A review by hyebitshines
Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han
4.0
This whole series has just been an emotional what-the-fuckery UvU
At the end of the second book, sweet Mary realizes she's been dead all along. Mary died as the overweight seventh grader who committed suicide in her room... AND TURNS BATSHIT CRAZY VENGEFUL GHOST. I think that's what bothered me about this book: Mary's 180 degree turnaround in character. I get vengefulness, I embrace crazy bitches, but there has to be some sort of development for such a change. Mary is basically your stereotypical revenge-seeking horror movie ghost, even if it's rooted in a justified motive. It was forcibly interspersed with excerpts from spiritual/exorcising books that were supposed to explain Mary's powers. I just. The depiction of Mary and her internal though process was too sporadic between brief realizations that what she's doing is wrong to convenient I-still-want-to-kill-Reeve re-realizations. I wanted to throttle this damn ghost for most of the book.
Lillia.. Oh, Lillia. In so many ways, it was easy to roll my eyes at her between her wealthy life of designer clothes and cute little boutiques and all the boys that were in love with her. But like how Kat says she can see why Lillia has boys eating out of the palm of her hand, I couldn't help but begrudgingly care about this spoiled lil princess (and I mean that with the most affection I can muster). I most definitely saw and indulged in Jenny Han's writing with the descriptions of all the beautiful clothes and delicate pretty little somethings Lillia owns *sighs*
BUT OKAY-- Lillia and Reeve. I could see, everyone could see they were a fast-burning, passionate romance that was doomed from its inception on the night of Rennie's death. But I just couldn't stop myself from rooting for them, for their happily ever after. It makes sense that they don't end up together. It makes sense that Lillia and Alex eventually do become a couple in a quiet, melancholy way as adults. I'm still grappling between a two-year-old tantrum, feeling like the ending was a cop-out, and taking the ending in stride.
Finally, I was so happy for Kat. When this book series started, she was this gruff, social-outcast, partially by Rennie's fault and partially her own stubbornness. By the end, she's still the same gruff, wants-to-be-baddass girl, but she's made up with Rennie before her death and learned how to get along with the other people of Jar Island that she was so eager to hate at the start.
I might have hated parts of this book but I think a good part of it might have been the heart-palipating reading experience of watching these characters-- Lillia, Kat, Mary, Reeve, Alex, Rennie, etc.-- act all so flinchingly human as they make mistakes and suffer the consequences. From the beginning to the end, this has been the kind of addicting, all-consuming reading experience in spite of my efforts. My favorite part was the ending part told from a grown-up Lillia's perspective:
"I still go back to Jar Island for holidays and during the summer. And sometimes I'll see Reeve driving around in his truck. He and Luke took over his dad's business. I remember how he used to look in his football uniform. No boy has ever been as handsome as Reeve in that uniform, on that field. I remember what it felt like to fall in love for the first time. You think you'll never love like that again. But you do.
Life is long if you let it be.
I only wish Mary had been able to find that out.
I hope she got off Jar Island.
I hope she found her peace."
To me, Jar Island will remain a haunted, fogged-over island of ghosts and regrets and terrible-somethings laced with the bittersweet sting of nostalgia and unguarded passion. Bye bye, Jar Island. I can't say I'll miss you because you were sort of a beautiful hellhole, but I will surely never forget you.
At the end of the second book, sweet Mary realizes she's been dead all along. Mary died as the overweight seventh grader who committed suicide in her room... AND TURNS BATSHIT CRAZY VENGEFUL GHOST. I think that's what bothered me about this book: Mary's 180 degree turnaround in character. I get vengefulness, I embrace crazy bitches, but there has to be some sort of development for such a change. Mary is basically your stereotypical revenge-seeking horror movie ghost, even if it's rooted in a justified motive. It was forcibly interspersed with excerpts from spiritual/exorcising books that were supposed to explain Mary's powers. I just. The depiction of Mary and her internal though process was too sporadic between brief realizations that what she's doing is wrong to convenient I-still-want-to-kill-Reeve re-realizations. I wanted to throttle this damn ghost for most of the book.
Lillia.. Oh, Lillia. In so many ways, it was easy to roll my eyes at her between her wealthy life of designer clothes and cute little boutiques and all the boys that were in love with her. But like how Kat says she can see why Lillia has boys eating out of the palm of her hand, I couldn't help but begrudgingly care about this spoiled lil princess (and I mean that with the most affection I can muster). I most definitely saw and indulged in Jenny Han's writing with the descriptions of all the beautiful clothes and delicate pretty little somethings Lillia owns *sighs*
BUT OKAY-- Lillia and Reeve. I could see, everyone could see they were a fast-burning, passionate romance that was doomed from its inception on the night of Rennie's death. But I just couldn't stop myself from rooting for them, for their happily ever after. It makes sense that they don't end up together. It makes sense that Lillia and Alex eventually do become a couple in a quiet, melancholy way as adults. I'm still grappling between a two-year-old tantrum, feeling like the ending was a cop-out, and taking the ending in stride.
Finally, I was so happy for Kat. When this book series started, she was this gruff, social-outcast, partially by Rennie's fault and partially her own stubbornness. By the end, she's still the same gruff, wants-to-be-baddass girl, but she's made up with Rennie before her death and learned how to get along with the other people of Jar Island that she was so eager to hate at the start.
I might have hated parts of this book but I think a good part of it might have been the heart-palipating reading experience of watching these characters-- Lillia, Kat, Mary, Reeve, Alex, Rennie, etc.-- act all so flinchingly human as they make mistakes and suffer the consequences. From the beginning to the end, this has been the kind of addicting, all-consuming reading experience in spite of my efforts. My favorite part was the ending part told from a grown-up Lillia's perspective:
"I still go back to Jar Island for holidays and during the summer. And sometimes I'll see Reeve driving around in his truck. He and Luke took over his dad's business. I remember how he used to look in his football uniform. No boy has ever been as handsome as Reeve in that uniform, on that field. I remember what it felt like to fall in love for the first time. You think you'll never love like that again. But you do.
Life is long if you let it be.
I only wish Mary had been able to find that out.
I hope she got off Jar Island.
I hope she found her peace."
To me, Jar Island will remain a haunted, fogged-over island of ghosts and regrets and terrible-somethings laced with the bittersweet sting of nostalgia and unguarded passion. Bye bye, Jar Island. I can't say I'll miss you because you were sort of a beautiful hellhole, but I will surely never forget you.