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Misfit's Reviews > Revolution
Revolution
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Let's start this by making one thing perfectly clear - I've read both The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose by Donnelly and loved them enough to buy copies for my keeper shelves. I don't normally read YA novels (especially not those with contemporary settings), but the premise with the historical setting intrigued me, so when it became available on Amazon Vine I decided to give it a try.
Andi Alpers is a teenager carrying quite a load of emotional baggage, angry at life, angry at her parents and angry over the death of her brother. Her father brings her along on his business trip to Paris and while there she finds a journal hidden in an old guitar case - the journal of Alexandrine (Alex) Paradis, a street actress in 1795 who gets herself in the thick of the events surrounding the Revolution. Andi finds herself drawn to Alex's story until finally one dark night in the catacombs of Paris things take a decidedly unexpected turn and...
I guess you will have to read it for yourself, because I am not telling. After reading all the rave reviews I find myself in the minority again (no surprise), but this one just didn't work for me. Andi's teenage Angst was just too OTT for me, and I never really warmed up to her character - teenager or not, she was much too self-centered and I was rather put off with all that pill popping, prescribed or not. I didn't find myself caring about anyone in the present setting, and while the parts in the past with Alex were better, I didn't exactly find myself highly engaged either. Frankly, Donnelly just did not suck me into her world, and the scenes in the past were not very believable and the characters much too modern - especially the young musician.
This is a very hard book for me to rate as I wasn't entertained enough to give it more than two stars, but I suspect fans of the genre will enjoy it more than I did so I'm giving it three. That said, I still have a hard time seeing Andi as a sympathtic role model for younger readers, but I suspect it's just my age showing again ;)
Andi Alpers is a teenager carrying quite a load of emotional baggage, angry at life, angry at her parents and angry over the death of her brother. Her father brings her along on his business trip to Paris and while there she finds a journal hidden in an old guitar case - the journal of Alexandrine (Alex) Paradis, a street actress in 1795 who gets herself in the thick of the events surrounding the Revolution. Andi finds herself drawn to Alex's story until finally one dark night in the catacombs of Paris things take a decidedly unexpected turn and...
I guess you will have to read it for yourself, because I am not telling. After reading all the rave reviews I find myself in the minority again (no surprise), but this one just didn't work for me. Andi's teenage Angst was just too OTT for me, and I never really warmed up to her character - teenager or not, she was much too self-centered and I was rather put off with all that pill popping, prescribed or not. I didn't find myself caring about anyone in the present setting, and while the parts in the past with Alex were better, I didn't exactly find myself highly engaged either. Frankly, Donnelly just did not suck me into her world, and the scenes in the past were not very believable and the characters much too modern - especially the young musician.
This is a very hard book for me to rate as I wasn't entertained enough to give it more than two stars, but I suspect fans of the genre will enjoy it more than I did so I'm giving it three. That said, I still have a hard time seeing Andi as a sympathtic role model for younger readers, but I suspect it's just my age showing again ;)
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Reading Progress
October 2, 2010
– Shelved
December 23, 2010
– Shelved as:
amazon-vine
January 6, 2011
–
Started Reading
January 7, 2011
–
18.43%
"This should go quickly. Michele you ready for CW's book later this weekend?"
page
87
January 7, 2011
–
32.42%
"A minor quibble so far. How many people have written and/or read a journal wherein the writer provides quotes of dialogue from other people?"
page
153
"
January 8, 2011
–
52.33%
"My, how interesting the comments from "Avid Reader" on all the critical reviews on Amazon. Such lengthy explanations of what the reviewers missed in the book."
page
247
"
January 8, 2011
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-27 of 27 (27 new)
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by
Barb
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rated it 4 stars
Oct 03, 2010 04:28AM
Please keep in mind this won't be for everyone...and perhaps not at all for you Misfit. But I did enjoy it.
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Barb wrote: "Please keep in mind this won't be for everyone...and perhaps not at all for you Misfit. But I did enjoy it."Thanks for that Barb. I'm aware it might not work for me, but you did spark my interest.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and your wall.:0)
Barb wrote: "I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and your wall.:0)"
I still have to win the darn book after all, so chances are we'll survive unscathed.
I got this one. They were giving away ARCs on Shelf Awareness. It's close to the top of my TBR stack!
I liked it okay....a lot of modern day stuff in it and it zaps back and forth between modern day and Revolutionary France. Loved her older YA book much more.
Michele wrote: "I liked it okay....a lot of modern day stuff in it and it zaps back and forth between modern day and Revolutionary France. Loved her older YA book much more."I'm curious, but not sure if I will love it or not but since it was offered, what the heck?
I didn't like it. Didn't like the chick at all. Whiny brat. LOL
Tara wrote: "I didn't like it. Didn't like the chick at all. Whiny brat. LOL"
Truth to be told, Tara, that's the only part of the book that bugged me. If it weren't for Andi, I would have given it a very high rating.
Truth to be told, Tara, that's the only part of the book that bugged me. If it weren't for Andi, I would have given it a very high rating.
LOL. I probably would have liked it more had there been less Andi, more of the historical chick.. I forgot her name already.. but you get my drift.
That's the only thing that gives me pause, the modern character/storyline. Rarely do I enjoy that part of a time slip.
Misfit wrote: "That's the only thing that gives me pause, the modern character/storyline. Rarely do I enjoy that part of a time slip."
FWIW, the entire book reads so fast, you'll be through it in a day or two.
FWIW, the entire book reads so fast, you'll be through it in a day or two.
FWIW.. Okay.. that's a new one for me. LOL What does it mean?
Tara wrote: "FWIW.. Okay.. that's a new one for me. LOL What does it mean?"I think it's for what it's worth. I usually cheat and google them so I don't have to look like a fool that I am :P
Are you saying I look like a fool? That's it (rolling up my shirt sleeves).. I'm coming over there and bringing my sidekick, Lola too. LMAO (Just kidding!) I didn't even know we could google those! LOL I never thought about it. Duh. I'll write this one down... We should make a list of these.. We could do a mass email thing and print it out and put it by our computers.
Tara wrote: "Are you saying I look like a fool? That's it (rolling up my shirt sleeves).. I'm coming over there and bringing my sidekick, Lola too. LMAO (Just kidding!) I didn't even know we could google those!..."No, I am saying I am the fool. If I don't know what something is (or not sure) I google it. You'd be surprised what one can google.
My favorite trick, use the quote marks, especially with phone #'s. i.e. "999-999-9999". The quotes tell the search engines to find exactly that field within the quotes.
You would be surprised what one can google, let alone what public record information is out there. You guys have no idea and you do not want to know. I'm talking federal level down to county/city.
PS, you just bring Lola over here for a duke out with the kittehs :)
LOL. I didn't know about that quote thing either. I will try that from now on. Thanks. :)
Tara wrote: "LOL. I didn't know about that quote thing either. I will try that from now on. Thanks. :)"I went to this seminar once for credit managers and how to use the internet to find the info you need. Unbelievable what is out there. Even the jail roster of the Federal prison.
It isn't all just for snooping, either. Sometimes you get credit applications for *businesses* that stink to high heaven and you just need to verify that they and/or their references are real indentities. Several years ago I had a bogus application that was pretending to be a contractor in Spokane using an Olympia mail box and I smelled a rat. Their trade references from other vendors had addresses in residential neighborhoods and I couldn't even verify through the state that they were existing businesses. Thankfully I didn't have a sales rep hot for a sale or I might have had quite the battle on my hands.
Lo and behold some months later I get a call from the Seattle PD investigating this *contractor*. They had managed to get some suppliers to open them up and quite a scam it was. They would place a huge order (one was $30K worth of lumber), hire some poor innocent driver off the internet who picked up the truck on a street (key in lockbox) who would go pick up the material and leave it back on a side street with the key back in a lock box.
Scary, no?
Yes. Wow. Sounds like you got a lot of responsibility on your hands. If you had chosen to do business with that man... yikes!
I saw this one at Walmart..picked it up..put it down..wasnt sure enough to open the purse strings..youll have to let us know Misfit.
Sandi wrote: "I saw this one at Walmart..picked it up..put it down..wasnt sure enough to open the purse strings..youll have to let us know Misfit."I know what you mean, this is a could go either way kind of book.
Mine is waiting at the library!
Cool. I hope the parts in the past are good. I like Donnelly but I don't much like modern teenage angst :)
Laura wrote: "should I read it or not??"Eh, if it falls in your lap give it a try. The modern day teenage angst is just not my cuppa and there's a whole lot of it here.
in this case, I will let it go since I have too many books in my TBR, thanks.
