Cracked up to Be - Courtney Summers

Pages: 214

Published: December 23rd 2008 by St. Martin's Griffin

Format: Paperback

Genre: Y.A/ Contemporary

Date Finished: 7^th March 2012

Acquired: BookTopia

Synopsis:

Perfect Parker Fadley isn’t so perfect anymore. She’s quit the cheerleading squad, she’s dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she’s failing school. Her parents are on a constant suicide watch and her counselors think she’s playing games…but what they don’t know, the real reason for this whole mess, isn’t something she can say out loud. It isn’t even something she can say to herself. A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault. If she can just remove herself from everybody--be totally alone--then everything will be okay...The problem is, nobody will let her.

Review/ Thoughts:

It shouldn’t be this hard to tell you my thoughts about this book, but let me tell you I certainly still struggle with it. When I started Cracked up to Be it was through recommendation and decent praise. Somewhere in the back of my mind for whatever reason I have this thing where I know when I will not enjoy a book regardless, and for my Courtney Summers is one of those authors who’s writing style I just cannot get down with.

For the most part reading this book was painful. While there was a decent amount of character building and progression I could not attach myself to any other character than Jake and even at times I felt he was a little weak, just when I thought I could feel for Parker I was left feeling disappointed and guilty, confused with whether she was snarky or just a bitch I decided as it became apparent she wasn’t going to change that she was just a bitch; regardless of whatever happened to cause her to act this way.

I am not sure if there could be anything different about the story that would have made me enjoy it better. I really dislike reading about self-loathing characters, I mean I am not heartless and I understand human condition and can be compassionate, but when I was reading it, I was so tempted to Wikipedia it and get it over and done with, even when the story picked up around the middle, but I didn’t despite the constant nagging in my brain.

Sadly I would not recommend Cracked up to Be and I do not foresee myself checking out any more of Courtney Summers books in the near future. [ Even though I want to read This is not a Test haha]

★★

Twilight - The Graphic Novel - Volume # 1

Pages: 224

Author: Stephenie Meyer - Adaptation : Young Kim

Published: March 16th 2010 by Yen Press

Format: Hardback

Genre: Y.A/ Graphic Novel

Date Finished: 5^th March 2012

Acquired: Local library Loan

Synopsis:

When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret...


Thoughts:

I loved Twilight the book and the movie. It was not my favorite or the best book in my collection, but it was my gateway book and for that I will be respectful. However did I enjoy the Twilight Graphic novel? No, I did not and I won’t spend too much time telling you why. However here are the important things for me that stood out.

I liked the artwork, it was stunning I really enjoyed every minute of it, but for me personally did it depict the characters as they were in my mind? No. I love the initial story of Twilight, but for me the adaptation was all over the place and untrue to the characters in some respects. It all happened to fast and bits and pieces of the story were cut and pasted into other scenes to save time, so the story did not have a great flow and it honestly made the reading experience stilted.

With that being said I didn’t totally hate the experience and as stated it is to the vision of Stephanie Meyer so in her mind and creation these are her characters. In mine, and the portrayal of the series so far including the movie adaptations I couldn’t make the connection and I didn’t enjoy it. If you are a fan however by all means check it out and if you have let me know what you thought of it.

★★