Tuesday, December 14, 2010

YOU

You

Author: Charles Benoit

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 223

Read Time: 2 Days

Rating (1-5): 3

Tag Words: 2010 Debut, Teen Angst, Male Perspective, Suspense

My Summary:

You are Kyle. You don’t know why this happened, You don’t know what the broken glass means. You didn’t see it coming, but can you fix things before it’s too late?



My review:

I have been hearing all good things about this book, and I am glad so many people enjoy this book. I didn’t get anything out of it personaly. I just think it wasn’t the book for me, but it may be the perfect book for You!

Kyle was my polar opposite, a male with an anger-management problem, without much initiative, or interest in his life, or future, who has a crush on a girl. Not me at all. I am very creative and imaginative, but I just couldn’t put myself in Kyle’s estranged shoes, so the ‘You’ concept, a book being written as if You are the main character, was really lost on me.

I also thought the situations were extreme. The conclusion of the book had me thinking, “really?”

Zack was a real nut-job, but also the character I liked most. His wit and cleverness made me “get” his character more than I could ever connect with Kyle AKA Me, just because I’m more a Zack, not in the physco manipulator way, of course. I think Kyle and Adrian from the movie, The Crush, could have a really strong relationship, I think they could talk about their wack-job ways over chai latte’s, or something.



I think there are many readers, probably a lot of male readers, who will appreciate this read more than I, and good for You!

Notes on the Names: Boring names, really boring names. There was a Kyle, a Jake, a Ryan, a Zack and an Ashley. Just a typical high school roll sheet.

Thoughts on the Cover: One of the coolest non-model covers this year. You have to get your hands on a copy to appreciate the full affect. If you open the binding so the book is laying flat, you can see that the word YOU is spelled out in broken, red glass.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with your review, Gabrielle. I was underwhelmed with this book. I'd heard such great things about it, and I WANTED to love it, but I couldn't relate or empathize with any of the characters.

Straylights said...

Great review! I also didn't "get: Kyle. He had nothing for me to be interested in. The book should have been about Zack! He was one awesome character!! :D