A review by rickijill
The Beginners by Rebecca Wolff
1.0
While on our road trip, I read The Beginners by Rebecca Wolff. I hated this book. I think this is only the second book I have blogged about that I hate because I truly try to maintain a positive blog, but I feel the necessity to warn you about this one.
Several months ago when this book was first released there was TONS of hype!!! I suppose that should have been my first red flag. But the fact that Wolff earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop (a program my daughter so badly wants to join as a graduate student) made me buy it.
The book is basically about a fifteen year old girl named Ginger who lives in a small New England town. She thinks and speaks *pretentious* which I refuse to learn. No fifteen year old thinks like this, even geniuses. And if she were that smart, she would not have found herself in a really stupid predicament. The cause of her trouble is a young couple: Theo and Raquel Motherwell. They are new to Wick, Massachusetts, and they are pathological liars. Ginger, if you speak pretentious so well, then you should recognize how disturbing your new friends are, lass. They are definitely psychopathic enigmas wrapped in a mystery, and Ginger spends all of her free time with these adults. Weird. Also there is supposed to be a supernatural element to the story. It isn't there, trust me. I truly thought that Wick's creepy history might provide the structure for a story, but the story was never fully developed.
This is a coming of age novel that you can skip because it is confusing, offensive, and a complete waste of time. I really want those hours of reading this book back because life is too short to read books like this one! Consider yourself forewarned.
Several months ago when this book was first released there was TONS of hype!!! I suppose that should have been my first red flag. But the fact that Wolff earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop (a program my daughter so badly wants to join as a graduate student) made me buy it.
The book is basically about a fifteen year old girl named Ginger who lives in a small New England town. She thinks and speaks *pretentious* which I refuse to learn. No fifteen year old thinks like this, even geniuses. And if she were that smart, she would not have found herself in a really stupid predicament. The cause of her trouble is a young couple: Theo and Raquel Motherwell. They are new to Wick, Massachusetts, and they are pathological liars. Ginger, if you speak pretentious so well, then you should recognize how disturbing your new friends are, lass. They are definitely psychopathic enigmas wrapped in a mystery, and Ginger spends all of her free time with these adults. Weird. Also there is supposed to be a supernatural element to the story. It isn't there, trust me. I truly thought that Wick's creepy history might provide the structure for a story, but the story was never fully developed.
This is a coming of age novel that you can skip because it is confusing, offensive, and a complete waste of time. I really want those hours of reading this book back because life is too short to read books like this one! Consider yourself forewarned.