Goodreads Summary:
When Charlotte Brody, a lonely 17-year-old student at a new school, receives an invitation to join The League of Strays, she's intrigued by the group's promise of "instant friendship." The League does provide companionship--and even a love interest--but Charlotte grows increasingly uncomfortable with its sinister mission to seek revenge against the bullies of Kennedy High. When escalating acts of vengeance threaten to hurl her down a path of remorse, Charlotte must choose between her new friends and the direction of a future she's never fully considered.
My Review:
Disclosure thingy: I got an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I went to add this to my GR page and noticed this book is mired in some kind of controversy. I'm glad I read the book before I read any of the comments. I waited a week to write this to further distance myself from it. It's basically about the portrayal of bullying and homosexuality in this book. I will address those two things in this review.
I guess the some of the appeal of this book is a kind of literary wish fulfillment for people who have been bullied. Kind of a revenge fantasy type thing. If you've been the victim of bullying or your kid has, I think in many cases, there is a desire for revenge and striking back. Now, this is where it ends for most people in real life- you make an elaborate plan for revenge, with hundreds of pages of detailed notes and timelines, you build the scale model, you create a computer simulation of your timeline, etc. Right? Perfectly normal. (NOTE: if this is not perfectly normal, I'm just kidding.) Seriously, though, this is really it for normal people- you've worked your anger out and you're done with it and try to cope and deal with it properly- maybe talking to the school counselor, the other kid's parents, etc. In all honesty and in my personal experience, kids use books like this or violent video games to work out anger. Not to get ideas, not as a stepping stone to commit violence, etc.
So that being said, back to the book. All in all, I found it to be very readable. It was a little slow in the beginning, which I think is acceptable in a book that requires a bit of set up. (Which this book does) But once that happens, it's a quick read. I normally read a few books at once, but this once this one got going it captured my attention and I read it straight through. Second, this has been a difficult review to write. Not because I hated the book, but because of spoilers. I usually like to give an example, but a lot of the examples I think of would be spoilers. With that in mind, I think the character of Charlotte was well developed and her character evolved pretty believably though the course of the book. (Sorry don't want to spoil it.) I also liked how little by little Kade- the leader of the League of Strays- had his character revealed. A mystery slowly unraveling in the book; we learn about him as Charlotte figures him out- which was quite well done, I thought.
Which brings us to Controversy #2: The treatment of Richie, the gay character. First, I do not think this book is anti-gay. In fact, the way Richie was used/lied to, etc. is how the author gave insight into another character. That someone would use Richie's homosexuality against him shows the true nature of another character in the book. I think that if this book sounds at all interesting to you, just read it and judge it on its own merits and your own tastes- in other words, I would avoid this book's Goodreads page until you're ready to add it, mark it as finished, and write your review. You can read all about the controversy once you're done with that. I'm glad I got to read the book without all of that baggage.
Overall Rating: 3 stars
Genre Rating: 3 1/2 stars (Again, I think this is a good summertime read. A coming of age type book where the moral messages are wrapped up in an intriguing premise and action-filled plot)
L.B. Schulman's website
L.B. Schulman's Twitter
Hmmm. now you have me all curious.
ReplyDeleteI havent heard of this book, but I am interested to read more about why it has so much controversy. Also, I think bullying is very serious, so hopefully, it portrayed that in the book.
I will definitely have to read it for myself
Great review
Thanks for writing in such an encouraging post. I had a glimpse of it and couldn’t stop reading till I finished. I have already bookmarked you.
ReplyDeleteTerimakasih atas informasinya , ditunggu info menarik lainnya min ...
ReplyDeleteJangan lupa kujungi website kesehatan saya di
Obat Ginjal Herbal
Obat Hipertensi Herbal
Apotek Herbal
Warung Herbal
Step Healty
interesting article. I love.. and I want to see the latest articles from this website.. Hopefully can be realized , and good luck always....
ReplyDeleteHealth care is essentially a right of every citizen, but due to the lack of good infrastructure, lack of access to medication and medical facilities and a dearth of good medical professionals, over 60% of the population in India cannot avail of good health care. The entire 60% is made up of individuals from rural sector where the medical facilities are laughable. However, a number of NGO’s and the Government, have begun to set up medical facilities in areas that have none, ensuring that the professionals hired and the equipment used is the best that it can be.http://www.healthcaresups.com/garcinia-cambogia-g3000/
ReplyDeleteHad visited the sites you had posted and it was nice.
ReplyDeleteNicely written information in this post, the quality of content is fine and picture very nice. Things are very open and intensely clear explanation of issues.
Run 3 | Head Soccer |
Mahjong Free Games | Juegos De Terror |
sports heads football
head football
big head soccer
What a wonderfull post! thank you... read with pleasure!
ReplyDeleteFriv
شركة زهرة العلا للخرمات المنزلية بالسعودية واحدة من افضل الشركات التي تعمل بالمجال يرجع كل هذا الي الثقة والسرعة والدقة وجودة الخدمة التي تقدم للعميل ولافضل الاسعار الممكنة مع الحفاظ علي الجودة ونوعية المبيدات ومواد النظافة واثرها علي البيئة وصحة الاسرة كما ان الموارد البشرية الخاصة بنا علي اعلي دراية وفهم بالامور وذو خبرات طويلة في مكافحة الحشرات,النظافة العامة مثل الفلل,الشقق,الواجهات الزجاجية والحجرية,البلاط والرخام,الحدائق,المسابح وغيرها من امور النظافة كما انهم يجيدون التعامل مع كافة الاثاث الخشبي والزجاجي وغيرها والقيام باعمال النقل والفك والتركيب والتغليف بواسطة النجارين المحترفين كما يوجد لدينا افخك مستودعات تخزين الاثاث بالرياض والمتميز بالصفات القياسية للحفاظ علي العفش من الاتربة والرطوبة وغيرها من الامور التي تؤدي الي التلف فقط للحصول علي الخدمات المنفردة اتصل بنا علي الارقام الموضحة بالموقع ليصلك مندوبنا للمعاينة المجانية واعطاء النصائح والارشادات شركة تخزين اثاث بالرياض
ReplyDeleteI read the father confided that choking heart. A father willing to take the car to teach Coffee Museum to buy nice cars for children. A father these days dare to read what people write for fear of seeing the insults, floss erosion
ReplyDeleteb612 , run 2 game , geometry dash apk , snapchat download , musicas download
Thanks for sharing this good stuff! Keep up the great work, we look forward to reading more from you in the future!
ReplyDeleteJuegos Friv 4
Kizi 1000
Quý khách đang tìm hiểu máy sấy bát loại nào tốt và máy sấy bát giá bao nhiêu?
ReplyDeleteChúng tôi xin tư vấn nên tham khảo các thương hiệu máy sấy bát tại Showroom bếp
Royal!
Tại thiết bị nhà bếp Royal chuyên các sản phẩm máy sấy bát nhập khẩu Hàn Quốc và
Trung Quốc.
Bếp Royal sẽ tư vấn kỹ chức năng, công dụng, thông số kỹ thuật và đơn giá của
từng loại máy sấy bát.
Thế mạnh của bếp Royal là dịch vụ lắp đặt máy sấy bát uy tín chuyên nghiệp, bảo
hành tại nhà lên đến 2 năm, “chúng tôi luôn luôn cố gắng hết sức để đem lại sự
hài lòng cho quý khách“.
Ngoài ra Bếp Royal luôn có chương trình “khuyến
mại máy sấy bát giá rẻ” để phục vụ nhu cầu của quý khách hàng.
Máy sấy
bát Malloca,
Máy sấy
bát Binova,
Máy sấy
bát Sevilla