Hello/ My Sister's Bones
Hello, I'm newish to this community. I was a member a while ago under another account and recently re-joined Livejournal.
I've been reading a lot (for me) this year and sadly so much of what I've read is pretty terrible! I suppose the upside to that would be more posts here, eh?
Let's get started:
On the one hand, this was pretty readable so there must have been something redeeming about it. Something made it a little difficult to put down. The thought of finishing it, perhaps? ;)
On the other hand I felt a bit lost. The book is about the sister of an anorexic girl in the NJ suburbs and is mixed in with her life in high school, what happens, how her family deals with the anorexia (not well) - but the first thing to throw me is the setting. At first I assumed it takes place around the copyright, sometime in the late 1990s. It's not until we're at least halfway into the book that it's apparent it's most likely the 70s, though maybe 8-track tapes were big in the early 80s. So all the while I'm picturing one thing and then it turns out I have to readjust my thoughts quite a way into the book. I hate when that happens.
The characterizations are okay, but without a whole lot of depth, and the Weinstein family, except for Cassie, is pretty much unlikeable (we should call them the Whinesteins). I grew up in the NJ suburbs, too, which was one of the draws for me for this book. But the narrator, whose name I can't remember, is supposed to be popular? Unpopular? We get snippets of her life but her relationships are primarily with a new friend from Brooklyn (Mafia daughter?) and her wrestler boyfriend. It's almost like they live in a vaccuum. The story doesn't focus on the narrator's inner life very well or her outer life for that matter. We learn sometimes what she's thinking but there's a lot of disconnect. So maybe Hanauer is very clever, but I kind of suspect that sense isn't intentional. Apparently the author writes for teen magazines or fashion magazines or something, and this story seemed like it was written by an article writer for fashion teen magazines.
It's hard to be more specific. The book seems to head off in one direction and never quite gets there, the ending is guessable but still leaves the reader hanging. It's all in all a very unsatisfying story.
I've been reading a lot (for me) this year and sadly so much of what I've read is pretty terrible! I suppose the upside to that would be more posts here, eh?
Let's get started:
On the one hand, this was pretty readable so there must have been something redeeming about it. Something made it a little difficult to put down. The thought of finishing it, perhaps? ;)
On the other hand I felt a bit lost. The book is about the sister of an anorexic girl in the NJ suburbs and is mixed in with her life in high school, what happens, how her family deals with the anorexia (not well) - but the first thing to throw me is the setting. At first I assumed it takes place around the copyright, sometime in the late 1990s. It's not until we're at least halfway into the book that it's apparent it's most likely the 70s, though maybe 8-track tapes were big in the early 80s. So all the while I'm picturing one thing and then it turns out I have to readjust my thoughts quite a way into the book. I hate when that happens.
The characterizations are okay, but without a whole lot of depth, and the Weinstein family, except for Cassie, is pretty much unlikeable (we should call them the Whinesteins). I grew up in the NJ suburbs, too, which was one of the draws for me for this book. But the narrator, whose name I can't remember, is supposed to be popular? Unpopular? We get snippets of her life but her relationships are primarily with a new friend from Brooklyn (Mafia daughter?) and her wrestler boyfriend. It's almost like they live in a vaccuum. The story doesn't focus on the narrator's inner life very well or her outer life for that matter. We learn sometimes what she's thinking but there's a lot of disconnect. So maybe Hanauer is very clever, but I kind of suspect that sense isn't intentional. Apparently the author writes for teen magazines or fashion magazines or something, and this story seemed like it was written by an article writer for fashion teen magazines.
It's hard to be more specific. The book seems to head off in one direction and never quite gets there, the ending is guessable but still leaves the reader hanging. It's all in all a very unsatisfying story.