I
had a really hard time deciding how to rate this book. By the end, I
was completely engrossed, but at the beginning, not so much. The book
started out too much like every other middle grade book I've read
lately: first person, a somewhat immature, distant parent, a friendship
gone wrong. Plus, I was extremely confused. Like, I had no idea WHAT was
going on. But then the pieces started fitting together, and it took a
turn that I was completely not expecting, and all of a sudden, I found
myself loving the book. And I decided that I actually like books that I
can't understand if they come together so perfectly in the end. :-)
And
now for my soap box: my one problem with the book (the way it started
and the confusion in the beginning ended up not being problems) actually
took up no more than two paragraphs. It was this: at the end, when
everything is figured out, and everyone is happy, Miranda and her mom
give a key to their apartment to her mom's boyfriend. Now the boyfriend
is a nice guy and not in the least bit creepy, so you actually want
things to work out between him and the mom. BUT, the next morning, it's
obvious that Richard has stayed the night there. WHAT? This is a book
for 9-14 year-olds! This is not portrayed as something bad, but rather a
happy ending. I would not want my 9-year-old to read this and think,
"Yay! Richard moved in with them! That's so wonderful." Of course, like I
said, this takes up less than two paragraphs (and I've taken up as much
space with this tirade), so obviously, nothing too revealing is said,
but I'm still so sad that a book for children written in 2009 can
portray live-in boyfriends as okay, even desirable.
Enough said
on that point, and as far as the book as a whole, it's very different
from anything else written recently and so creative and captivating. It
boggles the brain, and after you're done with it, it leaves you
thinking.
This review was written before the birth of this blog.
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