Overall, I have to say that I enjoyed this book. I found it compelling and a pretty accurate representation of what happened regarding the yellow fever those many years ago. With that being said, I couldn't help but wonder if I was getting the same experience as I could if it had been written from a different perspective (rather than first person). At times I couldn't help but as 'so what' as she was discussing her day to day life, much like anyone of that age would. (I guess maybe that was the point?) "She was my friend! You must allow me. Why are you so horrid?" As soon as the angry words were out of my mouth, i knew i had gone too far." I mean, really?, you called your mother horrid. This all just seems a bit to trivial to make any large impact on me.
Secondly, I had a hard time connecting to the characters. I felt that Anderson kept us at an arms length from them at all times. Never really being able to build a close connection to them. I think so often we are caught up in the events that sometimes we lose sight of the emotions that are being felt.
I also had a hard time connecting to the characters. They weren't fleshed out at all, so it was hard to care or feel invested in them in any way. It was all about Mattie and from her perspective (they could have mixed that up a bit because the perspective did feel a bit limited), and even in the time of a terrible epidemic, most fourteen-year-old's lives kind of feel like "so what" when recounted to an adult. I felt that way through Thirteen Reasons Why - so what? Yawn!
ReplyDeleteAll that being said, I did enjoy the book because it was pretty well-written, fast-paced enough, and it contained some historical merit (which didn't feel textbooky and was easy to absorb because of the way it was presented).