And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've read 4 books this week!
Since I've read more books, that means more reviews!
But first, All of the Above, by James Dawson!
So here's the review!
All of the Above, by James Dawson
Title: All of the above
Author: James Dawson
Genre: Contemporary
Release date: 1st September, 2015 (this one is recent! Compared how long books have normally been released by that I end up reading).
Pages: 319
Blurb: "It would be neater, wouldn't it, if this was a story about self-harm or sexuality or eating disorders or ridiculously hot bass players, but it's a story about all of them.
Yeah, it's a mess.
And it's about to get messier...
When sixteen-year old Toria moves to the faded seaside town of Brompton-on-Sea, she doesn't expect to fall in love once- let alone twice. But life has a habit of pulling you in strange directions, and when it comes to matters of the heart, sometimes you just have to let go, be free, snd let love choose you."
My Thoughts
Okay, this book had some mixed reviews, but before I read it, I didn't get what seemed so wrong with it. I mean, yeah, some of the characters said things that teenagers generally wouldn't say, but why rate it so low just for that.
I say that I didn't get it then, and now, I still don't.
l mean, I get that normal teenagers don't say "penis virginity" for example, (not that these teenagers aren't normal, and I must stress that as much as I can), but just because they say some things like that shouldn't impact the whole feeling of the book. That's all I'm saying.
Now on to the actual book! It was pretty much what I needed after Ready Player One. Something with a good plot line, but didn't have too much either. Like, it wasn't a tearjerker contemporary, but there were definitely a couple of major parts where I was at a loss for words, because it wasn't what I was expecting to happen.
One thing I will say was that it definitely doesn't shy away from the sensitive subjects, but it kind of tells you that in the blurb. What I did like about that though was that Dawson didn't just address each subject at one point and then drop it completely and move onto the next one. These issues were there the entire time, and then they'd use these different issues to create a web so Toria (the protagonist) would be juggling all of these things at once. It was all very carefully done, which I really liked.
The characters surprised me. I liked them a whole lot more than I thought I would. I think it was mostly the dialogue that made me like them so much, but that doesn't make me like them any less, to be honest. I liked the characters because I cared when things happened to them in the story.
So overall, I found this to be an enjoyable book, and definitely something I needed to read. I'd recommend this book to a more mature YA reader because it does have some subjects that I don't think younger readers should read about. (Though if you are say 13 or 14 and you can deal with things like self harm and eating disorders, then by all means read it, if you think you can handle it). I'd recommend it for 15-16+, I think.
So those are all my thoughts on All of the Above, by James Dawson! I will see you all tomorrow, when I will ve talking about my 20-30 books of 2016, so look out for that! So I'll see you all tomorrow, bye!
-Abi xxxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment