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Tuesday, 25 June 2013
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Author: Sarah Dessen
Date Published: June 4, 2013
Grade: C+
Goodreads Summary: Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.
Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.
Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby? Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?
Sarah Dessen's devoted fans will welcome this story of romance, yearning, and, finally, empowerment. It could only happen in the summer
Review: Okay, so ever since, like, grade eight, I have always loved Sarah Dessen novels. Her books were actually what sparked my love for young adult novels. With stories such as The Truth About Forever, Just Listen, and Along For the Ride, along with her amazing male characters such as the swoon worthy, lovable Wes and the comforting, silent, strong Owen, and finally, the quirkily intriguing Eli, Sarah Dessen really set some high standards for herself. Unfortunately for Dessen fans such as myself, I found The Moon and More extremely disappointing for a number or reasons: the whole plot in general, the "love interest", and the lack of developed characters. As I dove into this book a couple days ago, I was looking for a refreshing, summer read; However, personally, I found that the book lacked interest, romance, and it was unnecessarily long.
The novel centered around Emaline, this eighteen year old girl, as she basically just lived her life during the summer. I found it boring. Nothing that exciting or engaging ever truly occurred; I think it had the potential to be a really great read because Sarah Dessen chose such a beautiful setting for her book- a small town by the ocean, one where everyone knew everyone, a place with a board walk, a beach, and even a ferris wheel. The setting screamed perfect, especially for a young adult book. However, throughout the novel, I found myself questioning the whole point of the story multiple times. There was so many little things going on, but nothing felt significant enough to be the main point of the story. Also, it felt so choppy, as if the scenes were disconnected, resulting in a confusing and tediously drawn out story.
I couldn't relate to Emaline very much either. Although I did respect how she stood up to Luke, there was nothing that drew me in about her. She seemed like a "goody goody" type girl, one who was good at literally everything- lacking flaws (which resulted in a boring character). It felt as if she was missing personality, and constantly being pushed around by everyone around her. However, I do give her credit for her somewhat sassy and "bad-ass" (quoted from the book itself) responses at times. Secondly, OH MY GOD THEO WHAT. So Emaline's apparent "love interest" of the summer was first portrayed as this really quirky in all the right ways, super-in-love-with-her boy, Theo, while her boyfriend Luke, was presented as this over-confident, average guy. Then, as if Sarah Dessen suddenly and completely changed her mind about the two, the roles were reversed multiple times and boom bada boom we have ourselves a mess here. I'm still unsure whether or not there was a love story. I mean Theo, the apparent love interest (I think) ended up being the most arrogant, condescending, and down right pretentious "love interest" I have ever met. I didn't feel any connection or chemistry between Emaline and Theo, it was really rough. Apart form Morris who I found funny, the rest of the characters in the book were pretty flat and undynamic as well.
I might have been very harsh in my review on The Moon and More, but I had pretty high expectations for this new Sarah Dessen novel. I've seen mixed reviews about it and I'm sure this disappointment is not faced by everyone... But personally, if you're looking for a looonnng read filled with lots of eye rolling and exasperated sighs and no romance whatsoever, I think that this is definitely the book for you.
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