Author: Wendy Brant
Genre: Young Adult, Coming of Age
Rating: 3.5 out of five stars
3.5 stars... I'm rounding up to four stars as I think there are a lot of people who would really enjoy this book.
It's not an amazing book in my opinion, there isn't anything here that hasn't been done before. Essentially girl has issues, boy has issues, girl meets boy, they fall for each other, maybe they can fix each others issues, random twist related to issues, boy and girl learn something about each other and themselves. See how it's pretty much every coming of age story ever?
But there are some super cute quadruplets in the story that are only three years old. :)
The uniqueness here is in the idea that our lead gal cannot touch anyone without being bombarded with their feelings. This leads into a whole series of odd events that drive the story forward.
I don't want to give anything away because the 'reveals' are interesting and I think knowing things in advance would ruin the book for most. But essentially there are a lot of stereotypes that are broken down (bare with the first couple chapters because they set-up why nothing she thinks is right in them later on). Overall Zenn Diagram is an excellent commentary on how everyone deserves a chance to be happy and no one person's pain, grief or hardship is bigger than another's.
I think this book would be interesting for many teens to read. They are likely to learn something from it about the nature of sacrifice and that no one person's 'horrible' events in their life trumps someone else's. I guess that's why I'm rounding up to 4 stars, the reality is that everyone has issues and no one person's issues are more dramatic, painful or bigger than others. I do really like this main point that Wendy Brant makes. I like it because I believe it's true. Your pain or grief is relevant to you in it's size, not in how large it appears to others. Hardship is not quantifiable, it is individual to each person and cannot be put on a mathematical scale and measured.
I would recommend this book for anyone who needs a reminder that it's not a game or contest to try and one-up one another in bad things that have happened to us. Alternatively it's not about one-upping good things either. It's just about living and being happy.
Any other issues aside, that may have to do with the writing or overall story, Brant portrays the message that everyone deserves to be happy very, very well.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
1 comment:
Those are all some very valid reasons to round up by half a star - plus the title pun! I think I'll keep an eye out for this one.
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