Thursday, October 25, 2012

Book Hungry Looks at ALL THESE LIVES

So, it was my turn to choose Book Hungry's read of the month.  The girls specifically asked me to pick something a little on the lighter side, and hey, I'm a giver, so I had to comply.  *evil grin*  Apparently, my book club bitches (as I like to call them) don't know me all that well, or maybe they're just gluttons for punishment.

The Book: ALL THESE LIVES
The Author: Sarah Wylie
The Publisher: MacMillan

Summary (jacked from Goodreads):

Sixteen-year-old Dani is convinced she has nine lives. As a child she twice walked away from situations where she should have died. But Dani’s twin, Jena, isn’t so lucky.  She has cancer and might not even be able to keep her one life. Dani’s father is in denial. Her mother is trying to hold it together and prove everything’s normal.  And Jena is wasting away.  To cope, Dani sets out to rid herself of all her extra lives.  Maybe they’ll be released into the universe and someone who wants to live more than she does will get one.  Someone like Jena.  But just when Dani finds herself at the breaking point, she’s faced with a startling realization.  Maybe she doesn’t have nine lives after all.  Maybe she really only ever had one.

My Thoughts (jacked from my very own brain...by zombies):

I find I can't really express how I feel about this book.  There were things about it that I love, love, loved. The premise: intriguing.  The MC's voice: clear, concise, and compelling.  

I really enjoyed Dani's brashness, her harsh sense of humor, but did I like her? NO.  I didn't like her choices, her ideas, her treatment of just about everyone.  Now, I do love a good, unlikable character.  Who wants to read about someone perfect.  Perfect can get pretty boring, very fast.  But, still, I wasn't as in love with this book as I wanted to be.  I finished it feeling a little unsatisfied, and I'm really sure why.

Maybe this was the author's point.  Maybe I was meant to not like Dani, to find her selfish and a little off her rocker.  Maybe I was meant to like side characters more than her.  Maybe I was meant to be shaking my head through half the book.  

What about you fun folks?  Have you read ALL THESE LIVES?  What did you think?  I'd love to hear all about it in the comments!

3 comments:

  1. Haven't read it. Not sure I'm going to now--doesn't really sound like my cup of tea. But I do understand how you can have mixed emotions about a book. Sometimes you can find one compelling in spite of not really liking it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. your review has made me think (well done). i do believe it was the author's intention to write an unlikeable character, but it's the execution of that that failed. normally, liking an unlikeable character is fun, but this time, she just remained unlikeable.

    the end.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope it was her intention because like you, I didn't find Dani sympathetic either. There were certain areas I did enjoy. When she was IM'ing with Candy I laughed out loud, but the subject matter made me feel as if Dani was just competing for her parents attention and not really working to save her sister. But it did make me think so at the end of the day that's what's important.

    ReplyDelete

Everyone has an opinion. Make yours known, right here. right now!