A review by alexblackreads
Gem & Dixie by Sara Zarr
3.0
I wanted to love this because I really do quite like Sara Zarr, but it wasn't the book for me. I feel weird reviewing it even because the main reason was just that I didn't like the story. The characters were well crafted, the setting incredible, Zarr's writing style great as always, but it literally just came down to the story.
The teenage main character finds a bag of money and takes it with her sister, then they proceed to have a variety of adventures. (It's done in a much more realistic way than it sounds, but that's the general gist.) That whole premise just makes me really uncomfortable. There's a whole worry throughout the book that they'll lose the money or get taken advantage of, and that rubbed my anxiety the wrong way. My fault for going into a book without reading literally a single word of description.
I did enjoy quite a few of the other aspects of the story, though. Zarr has a wonderful way of crafting these really quiet, down to earth stories about people who feel real, and the reader just gets to experience their lives. A lot of the book focuses on Gem's home situation and how she's neglected. I really enjoyed Gem as a character.
I don't have too much to say on this one. I think if you like low key contemporaries that sound like this, it might be worthwhile. There's nothing I felt that was poorly done, it just wasn't for me.
The teenage main character finds a bag of money and takes it with her sister, then they proceed to have a variety of adventures. (It's done in a much more realistic way than it sounds, but that's the general gist.) That whole premise just makes me really uncomfortable. There's a whole worry throughout the book that they'll lose the money or get taken advantage of, and that rubbed my anxiety the wrong way. My fault for going into a book without reading literally a single word of description.
I did enjoy quite a few of the other aspects of the story, though. Zarr has a wonderful way of crafting these really quiet, down to earth stories about people who feel real, and the reader just gets to experience their lives. A lot of the book focuses on Gem's home situation and how she's neglected. I really enjoyed Gem as a character.
I don't have too much to say on this one. I think if you like low key contemporaries that sound like this, it might be worthwhile. There's nothing I felt that was poorly done, it just wasn't for me.