A review by dylandoesread
Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A.S. King
5.0
A lot of YA novels are creative, well thought out, and exude originality. But this one also has something many fail to include: the voice of a young adult.
Vera Dietz actually sounds like a teenager. Like a girl in high school who has pretty intense teenage problems. A lot of her life is screwed up—we start out by learning her best friend (and kind of boyfriend) is dead, and then we go on a journey to learn what happened to him. And there's a lot of life crap exposed along the way. But it all sounds real and believable. And sometimes funny. A big part of this believability comes from the language used as well. Vera doesn't sound like a 50-year-old English professor pretending to be a 17-year-old. She sounds like a 17-year-old. Who delivers pizza. And sees ghosts. Fun stuff like that. (Note: this is pretty much an R-rated book, so not for the younger readers of YA.)
Vera Dietz actually sounds like a teenager. Like a girl in high school who has pretty intense teenage problems. A lot of her life is screwed up—we start out by learning her best friend (and kind of boyfriend) is dead, and then we go on a journey to learn what happened to him. And there's a lot of life crap exposed along the way. But it all sounds real and believable. And sometimes funny. A big part of this believability comes from the language used as well. Vera doesn't sound like a 50-year-old English professor pretending to be a 17-year-old. She sounds like a 17-year-old. Who delivers pizza. And sees ghosts. Fun stuff like that. (Note: this is pretty much an R-rated book, so not for the younger readers of YA.)