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4.5 starsI just don’t understand why no one has ever told me about this book before.
Thank you, Janssen (from Everyday Reading), for choosing this book for your Summer Reading Guide. It really was a good pick
4.5 stars
| For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle I picked this book up at the Little Free Lending Library, because as someone who grew up in a small town in Wisconsin surrounded by farms and a bad high school football team, I thought I could find something to relate to in it. At first, I hated the book. I thought D.J.'s narration was really annoying and the whole Brian-love-interest storyline was eye-rolling and predictable. But as I kept reading, it got a lot better. This book isn't just about football or love or friendship. It's about finding your place in life and all of the things that are part of it. It's about family and relationships and talking things out... and yes, it's got a lot of football in it. But even if, like me, you aren't a huge fan of football, there is still a lot to enjoy in this book. It's funny in a cute way (not a laugh out loud way). It's empowering as D.J. finally gets the push she needs. But most of all, it is a nice, fresh look at teenage life and one girl's journey in figuring out who she wants to be. I will say that I think the whole lesbian-plotline thing could have been handled better. There is a resolution of sorts, but I don't think it was pushed as far as it should have been. Despite the importance of the relationship, it sure didn't get a lot of mention in the text. The end seemed like a quick fix and D.J.'s thoughts and opinions about lesbians was still kind of fuzzy. She said some not-so-great things previously in the narration and while it's assumed she probably doesn't think that way by the end, things aren't laid out as clearly as I feel they should have been. Overall, a good read and an interesting story. |
I am such a fool. This book seemed to promise much more than my low expectations. Characters that were just on the nuanced side of caricature and a seemingly stereotypical plot about the small town girl who dreams big, but with so many hints of things happening just off camera and waiting for a surprise reveal. But on exactly page 167, it started to sour for me as I realized that it was all just a mean trick, that the caricatures were just exactly that and no more, and 10 pages later when the promises of an atypical plot began to fail to deliver. And by the last two chapters, I was just skimming because I was sliding into diabetic coma from the glurge.
This probably doesn't deserve 3 stars, but I'm giving it 2 stars for a book that I voluntarily finished instead of DNFing and an extra star because I enjoyed at least half of it, even if I felt horribly betrayed by the time I finished.
I had low expectations, but I'm really enjoying this. It's not the usual "lol zany characters" Southern Lit.
"There were not enough ways to prepare a tomato to keep us entertained for a lifetime."
It's a little twee so far, but not too much. Yet.
