Genre: Young AdultOn Sale: August 24, 2010
Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Kyle is a member of the “hoodies.” So named for their ubiquitous hooded sweatshirts, they are the slackers/burnouts/freaks common to every high school. In fact, Kyle would be the first to admit his commonness—he gets picked on by bullies, he serves detention, he pines after a girl. The deadness he feels is impinged upon by the arrival of Zack, a private-academy transfer who wears sports coats, quotes philosophers, laughs at Shakespeare, and seems to have every student and teacher in the palm of his hand. Zack takes on Kyle as a sort of project, but his swank parties and daring escapades soon turn to deeds far darker.
RATING: 3 stars
Review: There are a lot of things I loved about You. First off, the writing. The narration. The author tells the whole story in second person, which is not seen as often. It worked real well for the story, and ultimately made it compelling. I also liked that there were a lot of foreshadowing -- reminded me a bit of The Book Thief.
As for the main character, Kyle, I thought he was very believable as a troubled, vulnerable, and an unhappy teenager. In fact, I believed in him so much that I felt as if I was just a close friend of his, reading his diary or his journal entry, finding out what's truly going on in his head.
Unfortunately, You does have its negative aspects, that I personally didn't like. I wasn't entirely sure where the story was going, what it was even about, and what the character was doing. I didn't get the motivation for the actions, and the reasons behind the emotions. I was just a very confused reader, as I did not fully grasp what the point was.
Overall, I fell in love with the author's writing, point of view, and narration. I loved the character, and liked the overall feel of the book. I did not however, understand the reason behind it all, so I was left feeling slightly underwhelmed. Ultimately, I thought it was an okay read.
Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Kyle is a member of the “hoodies.” So named for their ubiquitous hooded sweatshirts, they are the slackers/burnouts/freaks common to every high school. In fact, Kyle would be the first to admit his commonness—he gets picked on by bullies, he serves detention, he pines after a girl. The deadness he feels is impinged upon by the arrival of Zack, a private-academy transfer who wears sports coats, quotes philosophers, laughs at Shakespeare, and seems to have every student and teacher in the palm of his hand. Zack takes on Kyle as a sort of project, but his swank parties and daring escapades soon turn to deeds far darker.
RATING: 3 stars
Review: There are a lot of things I loved about You. First off, the writing. The narration. The author tells the whole story in second person, which is not seen as often. It worked real well for the story, and ultimately made it compelling. I also liked that there were a lot of foreshadowing -- reminded me a bit of The Book Thief.
As for the main character, Kyle, I thought he was very believable as a troubled, vulnerable, and an unhappy teenager. In fact, I believed in him so much that I felt as if I was just a close friend of his, reading his diary or his journal entry, finding out what's truly going on in his head.
Unfortunately, You does have its negative aspects, that I personally didn't like. I wasn't entirely sure where the story was going, what it was even about, and what the character was doing. I didn't get the motivation for the actions, and the reasons behind the emotions. I was just a very confused reader, as I did not fully grasp what the point was.
Overall, I fell in love with the author's writing, point of view, and narration. I loved the character, and liked the overall feel of the book. I did not however, understand the reason behind it all, so I was left feeling slightly underwhelmed. Ultimately, I thought it was an okay read.
This book looks really good. You're right, not many books are told 2nd person. Just for that reason I just might read it. Great review!
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I like the sound of this. Usually a lot of books about school kids are either about the popular crowd or the nerds - they never seem to be about the freaks/burnouts/slackers which ... tbh, was my crowd in school :P ... so I identify better with characters like that. (I think that's why I really liked the show "Freaks and Geeks".) But, yeah, this book sounds like a really interesting read and a good story - especially as it's told in 2nd person. Very unusual. Will be looking out for this one.
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Hmmm...interesting. The premise sounds good, but from what I've gathered, the book didn't follow through entirely! Bummer! Thanks for the honesty. :) I'll think more about reading this one before I pick it up.
ReplyDeletesorry it was a bit confusing. Thanks for the honest review :)
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@Stephany: Thank you :)
ReplyDelete@Beverly: Thank you for dropping by.
@John Smith: Thank you for dropping by :)
@nymfaux: Thank you for dropping by and following :)
@Ceri: Yeah, I really liked that aspect of the novel. Very unique in a lot of ways.
@Kelli: Thank you.
@Holly: I was pretty excited getting this book for review. It really had its pros, but mostly, I was just underwhelmed.
@naida: Thanks for dropping by, Naida!