Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Review: Far From You - Lisa Schroeder

WherI got it: Library
Rating: 3.5 stars 

Cover Rating: 4.5 stars (I really like the imagery of it. Also it's really pretty.)
Genre: Young Adult  
Publication Date: January 5, 2010
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Page Count: 355 p. 

Alice's mum died of cancer. It was very sad, and ripped Alice apart. Alice's dad remarried and now they are having a new baby which Alice feels will only prove to separate her even further from her father.  When The four of them go to visit the new wife's family across country Alice doesn't see why she has to go. Her dad gets called away for business so Alice is stuck driving home with the step-mom and baby. When Her step-mom takes a detour on back roads and the weather gets bad, the three of them are stuck. Alice will have to learn how to grow up and how to except the new things in her life.

I liked that Alice was named after Alice in Wonderland and that there were a lot of reference to it throughout. I also appreciated that Alice was religious, but not preachy. She had her beliefs and she was sad her boyfriend couldn't share them, but she hoped he might come around. I did have a problem with her boyfriend, Blaze, though. He came of as being very psychologically abusive. Maybe it's just me but there seemed to be something off about him. He came on kind of hard and unfeeling at times. Alice always mentioned how sweet Blaze was, but he just seemed sort of callous. Other than that this was a good story about survival and how you can come to love people that you thought you never would. It was touching how Alice cared for her really young stepsister, even though in the beginning she wanted nothing to do with her.  I can't imagine what it must feel like to be trapped in a car on a back road in a terrible snowstorm, just waiting for someone to come. This was a great novel in verse and I would recommend it to fans of verse novels and realistic fiction.

First Line:
"We're alone
with only
the cold
and dark
to keep us 
company."

Favorite Line:
"He is
better than warm fall colors, 
better than beautiful music,
better than doughnuts and coffee."   

2 comments:

  1. Lisa Schroeder writes the most fantastic verse novels, eh? Great review...this sounds lovely.

    Be sure to drop by and enter my international blogoversary giveaway! http://tinyurl.com/2faa8j3 :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely review! I love novels in verse and realistic fiction so this one sounds like a winner :)

    ReplyDelete

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