“Killing time isn’t as difficult as it sounds. I can shoot a hundred numbers through the chest and watch them bleed decimal points in the palm of my hand. I can rip the numbers off a clock and watch the hour hands tick tick tick their final tock just before I fall asleep. I can suffocate seconds just by holding my breath. I’ve been murdering minutes for hours and no one seems to mind.”
My Thoughts: Oh, boy.. I could get lost forever and ever and ever in these beautiful quotes.
Rating rectification: the 3.5 stars are not for the storyline itself, which was interesting of course, but not as amazingly-great as I would have expected it. Still the rating reflects somehow my honest average feeling about this story (with the things that I liked, and the ones that I didn’t).
The thing is that (for me) the poetic style really worked wonders. I will probably read this book again only for insights alone… Still, I think that for some of you, this won’t be enough.
The first part of the book was really amazing. I liked the scenes from the asylum, I liked how we got to know more about Juliette’s past and how she has felt all her life like an outcast, how alone she’s been, how much she’s been hurt… But mostly I loved the moments spent in the army facility with Warner. Off course one of the main reasons for this is because I liked Warner, I think he was my favorite character.
Don’t look at me like that.. Yes, I liked him more than Adam, because Warner was more interesting, less cliché and I liked his lines better (done…I’ve said it).
“Because I need you”
“You need me to kill people!” He doesn’t answer right away. He walks to the candle.
Pulls off a glove. Tickles the flame with his bare fingers.
“You know, I am very capable of killing people on my own,
Juliette. I’m actually very good at it. “
This being said, I didn’t like seeing his strength and personality butchered by the end of the story, but what can we do – I am used by now to how in YA books the evil characters turn out to be ridiculously evil and weak in front of the good forces, just to make a point: good always wins.
Well, this time I would have loved the bad forces to win, I would have loved to see the main character turn bad as well, not only because it would have made for a better story, but also because the good-conquers-evil thingy it’s getting old and boring.
Adam on the other side was too much of a cliché for me – he had his moments, yes (the asylum, the note, the shower, yeah – the shower) but I didn’t feel enough chemistry between him and Juliette, and he felt more like a ‘tool’ to me – Juliette needed someone to rescue her, and Adam was just there the perfect choice.
Also I can’t say that this book was that original (you all know X-Men for example) but it was slightly different than some other YA books. Even though at the beginning the ‘flowery’ writing (yes I stole this, and I love the sound of it) made me lose focus from what was happening, after a while I got used to it and I loved it. Tahereh Mafi knows how to put feelings into words, and for the dreamy kind of persons like myself, this was simply delightful.
Now, of course, I wish the action were as great as the writing, I wish it were more intriguing, a bit more realistic (even with all the paranormal elements in it)… Take Warner for example – he is a great soldier and commandant – he could have killed Juliette and Adam with his eyes closed, why didn’t he? And Kenji, his appearance was so convenient I wanted to scream, but I’m not saying more because I don’t want to spoil it for you.
Anyways if you find yourself not linking the second part of the book as much as you wish, just keep in mind that you are not alone in this.
There is something more I want to talk about related to the writing style:
1. The repetition – it really really really drove me crazy, not only because of the repetition itself but also for the lack of punctuation. I hated it I hated it I hated it. You can see how annoying this can be right right right?
2. The numbers – I always wondered why authors write them in letters, well now I know, because numbers are annoying like hell, mostly when they are at the beginning of the proposition. It feels like chatting with someone, not reading a book. Yeah, I know, you might think that this is not such a big problem, but you will see….
3. The scratch this thingy striking – it’s a fun way to be original (maybe), but only for a moment or two. After a while it gets annoying…really!
Let’s say I prefer this:
“Please put me down”, I say even though I don’t want him to let go of me.
to this:
“Please don’t let go of me put me down,” I tell him. (book quote)
Still, I really enjoyed this book, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. It looks like an intriguing series and if the next one will be at least as entertaining as this one I’m sold.
I’ll let you now with another beautiful quote that I loved:
“I always wonder about raindrops. I wonder how they’re always falling down, tripping over their feet, breaking their legs and forgetting their parachutes as they tumble out of the sky toward an uncertain end. It’s like someone is emptying their pockets over the earth and doesn’t seem to care where the contents fall, doesn’t seem to care that the raindrops burst when they hit the ground, that they shatter when they fall to the floor, that people curse the days the drops dare to tap on their doors. I am a raindrop.”
And remember: there is a lot more beauty where this came from!
Note: The Romanian version of the review can be found here.
Music of choice
Well, don’t laugh but everytime I hear the “repeat-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat” thingy I think about this book, LOL
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