Yet I did struggle to finish it. I had to make myself keep on reading. I wanted to know what happens in the end, I did, but I didn't understand why I had to go through so many mundane pages in between.. I get that there is a complicated story to be told here, yet I truly think that it dragged for no reason. I also think there was no need to include any of Echo's peers (maybe except for her best friend Lila) in the plot. It's more than they weren't interesting I could feel my brain hemorrhaging whenever there was a social interaction concerning Echo and her peers. I remember there were distinct groups in school back in the day but hell, in this one it's a life and death situation when it comes to who hangs with who, what they say to whom etc. It was HORRIBLE and yeah, it was also redundant and annoying and not interesting AT ALL. It was a total turn off from the book.
So why did I continue? because for the most part, both Echo and Noah's life stories were interesting, intriguing. I wanted to know what was the trauma Echo went through that left her with scars she was unable to remember and a restraining order against her mother, I wanted to know what Noah will do when he graduated and is old enough to be responsible for his two little brothers who are living in a foster family after their parents died two years ago. He doesn't trust the system, he knows from his own personal experience how much one person, or in this case, two, means nothing when for him they are his whole world.
The tender friendship turned into sweet love story between Echo Emerson and Noah Hutchins progressed slowly and beautifully. I really enjoyed it. Yet since we got both their POV it was filled with too much "blubber" about each other, most of it highly repetitive.
I had a huge issue with the adult figures. I think the main problem was they were described from a teenager's perspective.. you remember teenagers, right? changes their mind all the time, moody, self centered in a way, very short attention span.. I guess I"m making the MC worst then they are, but I have this feeling that there might have been a few grownups who really disappointed Noah and Echo yet they over reacted to everyone around them. Everyone around them were either bad or didn't really care. It's age appropriate, I agree, but for someone who theoretically can be their parent it's tiring... and don't get me started on how disturbing it was both Noah and Echo kept describing Mrs. Collins (their psychologist) like a dog (a sweet lovable one). Say what?!
This book suppose to be HIGHLY emotional. I felt nothing. Yeah I felt sorry for both MC for what they went through, generally speaking I feel sorry for people who went through shit, you know, it's a part of me being human I guess. But I felt nothing for Echo and Noah specifically, I felt no closeness to them. I didn't feel their pain. Didn't share anything with them. They were totally flat for me. I know a lot of people crushed and burned from this book but I just felt indifferent. Maybe it's due to all the drama. It was teenager drama, over reacting to everything, taking things out of proportions.. you know.. so instead of being emotionally invested I was thinking to myself - just get over yourselves...
This book just wasn't for me. Had too many issues with it that I guess have a lot to do with it being a YA, even if the things that usually tick me off about YA weren't even here. I think this book would be suited to younger crowds.. maybe for teens who still see the world as black and white and need someone to show them the grey in between. I, personally, wasn't satisfied with it.
When I was about half way through I still considered reading the next one in the series (the next full novel is of Beth which is actually quite an interesting character), yet it's long.. as long as this one.. and I simply don't see myself investing the time in it.. so this is it for me for the "Pushing the Limits" series. I have a feeling I won't be revisiting it.
Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 392 pages, 1-3 March 2015 / On GoodReads
No comments:
Post a Comment