Breathing
Author: Cheryl Renee Herbsman
Published Date: 2009
Letter Grade: F
I haven't updated here in quite some time, but this book was so bad, I can't help myself. And also, the Amazon reviews are leaving me utterly baffled.
The book is about Savannah, a girl with a severe case of asthma who falls for Jackson, an older boy who's in town visiting his relatives after his dad dies.
First complaint: The entire book is in a very pronounced southern dialect. Not only that, but every bloody character sounds exactly the same, and there's no escape, because it's first person narration. It's not charming, or scene-setting, or anything like that. It makes everyone sound like an ignorant fool (which is not a statement against people who really talk like that, but Lordy, Herbsman is lending absolutely no credibility to Savannah's statements about how smart she is. She talks and thinks exactly like everyone who's supposedly less intelligent than herself.)
Second complaint: It's a load of rubbish. I take it I'm supposed to get that the girl's some kind of clairvoyant. I've actually read books where authors pull this sort of thing off, but I tell you, by the time I got to the last page I was so fed up with this girl's "feelings" that when I saw there was yet another heap of dung in the last paragraph, I shut the book. They lent absolutely nothing to the book. Nothing.
Third complaint: Oi, the angst! This is teen fiction. Teens have enough of their own angst. Just because they can relate does not mean that's all they want to read about. Savannah comes off as nothing but a whiny little brat. Her friends are whiny brats. Her family is nothing but whiny, stubborn, ridiculously cliche brats. And Jackson. I've met dust bunnies with more personality. Stereotypical teenage hero. And that BS about his ex-girlfriend sounds exactly what Chris said to me when he cheated on me. And Savannah forgives him with barely an argument.
Fourth complaint: Dysfunctional. Relationship. The cover says he helps her breath, and when he leaves to go home, she has to learn how to breathe on her own. She doesn't. Her mood goes up and down every time the wind blows, she's got asthma attacks every few chapters, whether Jackson the Mighty is there or not, and furthermore, they do underhanded things in the name of "helping the other achieve their dreams." Seriously. They've been together 2 months. And everyone else seems to buy into their garbage.
Complaint 4A: He's achieving his dream of becoming an artist by painting houses? Really? What the hell do those two things have in common? How does one lead to the other?
The only good thing I can see from this book is that it's short. 262 pages of nonsense.
Author: Cheryl Renee Herbsman
Published Date: 2009
Letter Grade: F
I haven't updated here in quite some time, but this book was so bad, I can't help myself. And also, the Amazon reviews are leaving me utterly baffled.
The book is about Savannah, a girl with a severe case of asthma who falls for Jackson, an older boy who's in town visiting his relatives after his dad dies.
First complaint: The entire book is in a very pronounced southern dialect. Not only that, but every bloody character sounds exactly the same, and there's no escape, because it's first person narration. It's not charming, or scene-setting, or anything like that. It makes everyone sound like an ignorant fool (which is not a statement against people who really talk like that, but Lordy, Herbsman is lending absolutely no credibility to Savannah's statements about how smart she is. She talks and thinks exactly like everyone who's supposedly less intelligent than herself.)
Second complaint: It's a load of rubbish. I take it I'm supposed to get that the girl's some kind of clairvoyant. I've actually read books where authors pull this sort of thing off, but I tell you, by the time I got to the last page I was so fed up with this girl's "feelings" that when I saw there was yet another heap of dung in the last paragraph, I shut the book. They lent absolutely nothing to the book. Nothing.
Third complaint: Oi, the angst! This is teen fiction. Teens have enough of their own angst. Just because they can relate does not mean that's all they want to read about. Savannah comes off as nothing but a whiny little brat. Her friends are whiny brats. Her family is nothing but whiny, stubborn, ridiculously cliche brats. And Jackson. I've met dust bunnies with more personality. Stereotypical teenage hero. And that BS about his ex-girlfriend sounds exactly what Chris said to me when he cheated on me. And Savannah forgives him with barely an argument.
Fourth complaint: Dysfunctional. Relationship. The cover says he helps her breath, and when he leaves to go home, she has to learn how to breathe on her own. She doesn't. Her mood goes up and down every time the wind blows, she's got asthma attacks every few chapters, whether Jackson the Mighty is there or not, and furthermore, they do underhanded things in the name of "helping the other achieve their dreams." Seriously. They've been together 2 months. And everyone else seems to buy into their garbage.
Complaint 4A: He's achieving his dream of becoming an artist by painting houses? Really? What the hell do those two things have in common? How does one lead to the other?
The only good thing I can see from this book is that it's short. 262 pages of nonsense.
posted by Steph | 4:57 PM
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