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A review by dmwhipp
Hawthorne & Heathcliff by R.K. Ryals
2.0
This book kept popping up on my radar and, having read some great YA books, I decided to give it a try. I found Hawthorne and Heathcliff to be a decent enough coming of age book full of teen angst and big emotions, which I probably would have enjoyed more at a different stage of life, namely my teen years. Hawthorne is weird.... I know this because the author tells me she doesn't brush her hair and she doesn't own a TV.... not very subtle. She doesn't have posters in her room, just some books. But she doesn't talk much about them (except for Wuthering Heights which is a necessary plot device to explain Max's nickname) and she's a mediocre student, so maybe she's not reading the books. In fact, what did she do every day after school? At the start of the book she's 17 and a senior in high school with no TV, no cell phone, no car, no friends. She apparently cooks dinner, plays the occasional game of checkers with her uncle, and rips pages out of cooking magazines. Seems like there would still be a lot of free time.
The book was full of lots of philosophical musings, which often reminded me of the sayings I see frequently on Facebook, superimposed over photos featuring lone trees in the mist or empty beaches -- they sound sort of pretty, but are sometimes shallow or even meaningless. And frankly I get a little irritated at the ridiculous sexual experiences authors contrive in books like these. Sadly, the majority of women never experience orgasm.... ever. As one of the lucky ones, I thought the idea of a teen virgin having multiple orgasms the first time she has sex ridiculous. Especially considering her partner had only two experiences under his belt. It will certainly set up some girls with false expectations and disappointing first times. I also thought throwing in Max's stillborn twin brother was a little weird near the end, but maybe the shoe theme was getting too gimmicky and a change up was needed.
Ah well, on to better things.
The book was full of lots of philosophical musings, which often reminded me of the sayings I see frequently on Facebook, superimposed over photos featuring lone trees in the mist or empty beaches -- they sound sort of pretty, but are sometimes shallow or even meaningless. And frankly I get a little irritated at the ridiculous sexual experiences authors contrive in books like these. Sadly, the majority of women never experience orgasm.... ever. As one of the lucky ones, I thought the idea of a teen virgin having multiple orgasms the first time she has sex ridiculous. Especially considering her partner had only two experiences under his belt. It will certainly set up some girls with false expectations and disappointing first times. I also thought throwing in Max's stillborn twin brother was a little weird near the end, but maybe the shoe theme was getting too gimmicky and a change up was needed.
Ah well, on to better things.