What attracted me at first was the cover and the title. I judged a book by its cover, but don't we all? I have been feeling like appreciating heart-broken teenage novels. But I do not like the ones with whiny girls that hunt down the most d-bag guy they could find. But according to the back reviews I have jumped ahead of myself. They critique the novel as,
"Smart, honest, and full of achingly real characters. And it made me laugh. What else would you want in a book?" -Melina Marchetta
It seemed like I would not be disappointed in the book based on the reviews. But the summary of the book was terrible. Amelia is a fifteen awkward teenage girl that loves to read books and mature her mind. This doesn't change the way she feels about Chris. Now what could be so bad about Chris? HE'S TWENTY-ONE YEARS OLD. He works with her at her job.
The book switches off between Amelia and Chris, but you mostly read about Amelia. And another important thing to know that I only fully noticed in the half of the book is that this is set in Australia.
Amelia immediately as soon as the book starts, falls in love with him. He affectionately calls her, "Youngster" as if she doesn't realize how much he doesn't see her as an equal. Of course, there are cute point of views between he and Chris from Amelia's view that I could relate to, being fifteen years old myself. But it doesn't excuse how ignorant she is about her relationship limit between her and Chris is. Even if she does "read" classics, that I haven't read I feel like I'm more mature than her. This interfered with the way that I read this book because I felt like I was reading about a super smart thirteen year old fall in love with her older brother.
The one thing I did like about this book is that the author actually gave Amelia a chance with Chris. She didn't look down on Amelia, making her look absolutely pathetic (even though she was at times)
Laura Buzo spins a new kind of relationship that actually makes Amelia and Chris' relationship work at times. I loved that part. But the part about making me laugh was not true, there is not one funny part in this book. None at all. The book is basically about their woes of life and how they're not brave enough to do anything about it. All they do is mope around the "Land of Dreams" (the store that they work at) and talk to each other about it. Amelia woes are with her family life, and Chris' is about a trashed love.
If you want to forget about your own troubles and feel like a young awkward teenager again, read this book. It has its good point and its bad. But its not a bad books overall, no matter how much this book conflicts with my values in life.
*Warning* For a fifteen year old girl, she goes to a lot of College Keggers where some bad stuff goes down sometimes. For example, a lot of alcohol drinking which is the leading problem for a lot of the bad examples this book sets. Just a warning you youngsters.
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