My last post was a Top 5 Wednesday post....I'm working on content, just trust me.
This week's Top 5 Wednesday are books we love to hate. More accurately; book's we disliked but love to discuss.
I don't hate a whole lot of books, and actually all the ones that I do I think I mention here...So it's interesting to me to actually dislike these books because I don't hate books so often.
Mine are in no particular order, and don't get me wrong, I dislike these books, but I will talk your ear off on why.
1. Snotgirl Vol.1: Green Hair Don't Care by Bryan Lee O'Malley
You'll see me talk about this one in my January Review. Ultimately though I disliked this graphic novel. I don't know if O'Malley did this purposefully to make fun of bloggers or millennials but I just...couldn't. All the character's were shallow and underdeveloped in personality. The format is occasionally emoji's or chat speak. The plot and flow was choppy and confusing leaving out details and scenes I feel were necessary while keeping other's I didn't think needed to be there. The main character...supposedly her biggest flaw is that she has allergies, otherwise she's wonderful and amazing, and much more interesting than any of her blogger friends whom she can't remember unless she gives them nicknames like "hotguy" or "normgirl"or "cutegirl" I love love love the art though, so I don't just want to get rid of it. I just feel like going into it, I was hoping to see some kind of retro meets contemporary graphic novel about a spunky girl with green hair. Proof that despite enjoying the art I disliked the content.
2. Get it Together Delilah! by Erin Gough
I had talked this book briefly in a previous review. Another one where the cover made me think I was going to love the book and it disappointed me so much. What I ultimately didn't like about this book was that the over all message I got from it was "if you lie to your parents, and something goes wrong, fix it before they find out and you'll never get in trouble." The book was also just very unrealistic, to me, I know that it's based in Australia but, I mean, how common is it for parents to just leave there teenage kids to go on vacation for months, and just keep extending said vacation? Especially if they own a business! The lack of communication between father and daughter in this book was infuriating especially considering the type of "relationship" they supposedly had. Plus the main character was really hypocritical in the fact she wanted to be excepted as a lesbian that it shouldn't be a big deal, only to make a huge deal when her love interest tried to explain to her that she, the love interest, is new to the whole "liking girls" thing and wants to take things slowly because her family is everything to her and they aren't particularly open to same sex relationships. It just....It brings up an interesting topic of cultures and their differences and their family dynamics that come from it and introducing "new" or "non-traditional" sexuality into the picture, especially when it comes to older generations.
This next one may be an un-popular opinion but...tough
3. Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page
This one I don't think I've discussed, but when going through my Goodreads "read" list it came up and I just feel like it's a good fit in here. I actually like re-tellings for the most part. The concept of them are really interesting, I haven't found one that I've fallen in love with yet, but for the most part I'll pick them up. This one....interesting concept, but the whole book read like a fan-fiction. And maybe to an extent, isn't that what all re-telling's are? But this one in particular didn't grip me, for the most part I didn't like the main character, the story itself was a little predictable, and there were just too many "fantastical" elements that worked out for the main character if that makes sense. It felt as though once they reached one issue, oh look this magical thing you can now suddenly do/use can easily fix that if you think about it hard enough. It was also very anti-climactic, with the repetitive notion of "Dorothy Must Die" you'd hope she would. It was also just slowly paced, and I think that's what made it feel like a fan-fiction for me. Like being slowly paced was purposeful so that the story could drag out to make it a series but also to prove that Amy and Nox aren't insta-love because look how much they're training together! As well as try to help prove that these random magical elements belong in this story because they're new to Amy so she must train to use them! More time with Nox! but we'll go into inner monologue on her feelings for him rather than talk about how these new magic tricks work and how she's not surprised with all this sudden witchy she's able to do. Not to mention issues with subtle slut shaming, beauty standards towards women, and how the world of Oz and it's characters didn't feel right. And I get it's because it's a different story but based on the original story as well as the movie, these characters don't fit, and the same goes for the random magical elements.
...A similar re-telling that feels the same to me is Everland by Wendy Spinale
4. All the Broken Things by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer
....This one and the one that follows still tick me off. This one in particular because it was not only anti-climactic but there was no real "villain." Yes there is a "bad man" that has the main character's sister, but nothing really comes from that, in-fact it turns out to be, to an extent, was a misunderstanding due to lack of communication between the main character and his mother. The lack of communication was infuriating. After I read this book I felt like it accomplished nothing. I did not feel satisfied but rather that my time was wasted.
5. I am Radar by Reif Larson
The reason this book still ticks me off is that it actually kept me entertained and interested through out most of the book, but the ending....the damn ending was so confusing, it created more questions than answers. It infuriated me so I quite literally threw the book after completing it and gave it a low rating. Because NOTHING was answered. I couldn't even tell you what this book is about, or the problems it contains. I can't discuss this book in anymore depth than what I've just done.
And those are my Love to Hate books....though if I'm completely honest I don't really love to hate I Am Radar....I'm disappointed that I hate it, but I find it interesting that the ending has me hating it so much.
What were some of the books you hate to love?
Have you read any of these? what were your thoughts?
Until next time!
Litta
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