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Lucid: First Edition
SLOANE is a straight-A student from a loving home.
MAGGIE is a glamorously independant up-and-coming actress in New York.
TWO girls who couldn't be more different - except for one thing. At night, they dream they're each other. They live each other's lives, they know each other's secrets. But their two lives have never converged - until now.
WHICH LIFE IS JUST A DREAM? WHICH LIFE IS REAL?
Eventually, they will have to choose one life to wake up to, or risk spiralling into insanity. But for one girl, that means giving up everything - her life, her perfect love, herself - just when she finally has something worth holding on to.
MAGGIE is a glamorously independant up-and-coming actress in New York.
TWO girls who couldn't be more different - except for one thing. At night, they dream they're each other. They live each other's lives, they know each other's secrets. But their two lives have never converged - until now.
WHICH LIFE IS JUST A DREAM? WHICH LIFE IS REAL?
Eventually, they will have to choose one life to wake up to, or risk spiralling into insanity. But for one girl, that means giving up everything - her life, her perfect love, herself - just when she finally has something worth holding on to.
343 pages, Paperback
First published October 2, 2012
111 people are currently reading
6310 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 562 reviews
October 6, 2012
Ok ok.. I think I loved it. But I'm not sure. This was just very .... You know the movie Inception? Yeah, kinda like that. I'm so lost, yet I love it... I think.
For one thing, Lucid is a book that makes you think. You have to piece every single moment together to begin to understand what just happened. And this is what you will see yourself doing after you turn the last page. Then you will want to immediately read it again in a new light, so you can grasp the puzzling nature of the plot.
I'm not sure how many of you watched Momento!? But that movie, you're watching it with no idea what the frick is going on. You end it with no better idea of who killed his wife - at all. So you watch it again, hoping that after seeing the ending you will see things clearer. Lucid if kind of like that. Although not nearly as complex (I mean I watched Momento 4 times and I'm still not convinced I know who the killer is), it makes you think, it makes you relive every single event that happened in the book so you can grasp exactly what was happening to Sloane and Maggie. Being so intricate, you have to be ready to work on your own verdict on its conclusion. It's not a clean-cut ending, you have to dissect it and interpret it. I guarantee it's one that you will need to discuss with others who have also read it. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I relish in books that make me second guess things, and leave me with a need to decipher every page. These are the type of books that I get to remember for a long time.
Before this perplexing--and quite emotional--ending, we get a journey into the lives of two very different girls with a big secret - when they go to sleep at night, they dream of each other's day. From the first page, you'll be found wondering what exactly is happening to these girls. Is one of them schizophrenic? Is there a paranormal side to the book? Are they both real? If not, which life is real, and which one is just a dream? A very fascinating concept for sure. It boggled my mind over and over, then the more I thought about it, the more freaked out I became. However, this "situation" is only one part of this very deep, and incredibly touching novel.
Beautiful and heartbreaking; after everything is said and done, this novel is really about love. Real love, love that is raw, and natural, and all encompassing. A love that belongs to you and no one else. Both of these girls are searching for The One, and I loved how they would not settle for anything but, nor for the wrong reasons. They love themselves first. Their self respect is admirable, and the same can be said for the responsibilities they take on. I truly enjoyed both protagonists immensely, all the while constantly wondering if anything I was reading was even real; was either of these wonderful girls just a dream? A vision? A past life? Infinite theories aside, I found myself surprised by how deeply moving this book had become. There's love and joy and family, but there's also grief and fear and panic and dread that are all running running rampant in this plot. Then when their lives begin to collide, the panic they felt, I felt too. I didn't know what was real at all anymore. The identity crisis and confusion is complete insanity and, my word, I savoured it, and loved every second where another piece of my mind got blown to bits. Poof.
An incredibly unique reading experience that will leave your mind to mush, and your heart to pieces. Fans of movies such as Black Swan, Momento, and Inception will absolutely find their next fix inside Lucid.
--
An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.
For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads
For one thing, Lucid is a book that makes you think. You have to piece every single moment together to begin to understand what just happened. And this is what you will see yourself doing after you turn the last page. Then you will want to immediately read it again in a new light, so you can grasp the puzzling nature of the plot.
I'm not sure how many of you watched Momento!? But that movie, you're watching it with no idea what the frick is going on. You end it with no better idea of who killed his wife - at all. So you watch it again, hoping that after seeing the ending you will see things clearer. Lucid if kind of like that. Although not nearly as complex (I mean I watched Momento 4 times and I'm still not convinced I know who the killer is), it makes you think, it makes you relive every single event that happened in the book so you can grasp exactly what was happening to Sloane and Maggie. Being so intricate, you have to be ready to work on your own verdict on its conclusion. It's not a clean-cut ending, you have to dissect it and interpret it. I guarantee it's one that you will need to discuss with others who have also read it. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I relish in books that make me second guess things, and leave me with a need to decipher every page. These are the type of books that I get to remember for a long time.
Before this perplexing--and quite emotional--ending, we get a journey into the lives of two very different girls with a big secret - when they go to sleep at night, they dream of each other's day. From the first page, you'll be found wondering what exactly is happening to these girls. Is one of them schizophrenic? Is there a paranormal side to the book? Are they both real? If not, which life is real, and which one is just a dream? A very fascinating concept for sure. It boggled my mind over and over, then the more I thought about it, the more freaked out I became. However, this "situation" is only one part of this very deep, and incredibly touching novel.
Beautiful and heartbreaking; after everything is said and done, this novel is really about love. Real love, love that is raw, and natural, and all encompassing. A love that belongs to you and no one else. Both of these girls are searching for The One, and I loved how they would not settle for anything but, nor for the wrong reasons. They love themselves first. Their self respect is admirable, and the same can be said for the responsibilities they take on. I truly enjoyed both protagonists immensely, all the while constantly wondering if anything I was reading was even real; was either of these wonderful girls just a dream? A vision? A past life? Infinite theories aside, I found myself surprised by how deeply moving this book had become. There's love and joy and family, but there's also grief and fear and panic and dread that are all running running rampant in this plot. Then when their lives begin to collide, the panic they felt, I felt too. I didn't know what was real at all anymore. The identity crisis and confusion is complete insanity and, my word, I savoured it, and loved every second where another piece of my mind got blown to bits. Poof.
An incredibly unique reading experience that will leave your mind to mush, and your heart to pieces. Fans of movies such as Black Swan, Momento, and Inception will absolutely find their next fix inside Lucid.
--
An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.
For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads
July 20, 2016
Mind blowing. The Black Swan of Young Adult books!!
When I first saw the cover I thought it was so soft and beautiful with the use of the white,blue's,and purple's!!! Obviously from looking at the cover you know its about a girl and she might sleep on the ceiling at night lol. Then I went on to read the blurb and I was half way right with my analysis of the cover and I find out its about two girls Maggie and Sloan. They have never met,they are both the same age,both have the same birthday,one lives in Connecticut and the other lives in New York,and dream that they are each other each night.
Sounds good huh?
Characters:
Maggie: Maggie is a high school drop(in my mind) who lives with her irresponsible mother and cute as a button sister. She lives in New York and is a struggling actress who is searching for her big break while dealing with the stress of taking care of her little sister and her childish workaholic mother in the process. Maggie is quiet and very wise for her age. Even though Maggie has some small troubles at home she has been studying for her GED and is landing some small roles on T.V. and movies. She also has an addition for a lead role in a movie series that will take her acting career to a new high. When things start looking up for Maggie she meets a two guys that are in two totally different sides of the acting industry and may have a play in her success as well.
Sloan: Sloan lives in Connecticut with her Mom,Dad,Big Brother,and Little brother. Sloan is smart pretty and has tons of friends including Gordy who has been her BFF since 3 and is madly in love with her. Even though Sloan has a good support system she is still angry and distant from everyone since her last birthday. This all changes of course when she meets James and everything Sloan thought she wanted changes when he enters her life.
The Secret: Sloan and Maggie have never met but when they go to sleep their worlds collide and they dream that they are the other. Maggie knows Sloans every fear and secret as Sloan knows Maggies.
The Good: This was unbelievable!! I loved the idea of how we get two different point of views each chapter and it was fun how each girl was the total opposite of the other but they wished they could be each other. I also liked how both girls knew that what they were dreaming could be real or a fantasy but it added to the mystery for us because they didn't know and the reader's are left in the dark also.
The Weird The last 100 pages it got so weird that it was so confusing and I had to keep flipping back to the first page of the chapter to see which girl was talking at the moment. It was freaky from their,Outrageous further,and plain Black Swan at the end.
Overall READ IT. This was a Mind boggling reading experience!! I loved it from the beginning and it started out as a wonderful story at first then took a turn for crazy at the end! This book definitely stepped in the world of crazy that I was pretty upset with the ending(hence the 4 stars) because it DIDN'T end or explain what happened!!!! So if you are looking for a happy ending in this book....sorry...you don't get it!
May 18, 2013
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Forget everything you've been told about Lucid. Everything. I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a title of a novel I've been more mislead by, and not in a good way. Lucid promises to be an original, mind-boggling, and paranormal tale of two girls who can't discern their reality from their dreams, much like what happens to Leonardo DiCaprio's wife in "Inception." Lucid, I have to admit, certainly delivers on this front, but only during the last twenty percent of this novel. For the other eighty percent, we are slowly flipping the pages, bored senseless by the normalcy of the two lives we are presented and if, you're like me, banging our heads as Adrienne Stoltz has managed to cleverly weave two love triangles in one. While Lucid is by no means an excellent novel, its ending saved it from being a disappointing one.
Maggie and Sloane have the same name, but they could not be two more different individuals. Maggie is a teenage actress living in Manhattan with a widowed mother who is more careless than responsible and a beloved younger sister who Maggie dotes on, but also takes full care of. Sloane, on the other hand, has a loving family, a younger brother, a best guy friend who is always there for her, and a normal school life. In fact, the only tragedy to hit her life is the death of Bill, a childhood friend. For Maggie, romance enters her life in the form of Andrew and Thomas while Sloane is torn between James, the enigmatic new guy who wins her heart with his intellect and good-looks, and her life-long best friend, Gordy. What makes Sloane and Maggie connected, though, more than just their names is the fact that they dream of each others lives at night and now, they can't tell who is real and who is simply a figment of their own imagination.
Quite frankly, it took me awhile to get into Lucid. If I hadn't been reading this on a read-along, I most probably would have abandoned it at its half-way point. Each chapter switches from the perspectives of Maggie and Sloane and at first, I found myself zooming through Maggie's chapters to get to Sloane. Maggie, as an actress, is aloof and distant from the reader for much of the story, failing to form the immediate emotional connection that Sloane garners because of the normalcy of her life. As the novel wore on, though, I found that I began to care for both heroines and the stark differences between their narrations were very clearly felt, which is an obvious plus point in the direction of this debut author.
Unfortunately, though, the eighty percent of this novel shrouded in dullness is also filled with angst. We have Maggie, who likes Andrew, who has a girlfriend. We also have Thomas, who is an agent, who likes Maggie, who is seven years younger than him and isn't even a legal adult. Ew. On the other hand, we have Sloane, who is besotted with James - and I don't completely blame her - but he, too, is rather mercurial. Although Gordy is never a viable love interest because of the attention Sloane lavishes on James, our feelings towards James oscillate from love to hate rapidly. One of the most unique aspects of this novel is that by the end, some of this makes sense. My mixed feelings towards James, for instance, are perfectly explained and kind of mind-blowing in their subtle genius. Others, though, are merely present for drama, angst, and for the sake of prolonging the novel longer than it needed to be. Folks, the beginning of this story is not a fun ride - not at all.
Thankfully, though, the plot slowly gives away to a descent into madness. We see aspects of Maggie's life crop up in Sloane's and vice versa and, at first, we aren't sure what to think. When the ending arrives, it is stunning and explains so much - but not enough. It seems to be too obscure for me to fully fall in love with this novel, yet decent enough that I did like it. Nevertheless, I can only recommend Lucid to the most patient of readers, those who can barrel through angst and love triangles to finally get to the rather genius ending within. And, to them, I simply say this: good luck.
A huge thanks to Jasprit for reading this along with me! Without her, I would have undoubtedly given up and never been shocked by the utterly brilliant ending. :)
You can read this review" and more on my blog, Ivy Book Bindings.
Forget everything you've been told about Lucid. Everything. I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a title of a novel I've been more mislead by, and not in a good way. Lucid promises to be an original, mind-boggling, and paranormal tale of two girls who can't discern their reality from their dreams, much like what happens to Leonardo DiCaprio's wife in "Inception." Lucid, I have to admit, certainly delivers on this front, but only during the last twenty percent of this novel. For the other eighty percent, we are slowly flipping the pages, bored senseless by the normalcy of the two lives we are presented and if, you're like me, banging our heads as Adrienne Stoltz has managed to cleverly weave two love triangles in one. While Lucid is by no means an excellent novel, its ending saved it from being a disappointing one.
Maggie and Sloane have the same name, but they could not be two more different individuals. Maggie is a teenage actress living in Manhattan with a widowed mother who is more careless than responsible and a beloved younger sister who Maggie dotes on, but also takes full care of. Sloane, on the other hand, has a loving family, a younger brother, a best guy friend who is always there for her, and a normal school life. In fact, the only tragedy to hit her life is the death of Bill, a childhood friend. For Maggie, romance enters her life in the form of Andrew and Thomas while Sloane is torn between James, the enigmatic new guy who wins her heart with his intellect and good-looks, and her life-long best friend, Gordy. What makes Sloane and Maggie connected, though, more than just their names is the fact that they dream of each others lives at night and now, they can't tell who is real and who is simply a figment of their own imagination.
Quite frankly, it took me awhile to get into Lucid. If I hadn't been reading this on a read-along, I most probably would have abandoned it at its half-way point. Each chapter switches from the perspectives of Maggie and Sloane and at first, I found myself zooming through Maggie's chapters to get to Sloane. Maggie, as an actress, is aloof and distant from the reader for much of the story, failing to form the immediate emotional connection that Sloane garners because of the normalcy of her life. As the novel wore on, though, I found that I began to care for both heroines and the stark differences between their narrations were very clearly felt, which is an obvious plus point in the direction of this debut author.
Unfortunately, though, the eighty percent of this novel shrouded in dullness is also filled with angst. We have Maggie, who likes Andrew, who has a girlfriend. We also have Thomas, who is an agent, who likes Maggie, who is seven years younger than him and isn't even a legal adult. Ew. On the other hand, we have Sloane, who is besotted with James - and I don't completely blame her - but he, too, is rather mercurial. Although Gordy is never a viable love interest because of the attention Sloane lavishes on James, our feelings towards James oscillate from love to hate rapidly. One of the most unique aspects of this novel is that by the end, some of this makes sense. My mixed feelings towards James, for instance, are perfectly explained and kind of mind-blowing in their subtle genius. Others, though, are merely present for drama, angst, and for the sake of prolonging the novel longer than it needed to be. Folks, the beginning of this story is not a fun ride - not at all.
Thankfully, though, the plot slowly gives away to a descent into madness. We see aspects of Maggie's life crop up in Sloane's and vice versa and, at first, we aren't sure what to think. When the ending arrives, it is stunning and explains so much - but not enough. It seems to be too obscure for me to fully fall in love with this novel, yet decent enough that I did like it. Nevertheless, I can only recommend Lucid to the most patient of readers, those who can barrel through angst and love triangles to finally get to the rather genius ending within. And, to them, I simply say this: good luck.
A huge thanks to Jasprit for reading this along with me! Without her, I would have undoubtedly given up and never been shocked by the utterly brilliant ending. :)
You can read this review" and more on my blog, Ivy Book Bindings.
March 21, 2013
4.5 stars
Lucid is one of the most mind boggling books I have come across in a long time, it kept me guessing until the very end and even when I finished the last page and closed my book I was still unsure about what had gone on. Despite the confusion and constant guessing on mine and Keertana’s behalf, Lucid is one of the most multi layered, rich and developed novels I have read in a long time. Having two screenwriters as its co-authors, it’s no wonder Lucid left such a great impression with me.
Lucid weaves you into the story of Sloane and Maggie, two girls that have never met one another, but dream of one another’s lives when they go to sleep. Maggie’s therapist has put it down to the one life event which had a major effect on her life, when she lost her dad. But Maggie knows it’s been going on for much longer than that, and even though her therapist keeps telling her it’ll become dangerous if she can’t let go of Sloane, Maggie’s not sure if she can, will one girl be able to cope with the other one not around?
Through dual pov’s from Sloane and Maggie we learn exactly how tough life has been for them. Both have experienced great losses of someone really close to them, have tense relationships with their mothers and after what has gone on are just managing to get by. From both pov’s I was able to form a stronger connection with Sloane’s character. Despite Maggie being the most resilient, the one who spoke her mind and try as I might to like Maggie, Sloane stood out as the character whose chapters and life I was looking forward to getting back to. And despite all the clues thrown our way which gave us the impression that Maggie was the real person and creating this imagined world with Sloane in it, I didn’t want this to be the case at all. I fell in love with Sloane’s world and friends and family, from her awkward and mysterious relationship she had with her mother, to the unexplained heartache over her loss, her trusting friend Gordi, and how she was always trying to outwit the new boy at school James. I’m not saying that Maggie’s life wasn’t entertaining enough, it was, but Sloane’s life for me stood out more prominently and thus I found more appealing than I did Maggie’s. So I didn’t want Maggie pulling the plug on this other life full of vibrance, first loves and endearing characters just because her therapist said so, I wanted to understand why it was all happening in the first place.
And honestly when it was all unravelled (it did take me some time to get my head around) it was never what I expected. Actually I never would have thought of this wonderful tangled and carefully thought out major twist in the first place. I have to highly praise Adrienne Stoltz & Ron Bass for creating such a thought evoking novel such as Lucid. I adored the entire novel, but the second half was just pure brilliance, with its blurring of realities, fast pace I found myself whipping through the book in a frenzied manner.
If there’s one thing you want to take away from my rather confusing and ambiguous review is that you need to make time to read Lucid. Lucid is one of the most imaginative books I have ever read, with its aspects of mystery, romance and heartache, it is sure to have that little bit which will appeal to the avid reader within everyone.
Lucid is one of the most mind boggling books I have come across in a long time, it kept me guessing until the very end and even when I finished the last page and closed my book I was still unsure about what had gone on. Despite the confusion and constant guessing on mine and Keertana’s behalf, Lucid is one of the most multi layered, rich and developed novels I have read in a long time. Having two screenwriters as its co-authors, it’s no wonder Lucid left such a great impression with me.
Lucid weaves you into the story of Sloane and Maggie, two girls that have never met one another, but dream of one another’s lives when they go to sleep. Maggie’s therapist has put it down to the one life event which had a major effect on her life, when she lost her dad. But Maggie knows it’s been going on for much longer than that, and even though her therapist keeps telling her it’ll become dangerous if she can’t let go of Sloane, Maggie’s not sure if she can, will one girl be able to cope with the other one not around?
Through dual pov’s from Sloane and Maggie we learn exactly how tough life has been for them. Both have experienced great losses of someone really close to them, have tense relationships with their mothers and after what has gone on are just managing to get by. From both pov’s I was able to form a stronger connection with Sloane’s character. Despite Maggie being the most resilient, the one who spoke her mind and try as I might to like Maggie, Sloane stood out as the character whose chapters and life I was looking forward to getting back to. And despite all the clues thrown our way which gave us the impression that Maggie was the real person and creating this imagined world with Sloane in it, I didn’t want this to be the case at all. I fell in love with Sloane’s world and friends and family, from her awkward and mysterious relationship she had with her mother, to the unexplained heartache over her loss, her trusting friend Gordi, and how she was always trying to outwit the new boy at school James. I’m not saying that Maggie’s life wasn’t entertaining enough, it was, but Sloane’s life for me stood out more prominently and thus I found more appealing than I did Maggie’s. So I didn’t want Maggie pulling the plug on this other life full of vibrance, first loves and endearing characters just because her therapist said so, I wanted to understand why it was all happening in the first place.
And honestly when it was all unravelled (it did take me some time to get my head around) it was never what I expected. Actually I never would have thought of this wonderful tangled and carefully thought out major twist in the first place. I have to highly praise Adrienne Stoltz & Ron Bass for creating such a thought evoking novel such as Lucid. I adored the entire novel, but the second half was just pure brilliance, with its blurring of realities, fast pace I found myself whipping through the book in a frenzied manner.
If there’s one thing you want to take away from my rather confusing and ambiguous review is that you need to make time to read Lucid. Lucid is one of the most imaginative books I have ever read, with its aspects of mystery, romance and heartache, it is sure to have that little bit which will appeal to the avid reader within everyone.
September 27, 2015
1.5 stars, and I'm being merciful here. Maybe there were things I missed because I skimmed through most of the book, but it was impossible NOT to skim. I really did not give a crap about any of the characters, especially Sloane, who annoyed me to the point where I wanted to break a kitten's neck. I mean goddamn, everything in this book was so ridiculous, especially the boy-craziness, and guuuuuuuurl was there a lot of that. I feel like on every paragraph there had to be something about one of the girls' obsessions with their boytoys.
And that ending just flat-out confused me. I've heard people say that it was touching and it made their hearts break and made them cry and what have you but I'm like . . . HUH? How? o_e I genuinely don't get it. From the words of the Nostalgia Chick, maybe my heart is just a tiny little mini-fridge pumping ice water through veins of stone.
I cannot for the life of me understand the amount of gushing reviews I've seen for this book, or why so many people adore it so much. I'd love if someone could explain to me, because I don't feel like re-reading this at all. It was just not a pleasant experience.
And that ending just flat-out confused me. I've heard people say that it was touching and it made their hearts break and made them cry and what have you but I'm like . . . HUH? How? o_e I genuinely don't get it. From the words of the Nostalgia Chick, maybe my heart is just a tiny little mini-fridge pumping ice water through veins of stone.
I cannot for the life of me understand the amount of gushing reviews I've seen for this book, or why so many people adore it so much. I'd love if someone could explain to me, because I don't feel like re-reading this at all. It was just not a pleasant experience.
March 11, 2013
When Maggie goes to sleep at night, she dreams the life of another girl. And when that girl goes to sleep at night, Sloan dreams of Maggie's life.
Maggie is a girl living in New York, an actress trying to live her dreams while taking care of her little sister because their mother is never around and their father died years ago.
Sloane is a girl living in a small town, with loving parents, a younger and older brother, trying to find love while dealing with the death of her best friend over a year ago.
Both of these girls are desperate for love and deal with their own unique problems and issues.
They're also both bitches.
Sloane is a brat who cares more about the 'hot, mysterious, every-girl-in-school-wants-him' new boy James, than her best friend and family. She can't think straight when he's around (frankly, I don't think she thinks straight at all), and blows off her family and best friend every chance she gets just to be with him.
Maggie was alright at first. She had a smart mouth and could take care of herself, including her little sister. But the two girls' perspectives began to blend into the other (which might have been the point?) and she became just as bitchy and thoughtless as Sloane. Her logic was that every girl who even talked to 'her man' was obviously a skank and therefore wasn't worthy of him.
The story switches between Maggie and Sloane's perspectives, and after a while, you can't tell who is who because they both act identical.
There were too many boys in this book; I couldn't tell which one was James, which was Andrew, or Gordy, or Thomas, etc. It didn't help that the authors mentioned their names like once and referred to them as 'he' for the rest of the chapter, so you have to pay close attention. Which was difficult considering how tedious and over-descriptive the story could be most of the time.
It also didn't help that all the boys sounded exactly the same anyway.
I liked that Sloane was an atheist (that's a refreshing aspect of YA) and that she loved animals. But it didn't make up for the fact that she was unbelievably stupid and infuriating.
I love the concept of dreams and dreams v.s. reality. It was what made me want to pick up this book in the first place, plus the gorgeous purple cover also called out to me like, well, a bookworm to a beautiful book. But this book didn't even get to the actual dream part until 100 pages till the end. The rest was nothing but boring drama.
Spoilers
Can someone please explain what in the fuck happened in the end? Did Maggie give up her life or did Sloane? Which was the real girl? Were they both just dreams of one girl who had multiple personality disorder and that was her way of dealing with it?
Very disappointing. All I know was that it made me want to throw a table and scream and frown and lose faith in humanity all at the same time.
October 13, 2012
I think I liked the idea much more than I liked the book itself. It was just too... contemporary and focused on boy troubles for my taste. The last part, however, was a game-changer, and it totally made me sob.
So I'm officially torn.
So I'm officially torn.
August 24, 2012
Sloane and Maggie are two complely different girls with the same full name. Maggie has dark hair and lives in New York working as an actress. Her mom is never around but she loves her sister Jade. Sloane has blonde hair, two loving parents, brothers, great friends, and goes to high school in Connecticut. But when they go to sleep they dream about the other one's day. At first I was a bit confused about how they know that the other one is indeed dreaming their life but I guess they figured it out from observing during the dream. They do talk about attempting to find the other girl by looking them up where they live but have never found them.
Then for a big part of the book the dream part kind of takes a backseat. I felt the main theme of the book was about finding love and allowing yourself to be loved and even how to love. Both girls are unsure if they can ever find love and if they do how do they know it is real? Seems like a serious thing to think about at 17 but honestly I have thought about it since I was 17 so it felt real and relatable to me. Maggie is dating Thomas but is it because she likes him or that he might be able to give her career a big break but she also met Andrew, a film student who is becoming her best friend and maybe more. Sloane has a great best friend named Gordy but falling for the new guy James and also not over the loss of her best friend Bill.
These girl's struggle to find love is at times beautiful and other times heartbreaking. I felt especially sad over Sloane's loss of Bill. With Maggie I just wanted her to hurry up and get with her new friend Andrew and I wanted Sloane to get with her friend Gordy. But these girls were very unsure of who to give their heart to. They are very vulnerable with many family and friend problems. I really became attached to the characters. It is hard for me to explain why I loved them. The writing was just very emotional. But then when I got towards the last 100 pages I was completely confused!
The dream worlds and different girls lives collide and I didn't have a clue who was who and had to look at the chapter titles which shows which girl is currently narrating. The ending was so sad (was totally balling my eyes out) and sweet but at the same time I can't honestly even tell you what the heck happened?!?!?! I have been questioning people that read it and have yet to truly figure out for sure what the ending means!!!! That is my biggest compliant. I love dream books and understand they come with confusion, which is part of the fun and mystery, but by the end of the book I would like to finally have everything spelled out to me and be sure of what happened which I wasn't. But don't let the weird ending put you off. The story was very beautifully written and I really cared about what happened to these girls.
If I fell in love, I wouldn't be lonely. Not that I am. But how do you fall in love? Is it really something that conveniently "just happens" to you? Or is it something that you have to make happen, see your opportunity and don't let it get away? Even though I'm only seventeen, I have this scary conviction that if it was going to happen, it would have happened already. I mean it's even happened to Sloane. Even though I'm the only one who knows that.
Doing a reasonable imitation of Ryan's voice, Andrew waggles his eyebrows: "Mags. I want you. To have sex with me. So that you'll thin I'm getting Macauley to give you a role, but I'm also having sex with five other actresses, promising them the same thing."
"Hey. At least I'd get to have sex with him"
That stops him cold. It also revealed that he is utterly and overwhelmingly jealous. I love, love, love that.
"We're both lucky we found each other. I mean, I don't know what I'd do with the rest of my life if I ever lost her. Crazy, huh?"
Then for a big part of the book the dream part kind of takes a backseat. I felt the main theme of the book was about finding love and allowing yourself to be loved and even how to love. Both girls are unsure if they can ever find love and if they do how do they know it is real? Seems like a serious thing to think about at 17 but honestly I have thought about it since I was 17 so it felt real and relatable to me. Maggie is dating Thomas but is it because she likes him or that he might be able to give her career a big break but she also met Andrew, a film student who is becoming her best friend and maybe more. Sloane has a great best friend named Gordy but falling for the new guy James and also not over the loss of her best friend Bill.
These girl's struggle to find love is at times beautiful and other times heartbreaking. I felt especially sad over Sloane's loss of Bill. With Maggie I just wanted her to hurry up and get with her new friend Andrew and I wanted Sloane to get with her friend Gordy. But these girls were very unsure of who to give their heart to. They are very vulnerable with many family and friend problems. I really became attached to the characters. It is hard for me to explain why I loved them. The writing was just very emotional. But then when I got towards the last 100 pages I was completely confused!
The dream worlds and different girls lives collide and I didn't have a clue who was who and had to look at the chapter titles which shows which girl is currently narrating. The ending was so sad (was totally balling my eyes out) and sweet but at the same time I can't honestly even tell you what the heck happened?!?!?! I have been questioning people that read it and have yet to truly figure out for sure what the ending means!!!! That is my biggest compliant. I love dream books and understand they come with confusion, which is part of the fun and mystery, but by the end of the book I would like to finally have everything spelled out to me and be sure of what happened which I wasn't. But don't let the weird ending put you off. The story was very beautifully written and I really cared about what happened to these girls.
If I fell in love, I wouldn't be lonely. Not that I am. But how do you fall in love? Is it really something that conveniently "just happens" to you? Or is it something that you have to make happen, see your opportunity and don't let it get away? Even though I'm only seventeen, I have this scary conviction that if it was going to happen, it would have happened already. I mean it's even happened to Sloane. Even though I'm the only one who knows that.
Doing a reasonable imitation of Ryan's voice, Andrew waggles his eyebrows: "Mags. I want you. To have sex with me. So that you'll thin I'm getting Macauley to give you a role, but I'm also having sex with five other actresses, promising them the same thing."
"Hey. At least I'd get to have sex with him"
That stops him cold. It also revealed that he is utterly and overwhelmingly jealous. I love, love, love that.
"We're both lucky we found each other. I mean, I don't know what I'd do with the rest of my life if I ever lost her. Crazy, huh?"
September 13, 2012
4.5 stars
Excuse my language, but this book was a complete mind-f**k in every possibly way...but I loved it.
The characters, the plot, the thought and creativity put behind this by these two authors was all amazing. And that's a lot coming from a girl who tends to shy away from books written by two authors. More often than not, it almost feels as if I can tell the two author's apart. Something like that is distracting to me because I feel as if it interrupts the flow of a book. But this wasn't the case. These authors wrote out their alternating chapters expertly and I was immediately drawn into the story that they weaved together.
Sloane and Maggie are two completely different girls. Sloane lives in a small town and lives a normal life. Maggie lives in New York City and is an aspiring actress that has already nailed a gig or two. Both are so different, but they have one thing in common: when they go to sleep, they don't truly dream. Instead, they completely live through the other's day. Neither of them know if the other is real or if they're just figments of each other's imaginations, but their story is too elaborate to be taken lightly.
What I really liked about this book was that despite the importance of the dream sequences, there was an overarching goal of finding love, mimicked by almost every teenage girl in the country. It shows that it's important to love yourself and to find the right love for you, not to allow others to take advantage of you or to use others for a goal. Love is real, it's raw, and it cannot be faked, especially for business negotiations. It can wound you deeply but it can also make you soar. And that's something that I truly, truly enjoyed while reading. Both of their journies were somewhat similar and incredibly heartbreaking. And I can't say much, but I have no shame saying that I believe Sloane ended up with the wrong guy. I liked Gordy! ah!
The plot progression of this book was amazing. It takes a reader a few chapters to realize what was going on with the dream sequences. If you really want to think about it, the entire book is a dream sequence. After that, it was pretty much smooth sailing until Maggie and Sloane's lives collided. It's hard to figure out up and down as they both go through their identity crises separately, trying to figure out what part of their lives is dream and what part is their reality. It is almost as if they're entering a sudden downward spiral of insanity and you can't help but go with them because as confusing as it is, you want to know what exactly they're going through and what is real. Then you read the last page and your heart stops beating for a second. I'm going to be completely honest and say that I wanted to scream and drag both authors to my room and pepper them with questions about my theories because the ending is certainly open to interpretation, but then I realized that despite the fact that I wasn't fully informed about things, I really enjoyed this ending. It was a shock, it was unexpected, it was totally satisfying and unique. And it delivered the only believable mind-f**k that I have ever encountered in a book. Again, I have to credit this all to the amazing creativity of Ron Bass and Adrienne Stoltz.
This book was amazingly written. I truly felt for these girls because they are both so relatable and have similar struggles. I was rooting for them throughout the entire book and I'd recommend this book to pretty much everyone, especially people who love a unique ending. I'm normally not a fan of endings that are left open to interpretation without spelling exactly everything out for you, but this one got me and will definitely take a spot among my favorites. Heartbreaking, beautifully written, and full of moments that will make you both smile and possibly tear up, Lucid is not a book to be missed.
Excuse my language, but this book was a complete mind-f**k in every possibly way...but I loved it.
The characters, the plot, the thought and creativity put behind this by these two authors was all amazing. And that's a lot coming from a girl who tends to shy away from books written by two authors. More often than not, it almost feels as if I can tell the two author's apart. Something like that is distracting to me because I feel as if it interrupts the flow of a book. But this wasn't the case. These authors wrote out their alternating chapters expertly and I was immediately drawn into the story that they weaved together.
Sloane and Maggie are two completely different girls. Sloane lives in a small town and lives a normal life. Maggie lives in New York City and is an aspiring actress that has already nailed a gig or two. Both are so different, but they have one thing in common: when they go to sleep, they don't truly dream. Instead, they completely live through the other's day. Neither of them know if the other is real or if they're just figments of each other's imaginations, but their story is too elaborate to be taken lightly.
What I really liked about this book was that despite the importance of the dream sequences, there was an overarching goal of finding love, mimicked by almost every teenage girl in the country. It shows that it's important to love yourself and to find the right love for you, not to allow others to take advantage of you or to use others for a goal. Love is real, it's raw, and it cannot be faked, especially for business negotiations. It can wound you deeply but it can also make you soar. And that's something that I truly, truly enjoyed while reading. Both of their journies were somewhat similar and incredibly heartbreaking. And I can't say much, but I have no shame saying that I believe Sloane ended up with the wrong guy. I liked Gordy! ah!
The plot progression of this book was amazing. It takes a reader a few chapters to realize what was going on with the dream sequences. If you really want to think about it, the entire book is a dream sequence. After that, it was pretty much smooth sailing until Maggie and Sloane's lives collided. It's hard to figure out up and down as they both go through their identity crises separately, trying to figure out what part of their lives is dream and what part is their reality. It is almost as if they're entering a sudden downward spiral of insanity and you can't help but go with them because as confusing as it is, you want to know what exactly they're going through and what is real. Then you read the last page and your heart stops beating for a second. I'm going to be completely honest and say that I wanted to scream and drag both authors to my room and pepper them with questions about my theories because the ending is certainly open to interpretation, but then I realized that despite the fact that I wasn't fully informed about things, I really enjoyed this ending. It was a shock, it was unexpected, it was totally satisfying and unique. And it delivered the only believable mind-f**k that I have ever encountered in a book. Again, I have to credit this all to the amazing creativity of Ron Bass and Adrienne Stoltz.
This book was amazingly written. I truly felt for these girls because they are both so relatable and have similar struggles. I was rooting for them throughout the entire book and I'd recommend this book to pretty much everyone, especially people who love a unique ending. I'm normally not a fan of endings that are left open to interpretation without spelling exactly everything out for you, but this one got me and will definitely take a spot among my favorites. Heartbreaking, beautifully written, and full of moments that will make you both smile and possibly tear up, Lucid is not a book to be missed.
April 18, 2013
I’m not sure whether Lucid is extremely clever or just frustrating, but I’m leaning towards the decision that it’s a little from Column A, a little from Column B.
Sloane and Maggie dream they are each other. They live completely different lives: one a straight-A student in a small town, the other an actress in New York. Each girl believes that they are real, and the other is a dream. Except, of course, that thought is shadowed by the fear that they are in fact the dream, and they could disappear at any time.
Lucid spends some time establishing the two separate worlds of each girl, exploring the differences in their characters and day-to-day lives. Their realties are seemingly unconnected, yet each is fully cognizant of the other. They know each other’s families. They know each other’s secrets. They essentially live each other’s lives when they fall asleep. And with the exception of Maggie’s psychologist, no one knows that they inhabit a double reality, or that they both fear they are not real.
That is, until the fabric between their worlds begins to perforate, and parts of their lives start to bleed into the others’.
Although this is a premise I found intriguing, Lucid took some time for me to feel immersed in. I wanted to be fully engaged by this story, but some quality of the storytelling was almost repellent at first. The worlds felt slightly unreal to me (though in hindsight, perhaps this was a deliberate choice), and neither girl was initially very compelling. Lucid seemed more concerned with telling the reader how different Sloane and Maggie were, as opposed to creating characters that were interesting in their own right. It wasn’t until a considerable way through the book that I actually started to feel some investment in what was happening to them, which coincided with the plot gaining momentum.
While on the face of it Maggie and Sloane lead vastly different lives, there are subtle parallels in their stories and markers in their personalities. These small hints, and trying line them up with their counterpoints, are what keep the novel intriguing, more so than the actual events taking place in their respective lives.
Much of Lucid revolves around romantic drama. And while this makes sense to me now, it did occasionally feel tedious and drawn out while reading. Both girls meet new potential love interests, and there are other possible candidates for their affections existing in their lives. These entanglements are accompanied by a lot of internal rumination and complicated emotions, so a large portion of the book is concerned with working through these issues and “falling in love”.
In keeping with the continuous background questioning of ‘real or not real’, some of the characters feel more organic to the story, while others seem like anomalies. There’s a slight quality of wish-fulfilment to these characters and certain events that unfold, which are used almost as red-herrings, so that neither world feels consistently “real” or “unreal”. Again, it’s a tactic that makes sense in retrospect, though at the time seemed lifted directly from the Paranormal Romance Guide to Tropes. (Probably another reason I was initially resistant to the book).
Where Lucid really strengthens though, is in the convergence of the worlds. The pace lifts rapidly, and the writing nails the disturbing sense of unravelling and descent into chaos. Here, the book becomes hard to put down, as it become increasingly confusing while moving inexorably toward a conclusion.
However, it’s not an ending that will satisfy all readers. A few answers are provided, from which readers can draw their own conclusions (pun totally intended). Ultimately, much is left unconfirmed, several threads left hanging. This is both appropriate, and annoying, depending on your level of investment in the characters.
That said, by leaving readers free to fill in some of the blanks, Lucid makes a more lasting impression and almost guarantees readers will continue to puzzle over its unravelling long after the final page.
* * * * *
Loved the concept, but I'm a bit ambivalent on the execution.
Review to come.
April 12, 2016
Sloane who is this passive aggressive sweet teenage girl who is mourning the loss of her best friend Billy. Her family who supports her, her best friends Gordy, Lily and Dana are always there for her when she needs them, her future is set on attending Columbia University. Then there's Maggie, the complete opposite of Sloane. A young teenage actress who navigates the alligator infested waters of the Hollywood scene. She's an actress with a mother who cares more about herself than her two daughters. Maggie promptly takes care of her younger sister and in doing so, has no time for a social life. When Sloane falls asleep, she dreams of Maggie's life, and vice versa. But once these very different girls fall in love, everything is on the line, including their hearts. Are they going insane or is one going to just disappear?
I almost stopped reading this. The beginning is so long. It dragged on and on about the lives of these two girls. So different, yet so alike at the same time. There was so much detail. SO much. I believe I didn't need to know everything that was going on in the two characters lives, but maybe the authors wanted me to know what was going on. Well I'm glad to say that I didn't stop, and I'm glad I kept going because the twist at the end was worth it.
Completely thought provoking, with twists and turns that doesn't seem to end, I was confused the ENTIRE TIME reading this. The mind twists start at the 200+ page so make sure you pay close attention to the last few hundred pages. This book would end up as a great movie. A thriller drama that will keep the audience from guessing. I STILL don't know what happened at the end. I'm still confused, but maybe a re-read is in order to better understand it.
Well done Adrienne and Ron, you kept this lady from guessing the real truth. I love that you twisted my mind into a pretzel. Definitely a must-read for any contemporary fan.
I almost stopped reading this. The beginning is so long. It dragged on and on about the lives of these two girls. So different, yet so alike at the same time. There was so much detail. SO much. I believe I didn't need to know everything that was going on in the two characters lives, but maybe the authors wanted me to know what was going on. Well I'm glad to say that I didn't stop, and I'm glad I kept going because the twist at the end was worth it.
Completely thought provoking, with twists and turns that doesn't seem to end, I was confused the ENTIRE TIME reading this. The mind twists start at the 200+ page so make sure you pay close attention to the last few hundred pages. This book would end up as a great movie. A thriller drama that will keep the audience from guessing. I STILL don't know what happened at the end. I'm still confused, but maybe a re-read is in order to better understand it.
Well done Adrienne and Ron, you kept this lady from guessing the real truth. I love that you twisted my mind into a pretzel. Definitely a must-read for any contemporary fan.
October 9, 2012
*****FINAL RATING: 5.00 STARS*****
CATCHALL
Wow. I mean, wow. Just, wow. I was literally speechless after I finished this book. It was completely and utterly amazing and I positively loved it. I was just absolutely blown away. I won't be the first or the last person to make this comparison, but this book is a lot like Inception. The first time you read it, you don't really understand exactly what's going on but you love it anyway because it's that incredible. As time goes on and you read it again and again, it slowly begins to piece itself together, starting to make an increasing amount of sense. Yet through it all, whether or not or not you really grasped the concept, you fall in love with it. Simply, simply incredible. Fantabulous, even. I also realize that this review is just a biiit long. Actually, it's longer than my Lit papers, haha.
THE HEROINES
MAGGIE
Maggie is very, very different from Sloane. She's much bolder and independent. She's used to living on her own terms and doing what's best for her. She's an actress and she loves life. Maggie is worldly but she's also very naïve. She steers life in the direction she wants it to go and expects it to obey. Maggie isn't often afraid, but when she is she never lets it show. She always projects a strong and confident exterior to the world even when she feels anything but within. It was easy for me to relate to her and I really found myself rooting for her throughout the book. I definitely liked her better of the two girls.
SLOANE
I liked Sloane, but I didn't connect to her the way I connected to Maggie. Maggie and I were best friends from page one. Sloane was more like an acquaintance until the middle of the book. she's less bold than Maggie and is very vulnerable. She wants to feel loved but she suffers intensely from loss. Sloane struggles more than Maggie to make her world fit together. Sloane loves her life, but there are parts of it that are missing. I also think that Sloane didn't know how to channel her grief, and also I think that she was definitely genuine in her feelings.
THE LOVE INTERESTS
ANDREW
I absolutely love Andrew. Like, I absolutely absolutely love him. Like, I legit want to have his kids. Anyway, before I start to get really creepy…he's just awesome and, like, I don't know, completely amazing. And I don't know how to explain too much of the why, he just is. He's a film student. When Maggie first meets him, she's convinced that they could be pod friends, if nothing else, since he seems to be happy with his girlfriend. Andrew feels things intensely. That's clear from the beginning. He wants what's real, and he decides eventually that he won't settle for anything less. He's incredibly put together for someone who is young but not in a way that makes him too old. He also always makes Maggie smile and he always, always took care of her and was there for her. He also was so good to Jade, Maggie's little sister. And the thing that makes him the most perfect is the fact that he isn't perfect. Andrew is also extremely symbolic but that's spoilery territory so I won't be going there.
JAMES
James is very, very different from Andrew, but I love him too. Sloane doesn't want to like to him. In fact, she's a little afraid of him. But somehow she's drawn to him nonetheless. He's actually a lot like Sloane. He's very intelligent, and he loves to read. Classics like Siddhartha and The Great Gatsby. He can be difficult but he genuinely cares about and even loves Sloane and wanted her to be happy. He tried to understand what she was going through even when there wasn't anything he could do. James also gave Sloane space when she needed it. Though he struggled to put his mind in the right place, his heart was really always with her and he didn't always do the smartest thing but he really did want to be with Sloane and made sure that he tried his best.
THE PLOT
Well, I'm not even sure where to begin. This book blew me away emotionally and mentally. I mean, it actually drained me. Very rarely do I become so invested in a book that I actually feel like curling into a ball and wasting away. Sure, I've been so upset that I couldn't eat multiple times. Many times. But I have never felt about another book the way I felt about Lucid. I wanted to crawl inside of it and live there. I really did. Because I thought that living life otherwise was unbearable. Obviously, I have made it through that point. But my original conviction remains true and steady.
Maggie and Sloane are two very different girls living in two very different worlds. But they're also not. There are so many parallels that I could draw between them. So freaking many. They're not quite so different as we're led to believe at first. Maggie is simply a more confident version of Sloane, almost as if she wishes that's who she was. Sloane is more like Maggie's inner self, vulnerable and naïve and unprepared for what's in store for her.
Maggie is an up-and-coming actress. Suddenly, there's a guy who's offering to get her casted as one of the leading characters on a hot new TV show. The only catch? He wants to sleep with her. And as more than a one-time thing. At first, Maggie doesn't mind. She finds him attractive, and he is doing her a favor. She goes along with it for a long while, but eventually she realizes that she isn't sure that that's what she wants at all. He doesn't really care about her, and Maggie isn't sure her career is worth that. He isn't the most amazing guy in the world, and he does some things that Maggie must use all her smarts to get out of.
Sloane is almost a typical high school student, except, of course, that she isn't. Sloane's greatest evil is that she suffers the loss of someone she loved. Her best friend, Bill, who she also loved. He was everything to her until the night he died, and she was completely broken up when that happened. She hasn't been interested in anyone since, not even Gordy, the friend who loves her. She grieves deeply and has two close friends, Lila and Kelly, who would do anything for her and frequently offer stellar advice. But when new boy James comes to town, Sloane thinks she just might be able to love again.
Though both girls' lives are as far apart as can be, it only takes a single lynchpin for them to completely collide. And when they do, it's explosive and intense and maybe even a little bit deadly. Nothing will stay the same once that happens. Everything is going to change for Sloane and Maggie. They must choose one world. The stories are heartbreaking and real, and they made me realize how impossible such a choice would be. How can you give up something like that?
Throughout the novel I felt very connected to everything. When the story was bright and cheerful, I was happy and smiling and laughing. When it was dark, I was crying, my heart bleeding for Maggie and Sloane. It completely trumped pretty much everything else in my life and became the Most Important Thing Ever to me. I mean…I couldn't stop reading it. And I didn't want to. I let this book into my heart, and I don't think I'll ever let it go. It's the kind of book that left a deep imprint, the type that you'll never forget even if you want to. It simply means too much to be let go.
THE ROMANCE
The romance. Oh, man, the romance. It was just so seriously swoonworthy. And very, very beautiful. Maggie loves Andrew even though she doesn't admit it for a long time. And when she does, it's so sweet. They have such gorgeous chemistry and they just fit so beautifully together as a couple. I'm not sure I could love them together any more. The way Andrew feels about Maggie is tangible, and the way she feels about him is almost immediately obvious too. I especially love the way they argue and then always, always make up. Like Maggie says, it takes a very special kind of guy to be able to argue with like that, and the fact that they can do so together makes the sparks that much more electric. And then I also love James and Sloane together, though perhaps not so much. They definitely go through some rocky times and James doesn't always treat her as well as he should. Even so, they're intellectually matched and they have chemistry too. They're alike in a lot of ways and that's why their relationship is so deeply intense too.
THE WRITING
This writing is simply phenomenal. I honestly don't know how else I could possibly describe it. It completely and utterly blew me away. Adrienne and Ron make a peerless team and I devoured every word. Maggie and Sloane are achingly real characters. Their voices reflect that and make them completely come to life on the page. Each of them also has a distinctly unique voice. You can hear something of them in each other, but they're still as different as can be. They're both struggling for identity and that is also reflected. The worlds that Maggie and Sloane live in are vivid and described beautifully. The New York and Connecticut that this book takes place in are absolutely fantastic and I really definitely could picture the people and places in this book. I was pulled into the story until I became a part of it, until the writing enveloped me. I don't always provide excerpts since they take forever to find, but this book has such awesome writing that I simply can't resist. These were taken from my uncorrected proof.
THE ENDING
The ending was gorgeous and haunting as well as heartbreaking. There were tears and actual sobbing going on. Maggie and Sloane's worlds are beginning to crash together until neither of them knows what is real and what isn't. They can't keep things from colliding. And somehow, each of them knows that they have to choose. But they can't when they don't know what's real. Maggie and Sloane each become convinced that their world is a lie, nonexistent, invented somewhere in the other's head. They doubt themselves until they can't remember who they are. Maggie, Sloane, Maggie, Sloane. Ultimately, the choice will be made and the truth behind everything will be revealed. And when that happened, something inside me cried even as I could see the happiness in the ending. There were tears and smiles, and I'm not ashamed of that.
WRAPUP
I'm honestly not sure I've ever fallen so deeply in love with a story before. Lucid absolutely consumed me. It literally became my world and I didn't ever want to have to leave it. I know how insanely and ridiculously cliché that sounds, but I can't think of a better way to describe it. It's seriously one of the truest things I have ever said. I was just completely blown away. Lucid made me think and it fascinated me. It's definitely not an easy read but it is a seriously emotional one. It was a crazy ride, but I loved every single second of it. It was one of those books that totally screws over whatever you read after it because there is no way it can possibly measure up. I'll definitely be reading works by Adrienne and Ron in the future, and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for another collaboration. Do you have my most fervent recommendation to read this novel as soon as if humanly possible? Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times, a million times, a billion times yes.
FINE.
Find more of my reviews on Sparkles and Lightning!
One thing that annoyed me: In my uncorrected proof, a Breakfast at Tiffany's scene was incorrectly referenced. I will be checking the see if this was corrected in the final copy, which I hope it was!
CATCHALL
Wow. I mean, wow. Just, wow. I was literally speechless after I finished this book. It was completely and utterly amazing and I positively loved it. I was just absolutely blown away. I won't be the first or the last person to make this comparison, but this book is a lot like Inception. The first time you read it, you don't really understand exactly what's going on but you love it anyway because it's that incredible. As time goes on and you read it again and again, it slowly begins to piece itself together, starting to make an increasing amount of sense. Yet through it all, whether or not or not you really grasped the concept, you fall in love with it. Simply, simply incredible. Fantabulous, even. I also realize that this review is just a biiit long. Actually, it's longer than my Lit papers, haha.
THE HEROINES
MAGGIE
Maggie is very, very different from Sloane. She's much bolder and independent. She's used to living on her own terms and doing what's best for her. She's an actress and she loves life. Maggie is worldly but she's also very naïve. She steers life in the direction she wants it to go and expects it to obey. Maggie isn't often afraid, but when she is she never lets it show. She always projects a strong and confident exterior to the world even when she feels anything but within. It was easy for me to relate to her and I really found myself rooting for her throughout the book. I definitely liked her better of the two girls.
SLOANE
I liked Sloane, but I didn't connect to her the way I connected to Maggie. Maggie and I were best friends from page one. Sloane was more like an acquaintance until the middle of the book. she's less bold than Maggie and is very vulnerable. She wants to feel loved but she suffers intensely from loss. Sloane struggles more than Maggie to make her world fit together. Sloane loves her life, but there are parts of it that are missing. I also think that Sloane didn't know how to channel her grief, and also I think that she was definitely genuine in her feelings.
THE LOVE INTERESTS
ANDREW
I absolutely love Andrew. Like, I absolutely absolutely love him. Like, I legit want to have his kids. Anyway, before I start to get really creepy…he's just awesome and, like, I don't know, completely amazing. And I don't know how to explain too much of the why, he just is. He's a film student. When Maggie first meets him, she's convinced that they could be pod friends, if nothing else, since he seems to be happy with his girlfriend. Andrew feels things intensely. That's clear from the beginning. He wants what's real, and he decides eventually that he won't settle for anything less. He's incredibly put together for someone who is young but not in a way that makes him too old. He also always makes Maggie smile and he always, always took care of her and was there for her. He also was so good to Jade, Maggie's little sister. And the thing that makes him the most perfect is the fact that he isn't perfect. Andrew is also extremely symbolic but that's spoilery territory so I won't be going there.
JAMES
James is very, very different from Andrew, but I love him too. Sloane doesn't want to like to him. In fact, she's a little afraid of him. But somehow she's drawn to him nonetheless. He's actually a lot like Sloane. He's very intelligent, and he loves to read. Classics like Siddhartha and The Great Gatsby. He can be difficult but he genuinely cares about and even loves Sloane and wanted her to be happy. He tried to understand what she was going through even when there wasn't anything he could do. James also gave Sloane space when she needed it. Though he struggled to put his mind in the right place, his heart was really always with her and he didn't always do the smartest thing but he really did want to be with Sloane and made sure that he tried his best.
THE PLOT
Well, I'm not even sure where to begin. This book blew me away emotionally and mentally. I mean, it actually drained me. Very rarely do I become so invested in a book that I actually feel like curling into a ball and wasting away. Sure, I've been so upset that I couldn't eat multiple times. Many times. But I have never felt about another book the way I felt about Lucid. I wanted to crawl inside of it and live there. I really did. Because I thought that living life otherwise was unbearable. Obviously, I have made it through that point. But my original conviction remains true and steady.
Maggie and Sloane are two very different girls living in two very different worlds. But they're also not. There are so many parallels that I could draw between them. So freaking many. They're not quite so different as we're led to believe at first. Maggie is simply a more confident version of Sloane, almost as if she wishes that's who she was. Sloane is more like Maggie's inner self, vulnerable and naïve and unprepared for what's in store for her.
Maggie is an up-and-coming actress. Suddenly, there's a guy who's offering to get her casted as one of the leading characters on a hot new TV show. The only catch? He wants to sleep with her. And as more than a one-time thing. At first, Maggie doesn't mind. She finds him attractive, and he is doing her a favor. She goes along with it for a long while, but eventually she realizes that she isn't sure that that's what she wants at all. He doesn't really care about her, and Maggie isn't sure her career is worth that. He isn't the most amazing guy in the world, and he does some things that Maggie must use all her smarts to get out of.
Sloane is almost a typical high school student, except, of course, that she isn't. Sloane's greatest evil is that she suffers the loss of someone she loved. Her best friend, Bill, who she also loved. He was everything to her until the night he died, and she was completely broken up when that happened. She hasn't been interested in anyone since, not even Gordy, the friend who loves her. She grieves deeply and has two close friends, Lila and Kelly, who would do anything for her and frequently offer stellar advice. But when new boy James comes to town, Sloane thinks she just might be able to love again.
Though both girls' lives are as far apart as can be, it only takes a single lynchpin for them to completely collide. And when they do, it's explosive and intense and maybe even a little bit deadly. Nothing will stay the same once that happens. Everything is going to change for Sloane and Maggie. They must choose one world. The stories are heartbreaking and real, and they made me realize how impossible such a choice would be. How can you give up something like that?
Throughout the novel I felt very connected to everything. When the story was bright and cheerful, I was happy and smiling and laughing. When it was dark, I was crying, my heart bleeding for Maggie and Sloane. It completely trumped pretty much everything else in my life and became the Most Important Thing Ever to me. I mean…I couldn't stop reading it. And I didn't want to. I let this book into my heart, and I don't think I'll ever let it go. It's the kind of book that left a deep imprint, the type that you'll never forget even if you want to. It simply means too much to be let go.
THE ROMANCE
The romance. Oh, man, the romance. It was just so seriously swoonworthy. And very, very beautiful. Maggie loves Andrew even though she doesn't admit it for a long time. And when she does, it's so sweet. They have such gorgeous chemistry and they just fit so beautifully together as a couple. I'm not sure I could love them together any more. The way Andrew feels about Maggie is tangible, and the way she feels about him is almost immediately obvious too. I especially love the way they argue and then always, always make up. Like Maggie says, it takes a very special kind of guy to be able to argue with like that, and the fact that they can do so together makes the sparks that much more electric. And then I also love James and Sloane together, though perhaps not so much. They definitely go through some rocky times and James doesn't always treat her as well as he should. Even so, they're intellectually matched and they have chemistry too. They're alike in a lot of ways and that's why their relationship is so deeply intense too.
THE WRITING
This writing is simply phenomenal. I honestly don't know how else I could possibly describe it. It completely and utterly blew me away. Adrienne and Ron make a peerless team and I devoured every word. Maggie and Sloane are achingly real characters. Their voices reflect that and make them completely come to life on the page. Each of them also has a distinctly unique voice. You can hear something of them in each other, but they're still as different as can be. They're both struggling for identity and that is also reflected. The worlds that Maggie and Sloane live in are vivid and described beautifully. The New York and Connecticut that this book takes place in are absolutely fantastic and I really definitely could picture the people and places in this book. I was pulled into the story until I became a part of it, until the writing enveloped me. I don't always provide excerpts since they take forever to find, but this book has such awesome writing that I simply can't resist. These were taken from my uncorrected proof.
And at this moment, the boy who couldn't possibly have heard anything we were saying slowly turns. And looks directly into my eyes. For exactly two seconds. And then he walks away.
I only want to be with someone I actually love. Love has never happened to me. I guess I'm afraid it never will. But all of a sudden, I have this rock-solid conviction that I don't want to settle for less.
THE ENDING
The ending was gorgeous and haunting as well as heartbreaking. There were tears and actual sobbing going on. Maggie and Sloane's worlds are beginning to crash together until neither of them knows what is real and what isn't. They can't keep things from colliding. And somehow, each of them knows that they have to choose. But they can't when they don't know what's real. Maggie and Sloane each become convinced that their world is a lie, nonexistent, invented somewhere in the other's head. They doubt themselves until they can't remember who they are. Maggie, Sloane, Maggie, Sloane. Ultimately, the choice will be made and the truth behind everything will be revealed. And when that happened, something inside me cried even as I could see the happiness in the ending. There were tears and smiles, and I'm not ashamed of that.
WRAPUP
I'm honestly not sure I've ever fallen so deeply in love with a story before. Lucid absolutely consumed me. It literally became my world and I didn't ever want to have to leave it. I know how insanely and ridiculously cliché that sounds, but I can't think of a better way to describe it. It's seriously one of the truest things I have ever said. I was just completely blown away. Lucid made me think and it fascinated me. It's definitely not an easy read but it is a seriously emotional one. It was a crazy ride, but I loved every single second of it. It was one of those books that totally screws over whatever you read after it because there is no way it can possibly measure up. I'll definitely be reading works by Adrienne and Ron in the future, and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for another collaboration. Do you have my most fervent recommendation to read this novel as soon as if humanly possible? Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times, a million times, a billion times yes.
FINE.
Find more of my reviews on Sparkles and Lightning!
One thing that annoyed me: In my uncorrected proof, a Breakfast at Tiffany's scene was incorrectly referenced. I will be checking the see if this was corrected in the final copy, which I hope it was!
October 16, 2012
So, I expected a lot from this book. I was totally charmed by the description. And truthfully, for the first quarter of the book I felt let down. Because nothing happens, I didn't relate to the protagonists.
But little by little I warmed to the characters.
I thought I've got it all figured it out. But no! The borders blurs. I kept guessing. Who's real? Who's not? Are they both real? And it became really twisted and I so so loved it!
And I thought, if I've put it down and haven't finished it, it would really have been a shame.
The last chapters are so confusing. And the ending! Oh my, I think it was one of the best I've ever read because I haven't seen it coming.
So I highly recommend this book!
But little by little I warmed to the characters.
I thought I've got it all figured it out. But no! The borders blurs. I kept guessing. Who's real? Who's not? Are they both real? And it became really twisted and I so so loved it!
And I thought, if I've put it down and haven't finished it, it would really have been a shame.
The last chapters are so confusing. And the ending! Oh my, I think it was one of the best I've ever read because I haven't seen it coming.
So I highly recommend this book!
January 4, 2025
3.25 stars. Still trying to figure out what happened at the end.🤨
September 18, 2023
Excerpt from my review - originally published at Offbeat YA.
Pros: Pulling, refined prose. Vividly painted leads and sidekicks (most of them, that is). Killer idea behind it all.
Cons: Two love triangles for the price of one (but the book is so good, you'll probably be able to condone that. Like I did...). Some over-the-top or too convenient situations. I was able to spot a couple of typos, but nothing majorly annoying.
WARNING! An underage sex scene (though not at all graphic) told in retrospect.
Will appeal to: Contemporary fans who are in for something different. Not contemporary fans who are in for something different. Everyone who likes to go in deep and get surprised.
You know me by now, don't you? I hate swoony romances, love triangles, all the stuff. So, how come I read a book with plenty of romance and not one, but two love triangles (or the likes) and didn't throw it across the room? On the contrary, this turned out to be 4-star material for me. Crazy, isn't it? I guess I owe you a convincing explanation ;).
See, there are two girls. Or only one. Or no girl at all. Let's say, there are two stories, because of that much there is evidence. Each story, of course, has its own main character - both female and 17 year old. Apparently, the two of them dream each other's life. Their lives even mirror each other loosely, though they (the lives...but the girls too) couldn't be more different. Right from the start, some small details leak in and out of each life - just enough to alert the reader that the two characters are related somehow. The real question is, how? are they both real? or only one of them is? or...are neither? is there someone else behind them? (Which is not just one real question but a bunch. Oh, well. Maybe I can write but I can't count).
On one hand, Sloane - the student - feels more real because she lives quite the normal life, the one you can relate to more easily. On the other hand, Maggie - the actress - is the one with the shrink, the one who makes up stories about people, and (I may be wrong, but this is how it sounds to me) the one who doubts her own realness more. Which makes up for her having the more glamorous life, and therefore posing as the major suspect when it comes to being the fictitious one...supposing one of the girls is not real. Which I didn't necessarily imply ;).
I don't know if the author duo split the work in two, or collaborated through the whole book, or took turns in revising each other's chapters. What I know is that Bass is a LA screenwriter, and Stoltz his long-time writing partner from Mystic, Connecticut - coincidentally, Sloane's home town. So I suppose she had her say about the setting for Sloane's story, while probably (just my educated guess) Bass took care of the NY sections. Anyway, the chapters flow seamlessly, and while the two girls maintain their peculiarities and do have different voices, their streams of consciousness manage to sound alike enough when it comes to the basics. [...]
Whole review here.
Pros: Pulling, refined prose. Vividly painted leads and sidekicks (most of them, that is). Killer idea behind it all.
Cons: Two love triangles for the price of one (but the book is so good, you'll probably be able to condone that. Like I did...). Some over-the-top or too convenient situations. I was able to spot a couple of typos, but nothing majorly annoying.
WARNING! An underage sex scene (though not at all graphic) told in retrospect.
Will appeal to: Contemporary fans who are in for something different. Not contemporary fans who are in for something different. Everyone who likes to go in deep and get surprised.
You know me by now, don't you? I hate swoony romances, love triangles, all the stuff. So, how come I read a book with plenty of romance and not one, but two love triangles (or the likes) and didn't throw it across the room? On the contrary, this turned out to be 4-star material for me. Crazy, isn't it? I guess I owe you a convincing explanation ;).
See, there are two girls. Or only one. Or no girl at all. Let's say, there are two stories, because of that much there is evidence. Each story, of course, has its own main character - both female and 17 year old. Apparently, the two of them dream each other's life. Their lives even mirror each other loosely, though they (the lives...but the girls too) couldn't be more different. Right from the start, some small details leak in and out of each life - just enough to alert the reader that the two characters are related somehow. The real question is, how? are they both real? or only one of them is? or...are neither? is there someone else behind them? (Which is not just one real question but a bunch. Oh, well. Maybe I can write but I can't count).
On one hand, Sloane - the student - feels more real because she lives quite the normal life, the one you can relate to more easily. On the other hand, Maggie - the actress - is the one with the shrink, the one who makes up stories about people, and (I may be wrong, but this is how it sounds to me) the one who doubts her own realness more. Which makes up for her having the more glamorous life, and therefore posing as the major suspect when it comes to being the fictitious one...supposing one of the girls is not real. Which I didn't necessarily imply ;).
I don't know if the author duo split the work in two, or collaborated through the whole book, or took turns in revising each other's chapters. What I know is that Bass is a LA screenwriter, and Stoltz his long-time writing partner from Mystic, Connecticut - coincidentally, Sloane's home town. So I suppose she had her say about the setting for Sloane's story, while probably (just my educated guess) Bass took care of the NY sections. Anyway, the chapters flow seamlessly, and while the two girls maintain their peculiarities and do have different voices, their streams of consciousness manage to sound alike enough when it comes to the basics. [...]
Whole review here.
September 30, 2014
Edit: Actual rating is now 1.5 stars, for I have found a book I hated more than Lucid.
Note: I was really angry when I wrote this review. If you loved this book, or dislike extreme cursing, I'd suggest not reading my review (more of a rant, actually).
And be warned! This review will have spoilers.
This book was one of the worst I have ever had the misfortune of reading. I hated Lucid.
Imagine everything that could go wrong in a YA book. Irritating, petty, shallow protagonist. Underdeveloped side characters. No explanation of why paranormal/fantasy/magical things occur. A confusing as fuck ending. A fucking love triangle. And slut shaming.
This book has all of those things DOUBLED.
Firstly, we have two equally irritating MCs. Sloane was so wishy washy and changed her mind so often, and it was so annoying. MAKE UP YOUR FUCKING MIND, WOMAN!! Maggie was ok at first and then the love interest (or one of them. Like I said, there is a love triangle. More on that later) was introduced. And Maggie starts obsessing over him, at one point spying on him and she gets all possessive when she seems him out with another girl (who turns out to be his sister-in-law).
Maggie called that girl a skank. The author seems to be a big fan of that word. Every single girl that interacted with the love interest(s) is hated on by the MCs. They are called skanks, because they are pretty girls, and the protagonists are jealous morons. How am I supposed to like protagonists (not just one. There are FUCKING TWO OF THEM) who constantly slut-shames, who calls other girls skanks for no reason other than she is jealous of her. It is not Sloane or Maggie's place to judge other girls on what they are wearing, on their looks or on their relationships with boys.
And like I said, there is a fucking love triangle. TWO LOVE TRIANGLES, in fact. Sloane and Maggie are just stringing these guys along, at one point Maggie kisses one boy while dating another. A girl's sexual activity and relationships are her own business, but practically dating two boys at once is not fair. To anyone.
The ending was so confusing. Who was real, Sloane or Maggie? Why were those dreams occurring in the first place? Who ended up not disappearing? I NEED ANSWERS!!!
In short, this book can go fuck itself. One star. I don't recommend.
Note: I was really angry when I wrote this review. If you loved this book, or dislike extreme cursing, I'd suggest not reading my review (more of a rant, actually).
And be warned! This review will have spoilers.
This book was one of the worst I have ever had the misfortune of reading. I hated Lucid.
Imagine everything that could go wrong in a YA book. Irritating, petty, shallow protagonist. Underdeveloped side characters. No explanation of why paranormal/fantasy/magical things occur. A confusing as fuck ending. A fucking love triangle. And slut shaming.
This book has all of those things DOUBLED.
Firstly, we have two equally irritating MCs. Sloane was so wishy washy and changed her mind so often, and it was so annoying. MAKE UP YOUR FUCKING MIND, WOMAN!! Maggie was ok at first and then the love interest (or one of them. Like I said, there is a love triangle. More on that later) was introduced. And Maggie starts obsessing over him, at one point spying on him and she gets all possessive when she seems him out with another girl (who turns out to be his sister-in-law).
Maggie called that girl a skank. The author seems to be a big fan of that word. Every single girl that interacted with the love interest(s) is hated on by the MCs. They are called skanks, because they are pretty girls, and the protagonists are jealous morons. How am I supposed to like protagonists (not just one. There are FUCKING TWO OF THEM) who constantly slut-shames, who calls other girls skanks for no reason other than she is jealous of her. It is not Sloane or Maggie's place to judge other girls on what they are wearing, on their looks or on their relationships with boys.
And like I said, there is a fucking love triangle. TWO LOVE TRIANGLES, in fact. Sloane and Maggie are just stringing these guys along, at one point Maggie kisses one boy while dating another. A girl's sexual activity and relationships are her own business, but practically dating two boys at once is not fair. To anyone.
The ending was so confusing. Who was real, Sloane or Maggie? Why were those dreams occurring in the first place? Who ended up not disappearing? I NEED ANSWERS!!!
In short, this book can go fuck itself. One star. I don't recommend.
October 22, 2012
Adrienne Stoltz and Ron Bass are debut authors, but they are neither new to writing nor collaborating. They've been writing screenplays together for years. Their time in the business definitely adds authenticity to Maggie's experiences as a young, talented actress trying to get a breakout part.
Maggie is only one of the narrators of LUCID. The other is Sloane. Only one of the girls is real, and both girls belief themselves to be the real one. Whenever they go to sleep, they dream the other girl's life. Maggie lives in New York with her often absent mother and younger sister. She doesn't go to school, instead opting for a GED so she can focus on her career. Her life changes when she meets two guys: talent agent Thomas and film student Andrew. Sloane is a normal girl, living in Connecticut. Bill, her best friend, died the year before and she's still recovering from his death. The hot new guy might help her escape her funk, but it means further denying the feelings she has for other best friend Gordy.
As I'm not a fan of love triangles, I wasn't overjoyed to get two for the price of one. But I was intrigued enough by the rest of LUCID to give that aspect of the story a pass. It's not obvious which girl is fake. (There was one scene that gave it away for me, and I'm curious to find out what gives it away for other readers.) Both Maggie and Sloane's lives are pretty fully realized. They have family, friends, hobbies, post-high school goals - neither is one dimensional.
It makes reading LUCID sort of painful, because you know one of the girls has to go away in the end. (Living a second life in your dreams, to the point where you can't believe it isn't real, is sort of crazy.) Both girls have their bad sides, but I didn't want either girl to disappear just because of a few character faults.
LUCID is the perfect read for anyone looking for a good psychological, character-driven tale. It's full of good and bad boys, cute and ugly dogs, grief, anger, and hope for the future. I had fun reading it and hope Stoltz and Bass decided to collaborate on a young adult novel again.
Maggie is only one of the narrators of LUCID. The other is Sloane. Only one of the girls is real, and both girls belief themselves to be the real one. Whenever they go to sleep, they dream the other girl's life. Maggie lives in New York with her often absent mother and younger sister. She doesn't go to school, instead opting for a GED so she can focus on her career. Her life changes when she meets two guys: talent agent Thomas and film student Andrew. Sloane is a normal girl, living in Connecticut. Bill, her best friend, died the year before and she's still recovering from his death. The hot new guy might help her escape her funk, but it means further denying the feelings she has for other best friend Gordy.
As I'm not a fan of love triangles, I wasn't overjoyed to get two for the price of one. But I was intrigued enough by the rest of LUCID to give that aspect of the story a pass. It's not obvious which girl is fake. (There was one scene that gave it away for me, and I'm curious to find out what gives it away for other readers.) Both Maggie and Sloane's lives are pretty fully realized. They have family, friends, hobbies, post-high school goals - neither is one dimensional.
It makes reading LUCID sort of painful, because you know one of the girls has to go away in the end. (Living a second life in your dreams, to the point where you can't believe it isn't real, is sort of crazy.) Both girls have their bad sides, but I didn't want either girl to disappear just because of a few character faults.
LUCID is the perfect read for anyone looking for a good psychological, character-driven tale. It's full of good and bad boys, cute and ugly dogs, grief, anger, and hope for the future. I had fun reading it and hope Stoltz and Bass decided to collaborate on a young adult novel again.
May 20, 2014
It was perfect until the very end! What kind of ending is that? The writing changes and the whole story changes. It's so confusing and open you don't even know what the plots anymore. You think it's about the two girls but then they are in each others lives and then I am gone and what? Nobody ends with anybody at all! And I totally fell for the writing for James! Specks of gold and purple eyes! Uhh please make this more complete. The authors don't know how to end this book so they made one up that made no sense. READ ONLY IF YOU CAN TAKE A SUPER OPEN ENDING!!!!!!
Anyways, so just when I feel complete like I get this story I find out I don't understand. Everything is pulled under you and dangled in front of your eyes like oh come here you think you get it? I don't think so? I love this story and I still don't get it. This would be better as a contemporary. But ok, I finally get the story. I just added this new paragraph today and YAY! I get it! The ending is so good. The creativity. And I love how I hate and love both characters. It's so smart. Short review but you don't need something long to read this so read it like now.
Anyways, so just when I feel complete like I get this story I find out I don't understand. Everything is pulled under you and dangled in front of your eyes like oh come here you think you get it? I don't think so? I love this story and I still don't get it. This would be better as a contemporary. But ok, I finally get the story. I just added this new paragraph today and YAY! I get it! The ending is so good. The creativity. And I love how I hate and love both characters. It's so smart. Short review but you don't need something long to read this so read it like now.
March 3, 2016
This book is terrible. No, really. It's terrible. Listen, friends. I know many of you loved it, but I don't get it. At all.
1. It's loaded with girl-on-girl hate. And a fair amount of slut shaming.
2. There are two love triangles. They are written well, but still. It's overkill.
3. The ending. What the fuck was that? All of this can be explained away by THAT? I don't fucking think so.
4. The only thing keeping this from being a one star book is the fact that the authors CAN write and I was with the story until the ending started to unravel. Did we even read the same book? I'm sorry, but I don't usually get so ranty, but this book has me ANGRY. It was shit.
1. It's loaded with girl-on-girl hate. And a fair amount of slut shaming.
2. There are two love triangles. They are written well, but still. It's overkill.
3. The ending. What the fuck was that? All of this can be explained away by THAT? I don't fucking think so.
4. The only thing keeping this from being a one star book is the fact that the authors CAN write and I was with the story until the ending started to unravel. Did we even read the same book? I'm sorry, but I don't usually get so ranty, but this book has me ANGRY. It was shit.
May 24, 2015
I was so freaking excited to read this book. The idea of two girls who dream each other's lives--I mean, whoa. How does that work? Are they both real people and have some kind of psychic connection, or is one of them just a dream? Do they live on opposite sides of the world, or is there some kind of space-time-something-or-other?
These are the questions Lucid tries it's best to not answer.
The book starts out on a promising note. We are introduced to the events, and some ground rules are put down regarding how this dreaming stuff works. In all honestly, these rules are more vague and confusing than anything, but whatever--dreams, man! Both protagonists are named Sloane Margaret Jameson, but one goes by Sloane, the other goes by Maggie. In their dreams, they live the events of the other girl's life. Pretty interesting, right?
Then the plot happens. Let me be clear on something: this is not a book about two teenage girls who dream each other's lives. It is a book about two teenage girls.
At first, I really liked Sloane. She was nice, shy and smart. Then I realized that she was not so much a character as a walking, talking cliche. Sloane felt like what would happen if someone who had never been a teenage girl trying to write the character of a teenage girl, only having read a wealth of cheap YA chick lit. Come to think of it, all the characters in her part of the story were like that. Her parents were basically Ward and June Cleaver, her brother was nonexistent, her friends were 24-karat cliche and her (grrrrrr) love interest was more idyllic than Ryan Gosling in The Notebook. All the conflict in her side of the story was so contrived and fake. There's this one part where her dad is having a stern-faced talk with her because she has been angry and bitter towards her mother. When I read that my first reaction was "She has?". This is a classic example of telling, not showing. I didn't see a single instance of Sloane being anything but reasonable towards her mother, but no, apparently she's an angry teenager because the book said so. Maggie, on the other hand, was interesting. She was different. She felt real. Her relationships with her mother, sister and (grrrrr) love interest(s) were engaging and dynamic. She shows some development as a character. Maggie worked for me.
Now, I beg you to allow me to get off topic for a moment. What if I told you that this book has a love triangle in it? You would probably groan wearily, right? Now what if I said that this book has two? Now what if I told you that 80% of the goddamn book was devoted to these two love triangles, and hardly any time at all was devoted to the interesting concept the book is (supposedly) centered around? You may bash your head against the wall at any time. Sloane's love triangle seriously pissed me off. It went something like this: shy but attractive protagonist meets incredibly hot and perfect guy. Mr. Perfect seems interested in Shy Girl at first, then draws away, then seems interested, then draws away, and so on. This goes on for about a week. All the while, Mr. Perfect is all Shy Girl can think about. Then, it looks like they are about to get serious. Finally, Mr. Perfect confesses that he was so taken with Shy Girl when they first met that he was afraid to get close to her. He justifies being a dick the whole time because he was sooooooooo in love with her. They fall into each other's arms and begin an idyllic relationship. Does that sound familiar at all.
James, the above-mentioned Mr. Perfect, was total bullshit. No man, let alone teenage boy, in the history of the human race has been that perfect. A mature, clean, incredibly hot seventeen-year-old who lived with a fucking French model in her twenties, is kinda-sorta-not-really-we're-just-friends dating the hottest girls in school, who moves to bum-fuck Connecticut and falls in love with the nerdy protagonist, plays flamenco guitar like Paco de Lucia but can still talk about football is not a real character. He is a wet dream. Hey, wait a minute!
Then there's Gordy. Poor, innocent, long-suffering Gordy. Sloane's best (living) friend, who we learn in one hasty scene that oh dear, he has been in love with her since forever. Never mind that his love for Sloane was never shown before, nor is it ever brought up again, we have a tired YA cliche to uphold!
Maggie's love triangle is much more believable. One of the... well, I'll just call them contestants for now. One the contestants is an incredibly hot casting director type person with great hair on a show that Maggie (who is a teen actress) is trying to get a part on. He is nine years older, but he isn't as creepy as that makes him sound. He turns into a douche later, but in the beginning, he's okay. Just as an aside, this book-- or at least Maggie's part--has a major thing for underage sex. Maggie lost her virginity at the age of fourteen to a guy who was seventeen. All the hot dudes on the show she's auditioning for (this show is basically Twilight, btw) want to get into her pant. There's one part where she is in a call back audition and the director asks her to do one of the sex scenes her character would preform. So, we have this seventeen-year-old pretty much naked with an adult guy in a friggin' audition without a parent or guardian present and--yeah, that scene is every bit as creepy as it sounds.
These are the questions Lucid tries it's best to not answer.
The book starts out on a promising note. We are introduced to the events, and some ground rules are put down regarding how this dreaming stuff works. In all honestly, these rules are more vague and confusing than anything, but whatever--dreams, man! Both protagonists are named Sloane Margaret Jameson, but one goes by Sloane, the other goes by Maggie. In their dreams, they live the events of the other girl's life. Pretty interesting, right?
Then the plot happens. Let me be clear on something: this is not a book about two teenage girls who dream each other's lives. It is a book about two teenage girls.
At first, I really liked Sloane. She was nice, shy and smart. Then I realized that she was not so much a character as a walking, talking cliche. Sloane felt like what would happen if someone who had never been a teenage girl trying to write the character of a teenage girl, only having read a wealth of cheap YA chick lit. Come to think of it, all the characters in her part of the story were like that. Her parents were basically Ward and June Cleaver, her brother was nonexistent, her friends were 24-karat cliche and her (grrrrrr) love interest was more idyllic than Ryan Gosling in The Notebook. All the conflict in her side of the story was so contrived and fake. There's this one part where her dad is having a stern-faced talk with her because she has been angry and bitter towards her mother. When I read that my first reaction was "She has?". This is a classic example of telling, not showing. I didn't see a single instance of Sloane being anything but reasonable towards her mother, but no, apparently she's an angry teenager because the book said so. Maggie, on the other hand, was interesting. She was different. She felt real. Her relationships with her mother, sister and (grrrrr) love interest(s) were engaging and dynamic. She shows some development as a character. Maggie worked for me.
Now, I beg you to allow me to get off topic for a moment. What if I told you that this book has a love triangle in it? You would probably groan wearily, right? Now what if I said that this book has two? Now what if I told you that 80% of the goddamn book was devoted to these two love triangles, and hardly any time at all was devoted to the interesting concept the book is (supposedly) centered around? You may bash your head against the wall at any time. Sloane's love triangle seriously pissed me off. It went something like this: shy but attractive protagonist meets incredibly hot and perfect guy. Mr. Perfect seems interested in Shy Girl at first, then draws away, then seems interested, then draws away, and so on. This goes on for about a week. All the while, Mr. Perfect is all Shy Girl can think about. Then, it looks like they are about to get serious. Finally, Mr. Perfect confesses that he was so taken with Shy Girl when they first met that he was afraid to get close to her. He justifies being a dick the whole time because he was sooooooooo in love with her. They fall into each other's arms and begin an idyllic relationship. Does that sound familiar at all.
James, the above-mentioned Mr. Perfect, was total bullshit. No man, let alone teenage boy, in the history of the human race has been that perfect. A mature, clean, incredibly hot seventeen-year-old who lived with a fucking French model in her twenties, is kinda-sorta-not-really-we're-just-friends dating the hottest girls in school, who moves to bum-fuck Connecticut and falls in love with the nerdy protagonist, plays flamenco guitar like Paco de Lucia but can still talk about football is not a real character. He is a wet dream. Hey, wait a minute!
Then there's Gordy. Poor, innocent, long-suffering Gordy. Sloane's best (living) friend, who we learn in one hasty scene that oh dear, he has been in love with her since forever. Never mind that his love for Sloane was never shown before, nor is it ever brought up again, we have a tired YA cliche to uphold!
Maggie's love triangle is much more believable. One of the... well, I'll just call them contestants for now. One the contestants is an incredibly hot casting director type person with great hair on a show that Maggie (who is a teen actress) is trying to get a part on. He is nine years older, but he isn't as creepy as that makes him sound. He turns into a douche later, but in the beginning, he's okay. Just as an aside, this book-- or at least Maggie's part--has a major thing for underage sex. Maggie lost her virginity at the age of fourteen to a guy who was seventeen. All the hot dudes on the show she's auditioning for (this show is basically Twilight, btw) want to get into her pant. There's one part where she is in a call back audition and the director asks her to do one of the sex scenes her character would preform. So, we have this seventeen-year-old pretty much naked with an adult guy in a friggin' audition without a parent or guardian present and--yeah, that scene is every bit as creepy as it sounds.
August 4, 2013
4,5/5
http://wandering-world.skyrock.com/31...
SOUFFLE COUPÉ. BESOIN DE RÉFLÉCHIR. PAUMÉ ET PULVÉRISÉ. Voilà ce que j'ai éprouvé en refermant le roman. Mon dieu, qu'est-ce que c'est que ce livre ? Avez-vous déjà écouté une chanson que vous trouviez plutôt moyenne au départ puis, d'un seul coup, et sans trop que vous compreniez pourquoi, tout explose, vous l'adorez et vous la passez en boucle jusqu'à l'overdose ? C'est exactement ce que m'a fait ressentir LUCID. Au départ, les choses étaient mal parties. Très mal parties. J'ai eu beaucoup de mal à m'attacher aux héroïnes, et l'histoire était tout sauf prenante et intéressante. Malgré tout, je sentais qu'une énorme possibilité se cachait derrière tout ça. L'univers était vraiment captivant et l'étrange lien entre Maggie et Sloane m'appelait énormément. Puis PAF. Je suis arrivé à un moment du roman où j'ai été brisé. Les auteurs révèlent enfin tout le potentiel de l'histoire, et c'est carrément TRAUMATISANT. Les 100 dernières pages de LUCID ont tout rattrapé, vraiment. Au départ, je pensais attribuer la note de 3/5 au livre. Puis les 30 derniers pour cent m'ont permis d'élever cette note à 4,5. J'étais prêt à mettre un 5, mais il aurait été en décalage avec mon ressenti du début... Et en même temps cette fin est tellement parfaite... Et... Haaaaaaa !!! Je suis officiellement déchiré !!! LUCID est un livre que je ne suis pas prêt d'oublier, je vous le garantis. L'histoire m'a marqué et m'a complètement renversé.
Mon gros problème, au départ, c'est que je ne me suis pas du tout attaché aux héroïnes. Qu'il s'agisse de Sloane ou de Maggie, je n'arrivais pas à créer un lien avec elles. Surtout qu'au début, les auteurs ne s'embêtent pas trop à nous les présenter. Ni elles, ni les nombreux personnages qu'elles côtoient. Donc en plus de devoir s'adapter à ces deux jeunes femmes, il faut aussi tenter de comprendre les personnes qui les entourent. Ça a été difficile. Vraiment. A de très nombreuses, j'ai dû retourner au début de tel ou tel chapitre pour être sûr que je suivais Sloane ou Maggie. L'alternance de point de vue est vraiment justifiée et hyper intrigante, mais elle nous perd plus qu'autre chose durant les premières pages. Je vous assure que j'ai eu beaucoup de mal à m'identifier à leurs réactions et à leurs pensées. Le truc, c'est qu'elles ne possèdent aucune profondeur. J'avais juste l'impression de lire, et non pas de ressentir. Sauf qu'une lecture qui ne me fait pas éprouver mentalement ou physiquement quelque chose, ce n'est pas vraiment pour moi.
Cette sensation de distance et d'incompréhension face aux héroïnes m'a accompagné pendant une grosse partie du roman. Il ne se passe absolument rien pour nous faciliter la tâche. En effet, les rebondissements ne se bousculent pas. On ne fait que suivre Sloane et Maggie. Leurs vies ne sont pas spécialement mouvementées, il n'y a pas de grands retournements de situation. Je vous assure qu'au bout de 200 pages, j'avais quelques doutes quant au potentiel de l'histoire. Mais j'ai continué, et il y a un premier élément qui a commencé à tout changer.
Les romances. Les deux histoires d'amour que nous découvrons dans ce récit m'ont énormément plu. Elles sont hyper naturelles et hyper touchantes. Je sais que ce n'est pas vraiment un des points-clés de l'intrigue, mais les idylles parallèles que nous suivons sont vraiment beaux. Sloane et James m'ont ému, Maggie et Andrew m'ont ému. Une fois que j'ai réussi à trouver un élément plaisant à l'intrigue, j'ai pu avancer plus facilement dans le roman. Et je suis tellement, tellement, tellement heureux de l'avoir fait. Parce qu'à partir de la page 250, tout, absolument TOUT, devient parfait.
Comme vous le savez, l'histoire traite de deux héroïnes qui rêvent qu'elles échangent leurs vies durant leur sommeil. Rien que l'idée est géniale, n'est-ce pas ? De plus, comme je l'ai dit un peu plus haut, on sent bien qu'elle reste très présente dans la première partie du récit. Du coup, une part de nous ne peut pas s'empêcher de se demander "est-ce un songe ? Est-ce vrai ? Quel monde est réel et quel monde ne l'est pas ? Y a-t-il un monde réel ?". Surtout que, petit à petit, Sloane et Maggie introduisent des doutes et des phrases coup de point qui viennent renverser nos convictions. C'est d'ailleurs à partir de là que j'ai commencé à m'attacher à elles : quand on se rend-compte qu'elles sont aussi paumées et décontenancées que nous.
Voilà pourquoi j'ai adoré LUCID, en dépit de ses défauts dans les 200 premières pages : parce que j'ai perdu absolument TOUS mes repères. Mais, genre, vraiment. J'ai été obligé de lire jusqu'à deux heures du matin pour connaître le fin mot de l'intrigue tant tout devenait obsédant et dérangeant. J'ai été obligé d'aller parler à mon demi frère à deux heures et demi pour partager mes sensations, toutes plus entremêlées et dévastées les unes que les autres. En lisant les 100 dernières pages, je hurlais à chaque ligne que je lisais. Je hurlais et je jetais mon livre à l'autre bout de mon lit. C'était plus fort que moi. QU'EST-CE QUE C'EST QUE CE LIVRE ? En plus d'être complètement désorienté, j'étais à la fois terrifié et HYPER excité. Parce qu'on ne comprend vraiment plus rien. Les derniers chapitres, et rien que d'en reparler j'ai l'estomac qui se sert, sont juste ultra forts et ultra perturbants. J'ai été ébloui devant autant de génie et de perfection. En découvrant la conclusion de LUCID, j'ai trouvé l'idée des auteurs brillante. Brillante et extraordinaire. Car, putain, que LUCID est magnifique. Je pourrai vous le répéter pendant des heures : l'ultime centaine de pages m'a dévasté. J'avais envie de pleurer parce que la folie guettait Sloane et Maggie, de crier parce que j'étais perdu, de taper contre les murs parce que je devenais dingue. LUCID m'a rendu dingue.
Il faut que vous compreniez un truc : les dernières pages de LUCID, et là je parle de 3 dernières pages, sont tellement intenses et troublantes que j'ai dû les relire quatre ou cinq fois avant de les saisir entièrement. J'ai eu le souffle coupé, les larmes aux yeux, les mains tremblantes et l'esprit complètement fragmenté. C'était juste... Spectaculaire. Le final de LUCID est spectaculaire, de toute manière. Ce roman ressemble un peu à un feu d'artifice : ça commence lentement, ça ne provoque rien, puis tout explose, et on a le corps qui vibre et le cœur qui implose. Je n'avais pas été autant dévasté par un livre depuis UNDONE de Cat Clarke. Alors, non, LUCID ne dépasse pas UNDONE, mais il n'est pas très loin d'autant me marquer dans la durée. Je me suis déjà endormi et réveillé en pensant à la conclusion époustouflante de LUCID, et je crois que l'état de choc dans lequel je suis plongé ne va pas me quitter de sitôt.
Ma chronique n'est vraiment pas top, et pourtant j'ai mis trois fois de plus de temps à l'écrire qu'habituellement. Je ne parviens pas à retranscrire tout ce que j'ai ressenti. La conclusion de LUCID reste pas mal ouverte et nous laisse quelques questions sans réponse, et, pourtant, je n'en ai strictement rien à faire. Pour qu'une fin ouverte de me gêne pas (et me plaise, même !), c'est vraiment qu'il y a quelque chose de formidable et d'indescriptible au cœur de cette intrigue. En terminant LUCID, je n'en pouvais plus. J'étais vidé. Je voulais gémir. Je voulais parler avec quelqu'un. Parce que, vraiment, ce roman nous soustrait tous nos points de repère. Toutes nos convictions. On est paumés. On est pulvérisés. On est détruits. On est choqués. Merde, quelle fin !!! Il y a même un paragraphe que j'ai trouvé tellement poétique et tellement troublant et tellement enivrant et tellement ravageur et tellement brûlant et tellement parfait que je l'ai relu une bonne dizaine de fois ♥
En résumé, LUCID est un véritable coup de cœur, sans vraiment en être un. Dans le fond, je crois que je ne m'autorise pas à le classer comme tel à cause des 200 premières pages qui sont un peu molles et pas vraiment saisissantes. Sloane et Maggie ne sont pas attachantes, et leurs vies ne sont pas plaisantes à suivre. Puis, comme je vous l'ai déjà bien expliqué je pense, tout explose et tout nous coupe le souffle. Une fois les 200 pages passées, on fond, on hurle, on pleure, et on est dévastés. LUCID est un récit qui a volé mon cœur et mon esprit. Mes convictions et mes émotions. Il y a un moment dans l'histoire où ne sait plus qui est fou, qu'est-ce qui est réel, ou encore qu'est-ce qui est imaginaire. Même moi j'ai eu l'impression de caresser la folie du doigt. LUCID confirme bien ma tendance à adorer les personnages complètement malades : comme pour Jem avec UNDONE, Sloane et Maggie vont devenir des êtres faits de pure folie, et j'ai complètement craqué. Je crois que je vais devoir prendre rendez-vous chez un psychologue, non ? C'est malsain. LUCID est malsain. Malsain, imparfait durant 200 pages, mais tellement parfait dans la suite. Je n'ai pas envie de terminer cette chronique. Parce que j'ai envie de vous donner envie de lire LUCID. D'en parler, encore et encore, parce que ce roman ne va pas me quitter avant un long, long moment. LUCID est une chanson dont les ultimes notes sont envoûtantes et hypnotiques, exaltantes et mystérieuses, déchirantes et irrésistibles. C'est un feu d'artifice duquel on ne peut pas détourner les yeux. LUCID est comme la gravité, on ne peut pas y résister. Cette fin quoi. Cette fin ♥
http://wandering-world.skyrock.com/31...
SOUFFLE COUPÉ. BESOIN DE RÉFLÉCHIR. PAUMÉ ET PULVÉRISÉ. Voilà ce que j'ai éprouvé en refermant le roman. Mon dieu, qu'est-ce que c'est que ce livre ? Avez-vous déjà écouté une chanson que vous trouviez plutôt moyenne au départ puis, d'un seul coup, et sans trop que vous compreniez pourquoi, tout explose, vous l'adorez et vous la passez en boucle jusqu'à l'overdose ? C'est exactement ce que m'a fait ressentir LUCID. Au départ, les choses étaient mal parties. Très mal parties. J'ai eu beaucoup de mal à m'attacher aux héroïnes, et l'histoire était tout sauf prenante et intéressante. Malgré tout, je sentais qu'une énorme possibilité se cachait derrière tout ça. L'univers était vraiment captivant et l'étrange lien entre Maggie et Sloane m'appelait énormément. Puis PAF. Je suis arrivé à un moment du roman où j'ai été brisé. Les auteurs révèlent enfin tout le potentiel de l'histoire, et c'est carrément TRAUMATISANT. Les 100 dernières pages de LUCID ont tout rattrapé, vraiment. Au départ, je pensais attribuer la note de 3/5 au livre. Puis les 30 derniers pour cent m'ont permis d'élever cette note à 4,5. J'étais prêt à mettre un 5, mais il aurait été en décalage avec mon ressenti du début... Et en même temps cette fin est tellement parfaite... Et... Haaaaaaa !!! Je suis officiellement déchiré !!! LUCID est un livre que je ne suis pas prêt d'oublier, je vous le garantis. L'histoire m'a marqué et m'a complètement renversé.
Mon gros problème, au départ, c'est que je ne me suis pas du tout attaché aux héroïnes. Qu'il s'agisse de Sloane ou de Maggie, je n'arrivais pas à créer un lien avec elles. Surtout qu'au début, les auteurs ne s'embêtent pas trop à nous les présenter. Ni elles, ni les nombreux personnages qu'elles côtoient. Donc en plus de devoir s'adapter à ces deux jeunes femmes, il faut aussi tenter de comprendre les personnes qui les entourent. Ça a été difficile. Vraiment. A de très nombreuses, j'ai dû retourner au début de tel ou tel chapitre pour être sûr que je suivais Sloane ou Maggie. L'alternance de point de vue est vraiment justifiée et hyper intrigante, mais elle nous perd plus qu'autre chose durant les premières pages. Je vous assure que j'ai eu beaucoup de mal à m'identifier à leurs réactions et à leurs pensées. Le truc, c'est qu'elles ne possèdent aucune profondeur. J'avais juste l'impression de lire, et non pas de ressentir. Sauf qu'une lecture qui ne me fait pas éprouver mentalement ou physiquement quelque chose, ce n'est pas vraiment pour moi.
Cette sensation de distance et d'incompréhension face aux héroïnes m'a accompagné pendant une grosse partie du roman. Il ne se passe absolument rien pour nous faciliter la tâche. En effet, les rebondissements ne se bousculent pas. On ne fait que suivre Sloane et Maggie. Leurs vies ne sont pas spécialement mouvementées, il n'y a pas de grands retournements de situation. Je vous assure qu'au bout de 200 pages, j'avais quelques doutes quant au potentiel de l'histoire. Mais j'ai continué, et il y a un premier élément qui a commencé à tout changer.
Les romances. Les deux histoires d'amour que nous découvrons dans ce récit m'ont énormément plu. Elles sont hyper naturelles et hyper touchantes. Je sais que ce n'est pas vraiment un des points-clés de l'intrigue, mais les idylles parallèles que nous suivons sont vraiment beaux. Sloane et James m'ont ému, Maggie et Andrew m'ont ému. Une fois que j'ai réussi à trouver un élément plaisant à l'intrigue, j'ai pu avancer plus facilement dans le roman. Et je suis tellement, tellement, tellement heureux de l'avoir fait. Parce qu'à partir de la page 250, tout, absolument TOUT, devient parfait.
Comme vous le savez, l'histoire traite de deux héroïnes qui rêvent qu'elles échangent leurs vies durant leur sommeil. Rien que l'idée est géniale, n'est-ce pas ? De plus, comme je l'ai dit un peu plus haut, on sent bien qu'elle reste très présente dans la première partie du récit. Du coup, une part de nous ne peut pas s'empêcher de se demander "est-ce un songe ? Est-ce vrai ? Quel monde est réel et quel monde ne l'est pas ? Y a-t-il un monde réel ?". Surtout que, petit à petit, Sloane et Maggie introduisent des doutes et des phrases coup de point qui viennent renverser nos convictions. C'est d'ailleurs à partir de là que j'ai commencé à m'attacher à elles : quand on se rend-compte qu'elles sont aussi paumées et décontenancées que nous.
Voilà pourquoi j'ai adoré LUCID, en dépit de ses défauts dans les 200 premières pages : parce que j'ai perdu absolument TOUS mes repères. Mais, genre, vraiment. J'ai été obligé de lire jusqu'à deux heures du matin pour connaître le fin mot de l'intrigue tant tout devenait obsédant et dérangeant. J'ai été obligé d'aller parler à mon demi frère à deux heures et demi pour partager mes sensations, toutes plus entremêlées et dévastées les unes que les autres. En lisant les 100 dernières pages, je hurlais à chaque ligne que je lisais. Je hurlais et je jetais mon livre à l'autre bout de mon lit. C'était plus fort que moi. QU'EST-CE QUE C'EST QUE CE LIVRE ? En plus d'être complètement désorienté, j'étais à la fois terrifié et HYPER excité. Parce qu'on ne comprend vraiment plus rien. Les derniers chapitres, et rien que d'en reparler j'ai l'estomac qui se sert, sont juste ultra forts et ultra perturbants. J'ai été ébloui devant autant de génie et de perfection. En découvrant la conclusion de LUCID, j'ai trouvé l'idée des auteurs brillante. Brillante et extraordinaire. Car, putain, que LUCID est magnifique. Je pourrai vous le répéter pendant des heures : l'ultime centaine de pages m'a dévasté. J'avais envie de pleurer parce que la folie guettait Sloane et Maggie, de crier parce que j'étais perdu, de taper contre les murs parce que je devenais dingue. LUCID m'a rendu dingue.
Il faut que vous compreniez un truc : les dernières pages de LUCID, et là je parle de 3 dernières pages, sont tellement intenses et troublantes que j'ai dû les relire quatre ou cinq fois avant de les saisir entièrement. J'ai eu le souffle coupé, les larmes aux yeux, les mains tremblantes et l'esprit complètement fragmenté. C'était juste... Spectaculaire. Le final de LUCID est spectaculaire, de toute manière. Ce roman ressemble un peu à un feu d'artifice : ça commence lentement, ça ne provoque rien, puis tout explose, et on a le corps qui vibre et le cœur qui implose. Je n'avais pas été autant dévasté par un livre depuis UNDONE de Cat Clarke. Alors, non, LUCID ne dépasse pas UNDONE, mais il n'est pas très loin d'autant me marquer dans la durée. Je me suis déjà endormi et réveillé en pensant à la conclusion époustouflante de LUCID, et je crois que l'état de choc dans lequel je suis plongé ne va pas me quitter de sitôt.
Ma chronique n'est vraiment pas top, et pourtant j'ai mis trois fois de plus de temps à l'écrire qu'habituellement. Je ne parviens pas à retranscrire tout ce que j'ai ressenti. La conclusion de LUCID reste pas mal ouverte et nous laisse quelques questions sans réponse, et, pourtant, je n'en ai strictement rien à faire. Pour qu'une fin ouverte de me gêne pas (et me plaise, même !), c'est vraiment qu'il y a quelque chose de formidable et d'indescriptible au cœur de cette intrigue. En terminant LUCID, je n'en pouvais plus. J'étais vidé. Je voulais gémir. Je voulais parler avec quelqu'un. Parce que, vraiment, ce roman nous soustrait tous nos points de repère. Toutes nos convictions. On est paumés. On est pulvérisés. On est détruits. On est choqués. Merde, quelle fin !!! Il y a même un paragraphe que j'ai trouvé tellement poétique et tellement troublant et tellement enivrant et tellement ravageur et tellement brûlant et tellement parfait que je l'ai relu une bonne dizaine de fois ♥
En résumé, LUCID est un véritable coup de cœur, sans vraiment en être un. Dans le fond, je crois que je ne m'autorise pas à le classer comme tel à cause des 200 premières pages qui sont un peu molles et pas vraiment saisissantes. Sloane et Maggie ne sont pas attachantes, et leurs vies ne sont pas plaisantes à suivre. Puis, comme je vous l'ai déjà bien expliqué je pense, tout explose et tout nous coupe le souffle. Une fois les 200 pages passées, on fond, on hurle, on pleure, et on est dévastés. LUCID est un récit qui a volé mon cœur et mon esprit. Mes convictions et mes émotions. Il y a un moment dans l'histoire où ne sait plus qui est fou, qu'est-ce qui est réel, ou encore qu'est-ce qui est imaginaire. Même moi j'ai eu l'impression de caresser la folie du doigt. LUCID confirme bien ma tendance à adorer les personnages complètement malades : comme pour Jem avec UNDONE, Sloane et Maggie vont devenir des êtres faits de pure folie, et j'ai complètement craqué. Je crois que je vais devoir prendre rendez-vous chez un psychologue, non ? C'est malsain. LUCID est malsain. Malsain, imparfait durant 200 pages, mais tellement parfait dans la suite. Je n'ai pas envie de terminer cette chronique. Parce que j'ai envie de vous donner envie de lire LUCID. D'en parler, encore et encore, parce que ce roman ne va pas me quitter avant un long, long moment. LUCID est une chanson dont les ultimes notes sont envoûtantes et hypnotiques, exaltantes et mystérieuses, déchirantes et irrésistibles. C'est un feu d'artifice duquel on ne peut pas détourner les yeux. LUCID est comme la gravité, on ne peut pas y résister. Cette fin quoi. Cette fin ♥
March 10, 2013
You know how many stories, whether in book or movie form, start with something like “Let me start at the beginning…”? Well I want to start with the ending. See, I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about Lucid until I got to the last 15% or so of the book. The ending sold me, I’m not going to immediately rush to see where this fits on my top x books ever list or anything crazy like that, but it solidified Lucid as a good read. It’s dramatic, intense, and it will rip your heart out if you let it. There is such a powerful array of emotions and both MCs trying to get a grip on what they think is reality that you can’t help but be swept into their plight.
Speaking of the MCs, I did enjoy reading about both Maggie and Sloane. However, every review I’ve read seems to pick a favorite, and mine will be no different as I did connect more with Sloane. She’s more reserved, she’s the book lover and desires to be a writer, all things I feel an intimate connection to. Her personality just meshes with mine. That doesn’t mean I didn’t connect with Maggie too, just not in the same way. I liked Maggie, her backbone, her sense of humor and take charge attitude were very appealing. In the end I just can’t not feel closer to a book lover you know? ^.^
The romances. Oh boy. See this is why I can’t jump up and down and squee over the awesomeness that one of my best bookish/twitter/bloggy friends Annabelle from Sparkles and Lightning finds in Lucid. We weren’t just given one love triangle, Stoltz gave us two. I understand, symmetry between the two characters, some things need to be similar so that the worlds can stay intact, etc. etc. but that didn’t make it drive me crazy any less. Don’t get me wrong, the love triangles were pretty well done, though I thought the Thomas/Andrew one was pretty obvious in its result. Regardless, multiple love triangles was just a bit much for my taste.
The plot was done in a slow buildup fashion, no two ways about it (ironically enough). As I said, the ending portion of the book was riveting, but it took quite a while to get there and some of the early-to-middle parts developed just a tad slower than I would have preferred. On the other side of the coin some of my favorite lines were in those sections, so maybe keeping everything in was worth it after all. I certainly wouldn’t want Jade’s character to be lessened even in the slightest, it was fantastic, so I’ll take the development speed in stride in this case. Little sister characters always get me darn it.
The psychological discussions and debates (even if mostly one sided) were enjoyable. I love that sort of material, and while I wasn’t blown away by the therapy bits, they were done well. I don’t know how much more Stoltz could have delved into the character’s “condition” so maybe going into the amount of detail that there was is a good thing. I do know that I need to read another good psychological book (maybe a mind-fuck, those are fun) after reading Lucid to keep that inner-mind vibe going.
Overall Lucid was a good read. There were certainly elements (mainly one) that I wasn’t fond of, but they didn’t overshadow the many positive aspects. I’m not going to rate it a perfect 5/5 (sorry Annabelle) but I think a solid and positive four reflects upon the book pretty accurately. Neither character was perfect and neither were either of their lives, so maybe the rating for them matches that.
Rating: 4/5
Speaking of the MCs, I did enjoy reading about both Maggie and Sloane. However, every review I’ve read seems to pick a favorite, and mine will be no different as I did connect more with Sloane. She’s more reserved, she’s the book lover and desires to be a writer, all things I feel an intimate connection to. Her personality just meshes with mine. That doesn’t mean I didn’t connect with Maggie too, just not in the same way. I liked Maggie, her backbone, her sense of humor and take charge attitude were very appealing. In the end I just can’t not feel closer to a book lover you know? ^.^
The romances. Oh boy. See this is why I can’t jump up and down and squee over the awesomeness that one of my best bookish/twitter/bloggy friends Annabelle from Sparkles and Lightning finds in Lucid. We weren’t just given one love triangle, Stoltz gave us two. I understand, symmetry between the two characters, some things need to be similar so that the worlds can stay intact, etc. etc. but that didn’t make it drive me crazy any less. Don’t get me wrong, the love triangles were pretty well done, though I thought the Thomas/Andrew one was pretty obvious in its result. Regardless, multiple love triangles was just a bit much for my taste.
The plot was done in a slow buildup fashion, no two ways about it (ironically enough). As I said, the ending portion of the book was riveting, but it took quite a while to get there and some of the early-to-middle parts developed just a tad slower than I would have preferred. On the other side of the coin some of my favorite lines were in those sections, so maybe keeping everything in was worth it after all. I certainly wouldn’t want Jade’s character to be lessened even in the slightest, it was fantastic, so I’ll take the development speed in stride in this case. Little sister characters always get me darn it.
The psychological discussions and debates (even if mostly one sided) were enjoyable. I love that sort of material, and while I wasn’t blown away by the therapy bits, they were done well. I don’t know how much more Stoltz could have delved into the character’s “condition” so maybe going into the amount of detail that there was is a good thing. I do know that I need to read another good psychological book (maybe a mind-fuck, those are fun) after reading Lucid to keep that inner-mind vibe going.
Overall Lucid was a good read. There were certainly elements (mainly one) that I wasn’t fond of, but they didn’t overshadow the many positive aspects. I’m not going to rate it a perfect 5/5 (sorry Annabelle) but I think a solid and positive four reflects upon the book pretty accurately. Neither character was perfect and neither were either of their lives, so maybe the rating for them matches that.
Rating: 4/5
October 25, 2012
Score: 4.5 stars
Okay. Wow. Let me just take a deep breath and (unsuccessfully) try to organize the mess that this book has made of my thoughts and feelings.
This book is simply brilliant, in a totally nothing-happening/what-the-hell/I-don't-understand/this-is-kind-of-weird/I-think-I-get-it-now/Nope-still-don't-get-it/what-the-hell-it's-over?/ohhhhhh-now-I-get-it/wait-do-I?/yep-I-do-get-it/...do-I?/my-brain-and-my-heart-need-a-break/okay-I-finally-get-it kind of way. (Note: that's not even half of what this book made me feel.)
The thing is, this is a very emotional book. Both girls are incredibly easy to relate to. From the get-go, I was extremely impressed with how different they sounded. One of the most frequent and most annoying mistakes I find with books that are told from more than one first-person-POVs,is that they usually sound alike and I develop multiple migraines just trying to remember who is telling this part of the story. Not once did I encounter this problem with either Maggie or Sloane. They were both different, not only in their physical descriptions, but also in their voices, their personalities and thought patterns and emotions. I simply loved this and that's a very strong point the book has going for it. Furthermore, both voices are so realistic and engaging, it is impossible not to care about either of them. I felt frustrated with Maggie's insecurities and Sloane's emotional co-dependency, but then I was rooting for the former's boldness and strength and the latter's wit and niceness. I was very invested in these girls, to the point that it never really bothered me that the first half had not much was going on besides their normal lives.
I loved the way all the relationships were formed in this novel. From the family interactions to the romantic ones, they were all meaningful, profound and wonderfully constructed. Not once did I feel like a character was there just to fill in some space or because it is an usual trope in this genre. They were all important, in a sense, and by the end of the book this is pretty clear.
This novel was incredibly well-written and I honestly loved it, in spite of having two things that usually bother me: slut shaming and a little bit of stalking (I would add the insta-love, but that gets clear up later on). The second half is truly outstanding and more than makes-up for whatever slow pace or plot stagnation in the beginning. As a Psych major, I'm kind of hard in the psychological portrayal of characters with problems, and though I had a bit of an issue with Emma as a psychiatrist, which did solve itself with the ending, I have very little complaints with how Sloane and Maggie were shown here. I think the author did a stellar job at building the psychology behind the characters and its development.
The ending is nothing short of mind-boggling. I'm guessing it's one of those endings where you can draw your own interpretations and bring closure to the story in the way that fits you best. This is an extremely emotional story, and trust me, once you finish it, it's pretty hard to say good-bye.
I'm really glad I made time to read this story. I strongly recommend it and I will definitely look forward to anything else by this author.
Okay. Wow. Let me just take a deep breath and (unsuccessfully) try to organize the mess that this book has made of my thoughts and feelings.
This book is simply brilliant, in a totally nothing-happening/what-the-hell/I-don't-understand/this-is-kind-of-weird/I-think-I-get-it-now/Nope-still-don't-get-it/what-the-hell-it's-over?/ohhhhhh-now-I-get-it/wait-do-I?/yep-I-do-get-it/...do-I?/my-brain-and-my-heart-need-a-break/okay-I-finally-get-it kind of way. (Note: that's not even half of what this book made me feel.)
The thing is, this is a very emotional book. Both girls are incredibly easy to relate to. From the get-go, I was extremely impressed with how different they sounded. One of the most frequent and most annoying mistakes I find with books that are told from more than one first-person-POVs,is that they usually sound alike and I develop multiple migraines just trying to remember who is telling this part of the story. Not once did I encounter this problem with either Maggie or Sloane. They were both different, not only in their physical descriptions, but also in their voices, their personalities and thought patterns and emotions. I simply loved this and that's a very strong point the book has going for it. Furthermore, both voices are so realistic and engaging, it is impossible not to care about either of them. I felt frustrated with Maggie's insecurities and Sloane's emotional co-dependency, but then I was rooting for the former's boldness and strength and the latter's wit and niceness. I was very invested in these girls, to the point that it never really bothered me that the first half had not much was going on besides their normal lives.
I loved the way all the relationships were formed in this novel. From the family interactions to the romantic ones, they were all meaningful, profound and wonderfully constructed. Not once did I feel like a character was there just to fill in some space or because it is an usual trope in this genre. They were all important, in a sense, and by the end of the book this is pretty clear.
This novel was incredibly well-written and I honestly loved it, in spite of having two things that usually bother me: slut shaming and a little bit of stalking (I would add the insta-love, but that gets clear up later on). The second half is truly outstanding and more than makes-up for whatever slow pace or plot stagnation in the beginning. As a Psych major, I'm kind of hard in the psychological portrayal of characters with problems, and though I had a bit of an issue with Emma as a psychiatrist, which did solve itself with the ending, I have very little complaints with how Sloane and Maggie were shown here. I think the author did a stellar job at building the psychology behind the characters and its development.
The ending is nothing short of mind-boggling. I'm guessing it's one of those endings where you can draw your own interpretations and bring closure to the story in the way that fits you best. This is an extremely emotional story, and trust me, once you finish it, it's pretty hard to say good-bye.
I'm really glad I made time to read this story. I strongly recommend it and I will definitely look forward to anything else by this author.
November 30, 2012
There is so much I want to say about Lucid. I loved every single word of this novel, I loved the characters and I loved the shift that the novel took at the tail end that brought buckets of tears to my eyes. That last point is one that I can't elaborate on, and I really wish I could but I don't want to ruin the story for you.
I guess what is safe to talk about is the fantastic characters that make up this story. In Sloane's world she is surrounded by a loving family and the most amazing friends a person could hope for. The family dynamic was developed perfectly; the conflict she has with her mother, the loving distant relationship with her father and the sibling inside jokes with her and her brothers was easy to relate to. What was the real gem in her story was her relationship with her best friend Gordey. I liked him so much, he was sweet and compassionate and all of that was wrapped up in an athlete, so how perfect is that right? The love that we experience as Sloane's tale unfolds is matched with the detached feel that is ever present in Maggie's story. Her father passed away years ago and her mother has lost herself in her work and is hardly ever around. This has made Maggie step in as a figurehead mother to her little sister Jade. The parts with Jade and Maggie were great, that little girl had such an attitude and an awesome sense of humour, while it was sad to see how she has aged well beyond her 7 years it was also super cute.
Both girls long for more than just their family relationships and throughout the story they both find it. Maggie finds Andrew and Sloane finds James, and the progression of these relationships was beautiful. There is definitely no insta-love here, these relationships grow over time and through troubling situations flourish. I absorbed every single word along the way and while there was never really a set plot to the story I was so immersed in it that I didn't give a damn. I loved these girls lives and I wanted to live every single moment with them.
And folks, that's about the extent of what I can talk about when it comes to Lucid. This novel reads like the one of the best contemporaries for the first 3/4's and in the finale shifts into a complete and utter mind fu*k. I don't want to ruin anything about it so I'm going to stop here but I want everyone to give this novel a shot because you will most definitely be blown away. This is definitely one that I will be going out to buy in hardcover to replace that ARC that I read because it is just that darn good!
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You can read all of my reviews at Alluring Reads.
I guess what is safe to talk about is the fantastic characters that make up this story. In Sloane's world she is surrounded by a loving family and the most amazing friends a person could hope for. The family dynamic was developed perfectly; the conflict she has with her mother, the loving distant relationship with her father and the sibling inside jokes with her and her brothers was easy to relate to. What was the real gem in her story was her relationship with her best friend Gordey. I liked him so much, he was sweet and compassionate and all of that was wrapped up in an athlete, so how perfect is that right? The love that we experience as Sloane's tale unfolds is matched with the detached feel that is ever present in Maggie's story. Her father passed away years ago and her mother has lost herself in her work and is hardly ever around. This has made Maggie step in as a figurehead mother to her little sister Jade. The parts with Jade and Maggie were great, that little girl had such an attitude and an awesome sense of humour, while it was sad to see how she has aged well beyond her 7 years it was also super cute.
Both girls long for more than just their family relationships and throughout the story they both find it. Maggie finds Andrew and Sloane finds James, and the progression of these relationships was beautiful. There is definitely no insta-love here, these relationships grow over time and through troubling situations flourish. I absorbed every single word along the way and while there was never really a set plot to the story I was so immersed in it that I didn't give a damn. I loved these girls lives and I wanted to live every single moment with them.
And folks, that's about the extent of what I can talk about when it comes to Lucid. This novel reads like the one of the best contemporaries for the first 3/4's and in the finale shifts into a complete and utter mind fu*k. I don't want to ruin anything about it so I'm going to stop here but I want everyone to give this novel a shot because you will most definitely be blown away. This is definitely one that I will be going out to buy in hardcover to replace that ARC that I read because it is just that darn good!
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You can read all of my reviews at Alluring Reads.
January 19, 2013
Amazing. Breath-taking. F*cking fabulous.
There are some truly excellent lines in this book. Y'know the ones that tug on your brain and make you think a little harder? Or, if you're me, wave your hands around and shout, “Clever!” I absolutely adored the sentences at the end of each chapter. I wish I could capture it in a quote but they're too contextual.
The great thing about this book is that not only is the mystery enthralling, but everything else is good too. The writing, the dialogue, etc. It's all captivating. Sloan and Maggie are those magnificent, intimidating types that everyone admires but nobody ever dares say so. They're both beautiful, intelligent and witty, but of course struggle with their own insecurities. They compare themselves to each other quite regularly. I liked this because then I didn't have to do it myself.
Sloane dreams about being Maggie. Maggie dreams about being Sloane. Both girls ask interesting questions about who they become when they sleep. Sometimes they wish they could be the other. They live such different lives. Sloane has high school drama. Maggie is a sophisticated actress. Sloane is a smartass but Maggie is fierce. Maggie tends to think that Sloane is real. Sloane vacillates from thinking Maggie is just a dream and from thinking she herself is just Maggie's dream. See how complicated this is? As time goes on, they switch opinions. They are both the same person, but not. Sometimes they refer to each other as a completely different person, but other times as one individual.
Maggie's a floatie. Absent minded, distracted, and alone. Her life revolves around acting and the guys that drool after her. Her interactions are much more...elegant/snooty. Basically, there's more innuendo, more social games. Maggie herself is less sure of what she wants.
Unlike Sloane. Sloane wants James. Full stop. She's a regular teenage girl who is pretty sure she is in love. I liked a few of her highschool phrases and the way she talked - she has a lot more friends than Maggie does.
The ending made me sad and I wailed a little wanting to grasp onto the girls a little longer. But I interpret it as a happy ending. All up, a fantastic read and I have to say, thanks so much Arijana for the rec because I would've never picked up this book if it weren't for you. Kisses! =D
There are some truly excellent lines in this book. Y'know the ones that tug on your brain and make you think a little harder? Or, if you're me, wave your hands around and shout, “Clever!” I absolutely adored the sentences at the end of each chapter. I wish I could capture it in a quote but they're too contextual.
The great thing about this book is that not only is the mystery enthralling, but everything else is good too. The writing, the dialogue, etc. It's all captivating. Sloan and Maggie are those magnificent, intimidating types that everyone admires but nobody ever dares say so. They're both beautiful, intelligent and witty, but of course struggle with their own insecurities. They compare themselves to each other quite regularly. I liked this because then I didn't have to do it myself.
Sloane dreams about being Maggie. Maggie dreams about being Sloane. Both girls ask interesting questions about who they become when they sleep. Sometimes they wish they could be the other. They live such different lives. Sloane has high school drama. Maggie is a sophisticated actress. Sloane is a smartass but Maggie is fierce. Maggie tends to think that Sloane is real. Sloane vacillates from thinking Maggie is just a dream and from thinking she herself is just Maggie's dream. See how complicated this is? As time goes on, they switch opinions. They are both the same person, but not. Sometimes they refer to each other as a completely different person, but other times as one individual.
Maggie's a floatie. Absent minded, distracted, and alone. Her life revolves around acting and the guys that drool after her. Her interactions are much more...elegant/snooty. Basically, there's more innuendo, more social games. Maggie herself is less sure of what she wants.
Unlike Sloane. Sloane wants James. Full stop. She's a regular teenage girl who is pretty sure she is in love. I liked a few of her highschool phrases and the way she talked - she has a lot more friends than Maggie does.
The ending made me sad and I wailed a little wanting to grasp onto the girls a little longer. But I interpret it as a happy ending. All up, a fantastic read and I have to say, thanks so much Arijana for the rec because I would've never picked up this book if it weren't for you. Kisses! =D
December 20, 2012
I am completely at a loss how to best describe this book and what it got me feeling. I was fascinated by the whole concept of Lucid after reading its blurb and some fantastic reviews. The only way I can think of explaining it is that it was good in an Inception kind of a way, where you don't really understand what's happening but you still like it.
Sloane and Maggie are two girls with the same full name. They are as different as two girls can be with Maggie being dark haired and an actress who lives in New York and Sloane being a student with blonde hair and who goes to a high school in a small town. The only way they are connected to each other is through their dreams.
When Maggie falls asleep she dreams of Sloane's day and when Sloane falls asleep she dreams of Maggie's day. None of them really knows who is actually dreaming of who and which is real and which is just a figment of one's imagination. Its a secret they can't tell another soul because if one of them ever stopped dreaming of the other one of their lives would cease to exist or at least that is what they think.
But soon the lines between reality and dreams start getting blurred. Maggie starts falling in love with Andrew and Sloane is still getting over her loss of her best friend Bill while having mixed feelings for Gordy and James. Both of them were vulnerable in ways only they knew and even though I was rooting for a happy ending for at least one of them I knew it was going to be next to impossible.
Towards the end of the book we can see both of them spiraling towards insanity and it all gets extremely hard to keep up with. But still Lucid was a book which pulled you in and made you feel all the emotions Maggie and Sloane are going through. The writing style was just plain beautiful. I do have a theory on how I think the book ended but me saying it would just spoil things. I think everyone is just meant to come up with their own theories on the end of Lucid. It was a different book and if you're looking for an unusual read you should give Lucid a try.
Sloane and Maggie are two girls with the same full name. They are as different as two girls can be with Maggie being dark haired and an actress who lives in New York and Sloane being a student with blonde hair and who goes to a high school in a small town. The only way they are connected to each other is through their dreams.
When Maggie falls asleep she dreams of Sloane's day and when Sloane falls asleep she dreams of Maggie's day. None of them really knows who is actually dreaming of who and which is real and which is just a figment of one's imagination. Its a secret they can't tell another soul because if one of them ever stopped dreaming of the other one of their lives would cease to exist or at least that is what they think.
But soon the lines between reality and dreams start getting blurred. Maggie starts falling in love with Andrew and Sloane is still getting over her loss of her best friend Bill while having mixed feelings for Gordy and James. Both of them were vulnerable in ways only they knew and even though I was rooting for a happy ending for at least one of them I knew it was going to be next to impossible.
Towards the end of the book we can see both of them spiraling towards insanity and it all gets extremely hard to keep up with. But still Lucid was a book which pulled you in and made you feel all the emotions Maggie and Sloane are going through. The writing style was just plain beautiful. I do have a theory on how I think the book ended but me saying it would just spoil things. I think everyone is just meant to come up with their own theories on the end of Lucid. It was a different book and if you're looking for an unusual read you should give Lucid a try.
March 14, 2013
Holy crap. Just.... holy crap. This book was insane!
I am not going to write much of a review on this, because I feel this book is better if you don't know a lot going in. I actually just picked this book up at random from the library shelf, and with such a vague summary - the book I had just had two sentences on the inside flap, not this long summary that Goodreads has - I really wasn't sure what this was going to be about. Trust me: it's better that way.
I was very confused the first several chapters of this book, but I was also loving that confused feeling. This book didn't really take off until about page 70 or so, though. Before then, I was picking it up and reading a chapter or two every now and then, but once I hit page 70 that was it - I started frantically turning pages trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't.
The last few chapters of this were terrifying and amazing. I ended this book still not quite sure if I was interpreting it correctly, and I kind of love that it's left open to so many questions. I went to sleep last night arguing with myself on what the ending actually meant and if certain events had been real or not.
I wasn't sure what to rate this book when I finished it, because my mind was reeling too much to know if it really was a 5-star book. However when I woke up this morning and I was STILL thinking about it, I decided it had to get 5 stars for that reason alone.
I really want someone else to read this so I can discuss this book in more detail!
I am not going to write much of a review on this, because I feel this book is better if you don't know a lot going in. I actually just picked this book up at random from the library shelf, and with such a vague summary - the book I had just had two sentences on the inside flap, not this long summary that Goodreads has - I really wasn't sure what this was going to be about. Trust me: it's better that way.
I was very confused the first several chapters of this book, but I was also loving that confused feeling. This book didn't really take off until about page 70 or so, though. Before then, I was picking it up and reading a chapter or two every now and then, but once I hit page 70 that was it - I started frantically turning pages trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't.
The last few chapters of this were terrifying and amazing. I ended this book still not quite sure if I was interpreting it correctly, and I kind of love that it's left open to so many questions. I went to sleep last night arguing with myself on what the ending actually meant and if certain events had been real or not.
I wasn't sure what to rate this book when I finished it, because my mind was reeling too much to know if it really was a 5-star book. However when I woke up this morning and I was STILL thinking about it, I decided it had to get 5 stars for that reason alone.
I really want someone else to read this so I can discuss this book in more detail!
December 24, 2020
4.25 out of 5
Impressive, if chaotic at the end. I love the idea of the novel, as well has how it was executed -- for the most part. I could've done with about half the boy-angst, which is why this is a four-star instead of a five. These are two authors who work extraordinarily well together and complement one another in almost every aspect of the novel. Impressive, emotional, well-written, Lucid is more than a good book. It's great.
Impressive, if chaotic at the end. I love the idea of the novel, as well has how it was executed -- for the most part. I could've done with about half the boy-angst, which is why this is a four-star instead of a five. These are two authors who work extraordinarily well together and complement one another in almost every aspect of the novel. Impressive, emotional, well-written, Lucid is more than a good book. It's great.
October 27, 2012
It was going on brilliantly and then the end came and I still don't know what happened.
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