--with a fair amount of anticipation and curiosity, hoping it would stand out among its fellows and earn a permanent spot on my shelves. I read it in the space of a single evening and have been examining my thoughts on it for a little while now.Nina Oberon is about to turn sixteen. And in her world, this monumental occasion is about more than just a driver's license and more freedom on the dating field. So much more. At the ripe old age of sixteen, or "sexteen" as her world calls it, girls are essentially fair game for any and every boy/man/pervert that comes strolling by. Girls turn sixteen and get the infamous XVI tattoo on their wrist proclaiming their newly available status and Nina, for one, is scared. Most girls, like her hyper best friend Sandy, can't wait to achieve their new status in the world. Drunk on the wealth of male attention that will come their way and the promise of a whole new host of opportunities that will come their way, they anxiously look forward to the day they get their tattoo. Not so for Nina. Raised by her pragmatic, if romantically hapless single mother Ginnie, along with her younger sister Dee, Nina has grown up dreading what will happen when she reaches her sixteenth birthday. Her mother has trained her not to believe the rosy, inane images the media blithely shoves down young girls' throats and Nina is cautious to the point that when her longtime friend Derek begins to see her in a different light it triggers outright panic in Nina. Then her mother is brutally murdered in a back alley and, on her death bed, she reveals to Nina that her father isn't actually dead and that she must find him and keep her sister Dee safe.
Okay. Lots of potential, right? I liked the setup and I definitely liked Nina. She was strong from the start and it was a relief to read about a main character who doesn't spend the entire novel in the dark, floating around believing the garbage her society has set up as reality. However. Those were the only strong points in the book. The rest of the cast of characters felt disturbingly two-dimensional. They were good cut-outs (particularly Wei and Derek) and they could easily have developed into fully-fledged characters who I really admired and followed. But they stayed in the background, flat and chirpy, never fully inhabiting a spot on my radar. Even Nina's growing relationship with a mysterious, possibly homeless, boy named Sal never got its feet off the ground. I didn't buy Nina's too-sudden weak knees, given how adamant and self-possessed she was to begin with. And I really didn't buy Sal's too convenient interest in her, given what we learn about their interlocked past and his involvement with many things underground. There were no real reasons behind their association and I found myself fairly ambivalent toward them both. The treatment of underlying themes soon began to bother me as well. What could have been a compelling exploration of adolescent life in a terrifyingly misogynistic society quickly devolved into an oddly simplistic tale with very little to recommend it. Things moved too slowly and not far enough to provide a satisfying conclusion in which I could feel as though progress was made and character arcs developed. Rather the conclusion was anticlimactic and verging on the trite--so not in keeping with its edgy, loaded premise.
Linkage
DeRaps Reads Review
Forever Young Adult Review
Oh My Books! Review
Princess Bookie Review
YA Librarian Tales Review
This one has been hit or miss with people. I liked it but there is some tough competition in YA dystopia right now.
ReplyDeletethanks for the review! i think that as you start to read Really Good dystopian novels, those that are just meh start to show themselves a bit more clearly.
ReplyDeletei feel the same way about the paranormal burst on the scene.
I've been wondering about this one for a while, because when i first read the synopsis and the cover was revealed, I was so intrigued as to how the story would develop given such a fascinating topic. Don't you just hate it when the secondary characters always stay in the periphery and never become actualised? I'm a sucker for well developed memorable characters, so this one doesn't really appeal to me like it did. May still check it out though. Fabulous review, as always x
ReplyDeleteI signed this book out of work this week (I work at a book store and we're allowed to borrow books, similar to a library) and it's really too bad it didn't live up to its premise for you. I'm still going to read it of course, but I'll probably lower my expectations for it now. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you... although you were better than me and apparently actually finished the book. :) And I liked how you used the word "chirpy" to describe the supporting characters. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteI love your blog, so I've awarded you the Stylish Blogger award! See my post for what to do if you want to pass it on.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks again (I will never be able to thank you enough) for introducing me to the world of Sevenwaters. I'm reading Seer of Sevenwaters now (I am doing so much swooning!), and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll keep writing the Sevenwaters books!
Dang, Angie, this review was so well written that I almost want to read the book just so I can see where it came from.
ReplyDeleteI saw this one on FYA and picked it right up based on their review. I'm sad to see it was disappointing for you. I think I shall push it further down my pile.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you were a little let down - I've been looking forward to this one, and still have it on my TBR pile. Hope to read it soon!
ReplyDelete-Linds, bibliophile brouhaha
I'm sorry that you the book didn't live up to your expectations, Angie. I've had my eye on this book for sometime now but I I'm not going to buy it ASAP.. Thanks for your honesty :)
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a very difficult premise to handle--such a shame Karr wasn't able to provide the follow through.
ReplyDelete