Snippet Thoughts – The Disreputable History…, The Fault in our Stars, For Darkness Shows the Stars

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
I approached this book warily, because I had heard that the main character was unlikable. That all the characters were unlikable, actually. True, Frankie may not be particularly likable, but she sure is fascinating. Does anyone watch Person of Interest? This book could be the backstory for the unknown female hacker Root, playing puppet master to who knows how many influential people for who knows what reasons. As for the members of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, I couldn’t help but picturing Logan Huntzberger and the other members of the Life & Death Brigade, only less sophisticated in their pranks. In the end, I really liked The Disreputable History. Even Frankie grew on me. You don’t find a female character like this in YA fiction all that often, someone who desperately wants to be recognized for her smarts, but also admits that she’s just happy knowing the hottest guy on campus thinks she’s pretty. That struggle was one of my favourite things about this book. Even though I wasn’t expecting much from The Disreputable History, I was sad when it was over. I really want to know what happens to Frankie, because there is no way she’s going to lead a normal, run of the mill life. She’s going to have a life that’s worth writing books about. And perhaps crime reports.

The Fault in our Stars by John Green
This has been on my to-review list for ages. I’ve actually read it twice already. But how do you write about a book that evoked so much emotion and about which so much has already been said? So, I’m not going to add much to discussion. This book really is as good as everyone says it is. It’s funny and sad, but I would say more on the sad side. The first time I read it, I read it all in one day. And the second time, over about a week. I would say that the one day approach was better, because reading it over the course of a week just made the sadness more drawn out. Actually, at one point I put down the book and didn’t touch it for two days because I knew that one character knew that things where all down hill from there on, and I didn’t want to deal with it. But, like Hazel’s favourite book, this is not just a Cancer Book. John Green handles the subject masterfully and turns The Fault in our Stars into a story more about life than death. Plus, I just love his writing.

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
I loved Diana Peterfreund’s Killer Unicorn books, so I was excited to read her latest effort. And then when I heard it was inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion? Well, I was all over that. However, I seemed to have forgotten that I struggled with Persuasion, even though I just read it a few months ago. And although this is definitely a story inspired by Persuasion and not a strict retelling of it, I seemed to have some of the same issues with it. I had a really hard time getting into For Darkness Shows the Stars and it took me quite a while to care about the characters. But, I did really like the twist that Peterfreund threw in there. Overall, I thought it was an okay read – it’s also been a while since I read it, so my recollections are somewhat hazy. If you were already planning on reading it, definitely still go for it – I think every single other review I’ve seen of it has been glowing. But I would be thrilled if Peterfreund wrote more Killer Unicorn books. I need more Astrid in my life. (Disclaimer: I read an uncorrected proof)