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goodbyewaffles's Reviews > The Line

The Line by Teri Hall
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it was ok
bookshelves: ya, dystopian, social-issues, middle-school

It's not like there was anything wrong with this book. There just wasn't anything right, either. The writing is really clunky (I am pretty sure some of these paragraphs were "what not to do" examples in my high school creative writing textbooks). The characters are flat and boring. Plus, Hall does that annoying thing where she unnecessarily makes up words to sound more sci-fi ("digim" for "picture," "creds" for "dollars"). Made-up words do not create an interesting world all by themselves. Overall, the world was not particularly well-developed or believable - when is this set? How is it possible that all of these countries (except the U.S.) have different names? How is the government simultaneously so tyrannical and so incompetent? And WHY did all of the "world-building" happen in the form of a pop quiz? The other big problem is that this book requires the reader to be concerned about the characters, which is impossible because a) we know nothing about any of them, nor believe anything they say because they are all painfully insincere, and b) you never believe that their world is actually dangerous. Oh no, they might have to wear jumpsuits? Ugh. Add to that the predictable ending and the lazy dialogue, and you're in for a real treat. I might have liked it in middle school, though, because I was a big "X-Files" fan and would have loved the over-the-top paranoia about the government.
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Reading Progress

Started Reading
April 27, 2010 – Shelved
April 27, 2010 – Finished Reading
July 11, 2010 – Shelved as: ya
July 11, 2010 – Shelved as: dystopian
July 11, 2010 – Shelved as: social-issues
September 1, 2010 – Shelved as: middle-school

Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

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Hilary That's exactly what I was trying to say, but didn't express so eloquently. "Clunky" is right!


Erica My sentiments exactly!!! I felt it hard to really care about the characters. As soon as the book starts to pick up, it is over.


Ashley Smart I got to agree with on the part about making up words that sound sky-fi. It was pretty annoying and took me a while to get what the word digim actually meant. I personally loved the book and hate how it ended on a cliff hanger.


message 4: by C.J. (new)

C.J. Mugleston Oh my god, I know right? One of the worst examples of made up sci-fi words I've ever read was in Across the Universe. I loathed the book for several other reasons, too.
Thanks, I'll steer clear.


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