Middle/High School
I must say, I had the hardest time getting through this book, and I should admit that I just skimmed through the last half of it. The writing is dated (the book came out before I was born), but that isn't so much what bothered me. The dialogue seemed so stilted -- no one talks like these kids do -- and the characterization was just . . . blah. I couldn't care about any of these people; some I loathed for their self-absorption and disregard for others' feelings, and others I pitied in a "squash the dying bug and put it out of its misery" sort of way because of their total obliviousness. I really wanted to like two characters. I honestly tried to be interested in them. But they were just so unreal that I couldn't muster much more than a "well, it'll be slightly sad if they die, so here's hoping they get a generic pulled-from-the-clutches-of-death ending."
If you've seen the movie, you've seen the absolute basics of the plot, though the film did take liberties. Four teens accidentally kill a little boy in their car and make a pact to keep it secret. They go a year with everything fine -- except their consciences -- until mysterious notes start to appear insinuating that someone out there knows what happened. And that someone wants them dead. Now, granted, I'm not the biggest mystery fan in the world. I like my "who-dunnits" to be more on the supernatural side, if you know what I mean (Mulder and Scully shippers unite! Wow, that really dated me). But I'm willing to give anything a chance as long as I can care about the characters. And here, I just don't. Just kill them already, creepy note-writing guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment