical and do nothing to drive the story forward. For example, Maddie has Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This is brought up multiple times but literally has nothing to do with the story. The romance between Maddie and Enzo. So pointless. Neither character grew from that relationship and it was a serious case of instalove. The "E's", Maddie's friends from back home (plus her one actually COOL friend). Why even bother to write them in?
I feel like this book could have been really amazing. The author had this great opportunity to make her audience feel something for these characters (since the entire book is about death) as well as giving us an awesome view of other places around the world. Maddie does tour some pretty amazing places, but she's also a little too busy following her drunk cousin around to actually appreciate any of the sights. She's also too busy complaining about the food, or the smell, or the creepy cats, or her family so when would she really have time to soak in any culture?
In the end, I'm left extremely disappointed by this book. It had a huge amount of potential but ended up feeling crude and extremely immature. Being a book that deals so much with death, I would expect it to be a little more meaningful. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
That's basically what you're getting with this book. I had such high expectations and with everyone's high reviews, I feel extremely let down. I did not find Maddie likable. At all. She's selfish and entitled and extremely immature. In fact, basically every character in this book is selfish, entitled, and extremely immature (with the exception of Bob Johns, I liked that guy).
We're introduced to a HUGE cast of characters which makes it very difficult to keep things straight as the story progresses. In general, I felt that the characters in this book were underdeveloped and experienced minimal growth throughout the story. I especially had an issue with Maddie's grandma, Astrid. My grandma has very few personal boundaries herself, but she's not the kind of person who would peer pressure an underage granddaughter into getting an impulsive butt tattoo. I just felt like Astrid needed to be more of an adult about a lot of things. I get that she's supposed to be this "cool" and "classy" lady, but it came off feeling kind of cheap.
There are so many small things in this book that are so nonsensical and do nothing to drive the story forward. For example, Maddie has Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This is brought up multiple times but literally has nothing to do with the story. The romance between Maddie and Enzo. So pointless. Neither character grew from that relationship and it was a serious case of instalove. The "E's", Maddie's friends from back home (plus her one actually COOL friend). Why even bother to write them in?
I feel like this book could have been really amazing. The author had this great opportunity to make her audience feel something for these characters (since the entire book is about death) as well as giving us an awesome view of other places around the world. Maddie does tour some pretty amazing places, but she's also a little too busy following her drunk cousin around to actually appreciate any of the sights. She's also too busy complaining about the food, or the smell, or the creepy cats, or her family so when would she really have time to soak in any culture?
In the end, I'm left extremely disappointed by this book. It had a huge amount of potential but ended up feeling crude and extremely immature. Being a book that deals so much with death, I would expect it to be a little more meaningful. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.