It's 4:00 o'clock in the morning...the conversations go boring Naaah. My eyes are kinda droopy now, not that I have ptosis or something--my eyes are kinda tired now but my brain wants me to write a review even I know my thoughts are a little messed up, considering my body is a silently shouting: Sleep now! You bloody, abusive, self-centered.... but my brain says, LOL. NO...and I'm here now, typing my so-called review when I should have been sleeping by now and get back to this once I'm all sober and coherent enough to construct a sentence.I just finished this moments ago--and I admit I actually liked it! Honestly, this was my first Meg Cabot novel that I've read (though I am very much aware that she wrote the Princess Diaries series that I've been meaning to read when I was still in High School--and now that I'm almost in one year Sabbath since I have graduated from College, I am planning on reading it one of these days) so I don't have much idea how her writing style is--but oh boy, I liked how she cleverly and creatively presented this one: in e-mail form. Melissa Fuller (everyone calls her Meg) is a gossip columnist who've been wanting to write and deliver hard news to 'The New York Journal' but she never had the opportunity. One day, she was late to work, not that it was something new, but this time she had a reasonable excuse to be late: She saw her neighbor, Mrs. Friedlander, unconscious, lying face down on her apartment. Meg called 911 and Mrs. Friedlander was rushed in the hospital but unfortunately was in coma. Meg really liked her neighbor and was worried about Mrs. Friedlander's pets (1 dog and 2 cats) so for the first few days, she took care of it but then it became demanding and her work also suffers from it--she tried to contact Mrs. Friedlander's nephew, Max Friedlander, a high-caliber photographer who's also a pompous, cold-hearted son-of-a-bitch and he wants nothing to do with his Aunt, not now that he's on a vacation with one of the drooled-over supermodel, Vivica, and he doesn't want any interruptions--but then he remembered that his Aunt might leave him huge amount of money, since she was filthy rich and he was next to kin...and in order to have that amount still secured to be given to him, he asked a favor from his former College roommate, John Trent--the very wealthy and influential family, Park Avenue, Trent--to pretend to be him (Max Friedlander) for a couple of weeks until he decides to go home--a return favor from saving John's derriere into proposing a marriage to some redheaded show girl from Vegas when they were still in College in a drunken state. John reluctantly agrees, that was, pretty much a huge favor he owed from Max. Meg and John, who pretends to be Max meet, and who would've thought that they will find something from that twisted and complicated situation they had?It was such a light, good read. This is actually the first time I've read a full e-mail format as a form of narration and I actually appreciate it. Some people might be a little partial with this kind of format, but I ain't even mad that I liked how it was presented, though, yes, while reading this, it felt like, hmmm, how can I explain this, I think a little impersonal, considering in my mind it's an electronic mail...and you know what they say about this kind of communication, eh? But as what I've said earlier, I liked it. I have laugh-out-loud moments while I was reading this and the twist and turns--OOOH, I haven't expected that one! Meg's best friend, co-workers, parents and even John's family are hilarious! And yes, I was annoyed with Max and he deserves that kind of ending. I have enjoyed reading this...and more Meg Cabot coming through! :)
I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish this one because, while there were some things I genuinely liked about the email format in which it was written, the format overall left me wanting. The story picked up, however, and I found myself not minding the email format so much. After a little while, I found myself engrossed, wanting desperately to find out who attacked the neighbor and whether or not Mel and John would get together (OK, so admittedly I knew this was an inevitability since it's a romance novel, but it's still nice reading about those moments). I even found myself liking the main character, even though I had very little in common with her.Mel was cool. Yes, she had that stereotypical chick vibe thing going on (obsessed with clothes and makeup, bemoaned not having found a man yet despite only being 27, etc.), but she was fiery, outspoken, funny, and stood up for herself. All of these previously respected personality traits, however, flew out the window when it was made clear that the character possessing them was completely bat shit crazy. Mel went absolutely nuts. I understand the guy lied to her, I understand she was still feeling the burn of the last time she'd been deceived, but come on. Even her best friend, finally reaching the point of wanting to strangle Mel, tells her to knock it off or she will succeed in completely chasing off an amazingly good guy who's perfect for her. I'm not saying women should tolerate lying, but sometimes there are extenuating circumstances and the falsehood (and its teller) must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and handled accordingly. Mel wants absolutely nothing to do with rational thought, however, because she's been jilted. This was when it stopped being funny for me. Up until that point, I'd found it hilarious...after that point, I just wanted to scream. As relieved as I was that people were calling Mel on her lunacy, I was also greatly disappointed that, when she told them off for trying to help her, they just shrugged their shoulders and moved on. I'm sorry, if I were trying to help a friend who was losing it, overreacting, and coming dangerously close to destroying what could perhaps be her single chance at happiness and she told me off...I would not take that too lightly. Being a supportive friend and minding my own business are personal credos of mine, but enabling "crazy bitch" behavior is definitely not my style. On top of that, there was entirely too much conniving and nosy behavior going on in this book for me to truly enjoy it. It did, in part, add to the humor a bit, but overall it left me a little uneasy. No one really talked to each other in this book and I really respect people who know how to communicate, at least partially, with one another. So it's hard to be sympathetic toward characters with whom I hold little-to-no sympathy. That disconnect made this a hollow read for me.
What do You think about The Boy Next Door (2005)?
So, this was my first Meg Cabot. Maybe not the best place to start, considering there are more popular books of hers I could have started with but I guess it wasn't a too bad introduction to her work. The Boy Next Door started out pretty awesome, there was hilarity left and right and I just loved it. After I was halfway through, though, the book began to drag quite a bit and I was annoyed with most of the characters. The magic of the cute romance faded for me as well because even if it was cute, when it came to the romance, the e-mail format of this book failed for me because it was too much telling-not-showing and I thus felt pretty detached from the characters at some point.Nevertheless, this was a fun brain candy read, which even if it started to disappoint me after the awesome beginning, was still an okay read that took my mind off of things.
—Rose
A romantic-comedy novel in a different and unique style in writing (e-mails).When I first read the name I thought it is gonna be a "teen" story because of the word "boy" I don't know why I think it doesn't fit with the story .Because of the new way of presenting the story (the e-mails), I feel that the story misses something like I love to see some description of place of facial expressions these little details this novels lacks. But I mostly like the comedy in this novel and the plot is good ,John is the perfect man on earth I like him and Mel is so nice with her very best friend. I liked this new innovative kind of stories hopefully soon I will start reading the next book of the series.
—Souzan
Setelah bosen baca novel dystopia terus saya memutuskan baca novel yang lebih ringan dan tidak berseri. Dan novel ini sangat menghibur saya. Menggunakan teknik penulisan epistolary (thanks to my lecturer who has taught me this :)) yaitu novel yang terdiri dari kumpulan surat/kliping koran dll. Novel ini terdiri dari email-email para tokoh dalam buku ini. Buku ini bercerita tentang Melissa Fuller seorang kolumnis gosip di New York Journal yang belakangan selalu datang terlambat. Ternyata Melissa datang terlambat karena harus mengurusi hewan peliharaan tetangga di apartemennya yang ia temukan pingsan di ruangannya dan sekarang dalam keadaan koma. Mrs. Helen Friedlander hanya memiliki satu keluarga yang tersisa yaitu keponakannya Max. Max ini seorang photographer playboy. Melissa pun menulis email kepada Max. Max yg saat itu sedang berlibur dengan supermodel Vivica menyuruh teman kulliahnya John Trent yang pernah ia selamat hidupnya utuk berpura-pura menjadi Max dan mengurusi hewan peliharaan bibinya.Akhirnya John pun berpura-puran menjadi Max. John merupakan seorang kolumnis di New York Chronicle saingan dari tempat Mel bekerja New York Journal.
—Atika Salsabila
