I really wanted to love this book, and to start with I did, it kept me guessing. From the start we knew something major had happened and that it involved TIm, but when it got to it, I thought it was actually quite anti-climatic. I thought someone would have died at least, or have had a major problem caused by the accident, but for Vanessa to actually be okay seemed like nothing. I don't know, but the story left me wanting more, like the story was unfinished and that something was missing. I wish I could have liked this book more, I really do, but it fell flat in the end. I didn't even realize that this YA novel was written by a fellow Philadelphian until I was a third of the way through it. Set at an elite boarding school, the novel tells the interrelated stories of Duncan, who is just beginning his senior year at the school, and Tim, who was a senior the previous year. Tim has left Duncan a series of CDs he recorded, telling the story of his senior year. Both were involved in an unspecified traumatic event at the end of that year, which is one reason why Tim feels the need to share his story with Duncan. The novel does a good job of building suspense about what this event is, keeping the reader hooked to hear more. The boarding school setting is appealing, the foreshadowing builds lots of tension, and the characters are engaging. I liked that the character Tim is an albino, and his feelings of being different and an outsider due to his physical appearance (and also certain health limitations created by his lack of skin pigment) are well-developed. Two things that I thought could have used some more work: I just didn't think the notion of the Tragedy Paper -- a senior thesis that each student must write, analyzing the nature of tragedy with reference to literature and real life -- quite came together effectively with the events of the book. I read in the author bio that Elizabeth LaBan went to a school that required seniors to write a similar thesis, and I couldn't help but think that this assignment didn't translate well to people who didn't undertake it themselves. The second aspect that needed work: I didn't think LaBan quite captured the real sound and feel of current-day teenagers. (Some of this has to do with the fact that when I get lost in a novel, anything that pulls me out of the fictional world and makes me conscious of reading a book is intrusive.) I don't think there has been a kid named "Keith" or "Tad" in about thirty years, for example, and some of the conversation, syntax and vocabulary used by the teens just didn't sound like kids. (I have three teenagers myself so I hear teenagers talking a lot.) I mean, has anybody under the age of 20 ever used the word "bonkers"? Overall, though, I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more by the author.
What do You think about Esej O Tragédii (2014)?
inspired. inspired. inspired. ♡☆ Vejdi, přítele najdi, a přítelem se staň.
—melissawubs
Great book with great ideas. Thank you Elizabeth for this book.
—Glam
