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Infinite in Between
Printz Honor author Carolyn Mackler returns with this striking new novel that chronicles the lives of five teenagers through the thrills, heartbreaks, and joys of their four years in high school.
Zoe, Jake, Mia, Gregor, and Whitney meet at freshman orientation. At the end of that first day, they make a promise to reunite after graduation. So much can happen in those in-between years….
Zoe feels like she will live forever in her famous mother’s shadow. Jake struggles to find the right connections in friendship and in love. Mia keeps trying on new identities, looking for one that actually fits. Gregor thought he wanted to be more than just a band geek. And Whitney seems to have it all, until it’s all falling apart around her.
Echoing aspects of John Hughes’s The Breakfast Club, Carolyn Mackler skillfully brings the stories of these five disparate teens together to create a distinct and cohesive whole—a novel about how we can all affect one another’s lives in the most unexpected and amazing ways.
Zoe, Jake, Mia, Gregor, and Whitney meet at freshman orientation. At the end of that first day, they make a promise to reunite after graduation. So much can happen in those in-between years….
Zoe feels like she will live forever in her famous mother’s shadow. Jake struggles to find the right connections in friendship and in love. Mia keeps trying on new identities, looking for one that actually fits. Gregor thought he wanted to be more than just a band geek. And Whitney seems to have it all, until it’s all falling apart around her.
Echoing aspects of John Hughes’s The Breakfast Club, Carolyn Mackler skillfully brings the stories of these five disparate teens together to create a distinct and cohesive whole—a novel about how we can all affect one another’s lives in the most unexpected and amazing ways.
480 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2015
83 people are currently reading
6150 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Mackler
24 books980 followersCarolyn Mackler is the author of the popular teen novels, The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (A Michael L. Printz Honor Book), Infinite in Between, Tangled, Guyaholic, Vegan Virgin Valentine, and Love and Other Four-Letter Words. Carolyn's novel, The Future of Us, co-written with bestselling author Jay Asher, received starred reviews and appeared on several bestseller lists. Carolyn has also written Best Friend Next Door, a novel for younger readers. Carolyn's novels have been published in more than twenty countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Denmark, Israel, and Indonesia.
Carolyn lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. Her new novel for teens, The Universe is Expanding and So Am I, will be published in May 2018. This is the long-awaited sequel to the Printz-honor winning novel, The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things.
Carolyn lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. Her new novel for teens, The Universe is Expanding and So Am I, will be published in May 2018. This is the long-awaited sequel to the Printz-honor winning novel, The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 580 reviews
January 20, 2016
Five teens meet as strangers.
Five different personalities.
Five lives taking you to a journey of their four years in high school.
I don't really mind books with multiple perspectives. It's just challenging to keep up with their stories because I can't connect with them. The premise is great and easy to read but nothing much happens to keep me interested.
As for the characters, I do appreciate the diversity. Out of the five teenagers, Jake -- the boy who has a crush on his best friend, Ted and Zoe-- the daughter of an alcoholic actress but they don't have a close relationship pushed me to keep me going. These two stood out for me but more on Jake. Gregor and Mia are both okay. Their characters fell flat to me. Whitney is my least favorite. She is a popular girl and dating from one guy to another but I like she knows her limitations of not going all the way with guys. For her, love should be in it. (If you know what I mean)
Overall, it's an okay story. It just doesn't really stick to me.
Five different personalities.
Five lives taking you to a journey of their four years in high school.
I don't really mind books with multiple perspectives. It's just challenging to keep up with their stories because I can't connect with them. The premise is great and easy to read but nothing much happens to keep me interested.
As for the characters, I do appreciate the diversity. Out of the five teenagers, Jake -- the boy who has a crush on his best friend, Ted and Zoe-- the daughter of an alcoholic actress but they don't have a close relationship pushed me to keep me going. These two stood out for me but more on Jake. Gregor and Mia are both okay. Their characters fell flat to me. Whitney is my least favorite. She is a popular girl and dating from one guy to another but I like she knows her limitations of not going all the way with guys. For her, love should be in it. (If you know what I mean)
Overall, it's an okay story. It just doesn't really stick to me.
July 4, 2017
Contemporary YA from the multiple perspectives of five teenagers-Jake, Gregor, Zoe, Mia, and Whitney as they navigate their way through the high school years. The group tackle belonging, sexual awakening, divorce, addiction, and the death of a parent. Quite simply, it's every teen show on the CW wrapped up in a book.
I am giving this a 3 star because I neither hated it or loved it. I am just picking the neutral rating because I am not the target audience. However, I had two students who took this book out of the library and thought it was AMAZING! Good writing, short chapters, and strong characterization will make this book appeal to teens and to adults that feel like a trip down memory lane.
I am giving this a 3 star because I neither hated it or loved it. I am just picking the neutral rating because I am not the target audience. However, I had two students who took this book out of the library and thought it was AMAZING! Good writing, short chapters, and strong characterization will make this book appeal to teens and to adults that feel like a trip down memory lane.
September 2, 2015
Absolutely dazzling.
June 15, 2016
This book is the perfect example of a good premise that turns out to be really badly executed. So 5 teenagers meet on their freshman orientation day and pledge to meet again right after graduation. Supposedly, we should have been about to read all about their high school journey...but it's a massive undertaking and all get to see are bits and pieces of each of them, glimpses of what they do but with no real characterization. For the first hundred pages it was almost impossible to tell them apart. The blurb mentions " The Breakfast Club" and let me tell you, apart from the fact that is a group of 5 people, this was no Breakfast Club. It wasn't even a club.
I mean, would it have been so difficult to make the book longer and develop the characters properly? Well, we'll never know.
I mean, would it have been so difficult to make the book longer and develop the characters properly? Well, we'll never know.
December 30, 2015
3.5 rounding up!
I was definitely excited to read this one and I wasn’t exactly disappointed, I just feel like maybe something was missing for me… OR it could be that I am just so far removed from High School that I just couldn’t connect as much as I normally like.
Infinite In Between explores the lives of five teens who officially meet on the first day of high school, they don’t exactly become friends, but over the four years of school, their lives twist and turn and weave in and out of each other’s orbits. Told from each characters perspectives (five POV’s!!) fans of multiple pov’s may find this amazing, but for me, I think I just ended up feeling like we never really got enough story to connect with each of the characters.
I will say that Mackler did an amazing job of capturing the ups and downs and drama that is high school. Her inclusion of some really diverse characters was a great addition and while there is drinking, drugs and some sex, nothing that teens today most likely don’t experience or know about already. I really think that I enjoyed Senior year best as it finally had the characters connecting a bit more. Overall, I think that this would be an amazing read for teens in high school… at least I think they might enjoy it and relate to it a bit more than I did.
I was definitely excited to read this one and I wasn’t exactly disappointed, I just feel like maybe something was missing for me… OR it could be that I am just so far removed from High School that I just couldn’t connect as much as I normally like.
Infinite In Between explores the lives of five teens who officially meet on the first day of high school, they don’t exactly become friends, but over the four years of school, their lives twist and turn and weave in and out of each other’s orbits. Told from each characters perspectives (five POV’s!!) fans of multiple pov’s may find this amazing, but for me, I think I just ended up feeling like we never really got enough story to connect with each of the characters.
I will say that Mackler did an amazing job of capturing the ups and downs and drama that is high school. Her inclusion of some really diverse characters was a great addition and while there is drinking, drugs and some sex, nothing that teens today most likely don’t experience or know about already. I really think that I enjoyed Senior year best as it finally had the characters connecting a bit more. Overall, I think that this would be an amazing read for teens in high school… at least I think they might enjoy it and relate to it a bit more than I did.
dnf
October 4, 2015I actually read 378 pages of this waiting for something to happen or some attachment to form, but it just didn't, and I had to put it down to travel somewhere and when I picked it back up, it was a couple of weeks later, I didn't remember who anyone was, and I didn't care. It's an ambitious thing to write a book with 5 POVs, and not an easy one, and this didn't do any of the things right for me that a book has to do to pull it off. I didn't care enough, I didn't think the characters had equal weight at all - some had far more relevance one year than none the next - it ghosted over major events... it felt like a proposal of character sketches one would hand to an editor and say, "Pick which one you think should turn into a book." So, yeah, not for me.
June 28, 2015
This book tugs at your heart and makes you nostalgic, in a good way, for high school.
February 2, 2016
I don't really know about this book. I was so into the concept. I LOVED the prologue, it held so much intrigue and I was so excited. But throughout the book, I couldn't bring myself to care for any of the characters and the book failed to provoke any sort of emotional reaction in me. On the other hand, I was glued to it and couldn't stop reading. It was a bit of a weird reading experience.
October 21, 2015
Tsk tsk tsk.
As the rating says (two stars) it was just okay.
Honestly, this was probably the worst book I've ever read. However, I DID finish it, but it felt forced. I didn't touch it for a couple of days and was itching to move on to a different book, but I made myself finish it as I was almost done.
I'd say: skip it. It didn't really do anything for me. I would've been okay having never picked it up in the first place.
Positives:
1) Short chapters. I. Love. Short. Chapters.
2) Sometimes (and only sometimes) did I feel bad for a couple of the characters.
3) I greatly appreciated not every character ending up going to college. Had a more realistic feel.
Now, lets get down to the nitty gritty:
******************************spoiler alert***********************************
I'm gonna go in order here through the book.
This book started off really cute. Excited Freshman, nervous and full of wonder. It brought back some old feels of 9th grade.
I got to April of their Freshman year and I wondered, WHY IS THERE NO TALK ABOUT THE WORK LOAD? Nothing! Absolutely. Nothing. No presentations. No essays. No tests. Like, WHAT?! That blew my mind.
(I wrote notes as I went along the book, work with me)
Now in May, where's homecoming? There might've been a tiny bit of talk about it (which I definitely don't recall) but from what I remember, there was no homecoming. COME ON. Homecoming is super important to the Freshman! Not to mention, there wasn't a homecoming for any of the years. Given, this school in particular may not have had a homecoming, I let it slide.
(Another post-it, tehe) I started only really KNOWING and being able to distinguish the characters by page 115! That's 115 pages of me being greatly confused and having to go back and forth pages to remember who is who.
Something else I found interesting, the entire Freshman year was told in 127 pages. Now now, I know what you're thinking and I agree. If a book realistically told the story of high school, Freshman to Senior year, it'd be astronomically long. YES. I GET IT. BUT SERIOUSLY. I was really trying to relate and I just... couldn't. Freshman year is probably the "longest" year in high school, I'd say. Not to mention, the summer after Freshman year was only 8 pages. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.
Oh and remember when Mia was being followed and ran to Jakes' house? That was awkward to say the least. I get why the author might've put that in there, but it felt out of place lol. It left me with a "huh?" look on my face.
Junior year started and, NO TALK OF SUMMER ACTIVITIES. I was just...ugh. I had had enough by this point.
Remember when Zoe was freaking out about her interview at Bean? She was losing it! But, they didn't talk about it at all. The next time you hear about Zoe after that chapter, she has the job. The "check ins" or "chapters" of the characters were so far apart! It felt like a couple of months had passed in between.
Once again, another summer passed too fast. The summer after Junior year was 6 pages. Also, no talk of Whitney's theater program? What happened to that?
Senior year. October. Zoe. Page 358 mentions the she is snapping at her boyfriend because she's "moody"...oh. I get it. Her mom. Max. Jane. She's got some stuff going on. But she also broke up with him because she's "moody". Right. My post-it really says it all: "Moody? Really? Couldn't think of anything else, huh?"
Overall, imagery was awful. I couldn't even tell you what their school looked like. Or Zoe. Or Gregor.
The breakup between Jake and Ted. Only a text conversation, and that's it. The author does elaborate on the pain Jake is in, but I was more interested in how he was directly after the break up, how he coped, etc.
I noticed that Jake was more of a background character than a main character. When mentioned, it was either a text conversation, or about Ted. Honestly, I don't remember much about Jake, he was so irrelevant and boring.
Prom. PROM. You only get ONE experience of ONE prom! That's it! (okay sort of two but Whitney was an "additional" character in the chapter) What about the rest of the characters? I'm interested in how Mia or Zoe would've handled prom.
From page 415 to 441, there was only one mention of Mia and it was exchanges with her new love interest. Mia went M.I.A.
Talk about Mia, valedictorian? Once again, there was no mention on the work load or homework or any of that very important stuff.
Gregor and Whitney, so cute, so cliche.
A lot of important moments were skipped I felt. Towards the end, it felt hurried.
Would I read again, definitely not. It put me to sleep. I'd say it's more geared towards 13/14 year olds. Not a complete waste, but no gain either.
As the rating says (two stars) it was just okay.
Honestly, this was probably the worst book I've ever read. However, I DID finish it, but it felt forced. I didn't touch it for a couple of days and was itching to move on to a different book, but I made myself finish it as I was almost done.
I'd say: skip it. It didn't really do anything for me. I would've been okay having never picked it up in the first place.
Positives:
1) Short chapters. I. Love. Short. Chapters.
2) Sometimes (and only sometimes) did I feel bad for a couple of the characters.
3) I greatly appreciated not every character ending up going to college. Had a more realistic feel.
Now, lets get down to the nitty gritty:
******************************spoiler alert***********************************
I'm gonna go in order here through the book.
This book started off really cute. Excited Freshman, nervous and full of wonder. It brought back some old feels of 9th grade.
I got to April of their Freshman year and I wondered, WHY IS THERE NO TALK ABOUT THE WORK LOAD? Nothing! Absolutely. Nothing. No presentations. No essays. No tests. Like, WHAT?! That blew my mind.
(I wrote notes as I went along the book, work with me)
Now in May, where's homecoming? There might've been a tiny bit of talk about it (which I definitely don't recall) but from what I remember, there was no homecoming. COME ON. Homecoming is super important to the Freshman! Not to mention, there wasn't a homecoming for any of the years. Given, this school in particular may not have had a homecoming, I let it slide.
(Another post-it, tehe) I started only really KNOWING and being able to distinguish the characters by page 115! That's 115 pages of me being greatly confused and having to go back and forth pages to remember who is who.
Something else I found interesting, the entire Freshman year was told in 127 pages. Now now, I know what you're thinking and I agree. If a book realistically told the story of high school, Freshman to Senior year, it'd be astronomically long. YES. I GET IT. BUT SERIOUSLY. I was really trying to relate and I just... couldn't. Freshman year is probably the "longest" year in high school, I'd say. Not to mention, the summer after Freshman year was only 8 pages. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.
Oh and remember when Mia was being followed and ran to Jakes' house? That was awkward to say the least. I get why the author might've put that in there, but it felt out of place lol. It left me with a "huh?" look on my face.
Junior year started and, NO TALK OF SUMMER ACTIVITIES. I was just...ugh. I had had enough by this point.
Remember when Zoe was freaking out about her interview at Bean? She was losing it! But, they didn't talk about it at all. The next time you hear about Zoe after that chapter, she has the job. The "check ins" or "chapters" of the characters were so far apart! It felt like a couple of months had passed in between.
Once again, another summer passed too fast. The summer after Junior year was 6 pages. Also, no talk of Whitney's theater program? What happened to that?
Senior year. October. Zoe. Page 358 mentions the she is snapping at her boyfriend because she's "moody"...oh. I get it. Her mom. Max. Jane. She's got some stuff going on. But she also broke up with him because she's "moody". Right. My post-it really says it all: "Moody? Really? Couldn't think of anything else, huh?"
Overall, imagery was awful. I couldn't even tell you what their school looked like. Or Zoe. Or Gregor.
The breakup between Jake and Ted. Only a text conversation, and that's it. The author does elaborate on the pain Jake is in, but I was more interested in how he was directly after the break up, how he coped, etc.
I noticed that Jake was more of a background character than a main character. When mentioned, it was either a text conversation, or about Ted. Honestly, I don't remember much about Jake, he was so irrelevant and boring.
Prom. PROM. You only get ONE experience of ONE prom! That's it! (okay sort of two but Whitney was an "additional" character in the chapter) What about the rest of the characters? I'm interested in how Mia or Zoe would've handled prom.
From page 415 to 441, there was only one mention of Mia and it was exchanges with her new love interest. Mia went M.I.A.
Talk about Mia, valedictorian? Once again, there was no mention on the work load or homework or any of that very important stuff.
Gregor and Whitney, so cute, so cliche.
A lot of important moments were skipped I felt. Towards the end, it felt hurried.
Would I read again, definitely not. It put me to sleep. I'd say it's more geared towards 13/14 year olds. Not a complete waste, but no gain either.
September 24, 2015
Infinite in Between follows five students throughout their high school experience. The group of students all met while at student orientation, while in their group they decided to write letters to their future selves and after graduation the group would meet back up and read the letters together.
Honestly for myself when there are so many point of views, I usually get lost with the characters until about a quarter of the way through, sometimes more depending on the story. By that time the characters have started forging their path and their own personalities and characters begin to stick. With having five different point of views, it did take me awhile to remember who was who and what their story may be. Whitney, Zoe, Mia, Jake, and Gregor may have all been completely different from each other, but they all went through major struggles and hurdles throughout the years that shaped the person they evolved into. High school is hard, finding yourself, figuring out your future, going through hormones, and having to study is taxing on a person and I don’t think we give youth enough credit for everything that gets piled on them during those four years. And a lot of this book focused on that, the things we hide but struggle with daily, questioning ourselves, and trying to figure it all out. We get to see the students evolve into something different, something stronger, and something better for themselves.
While I did enjoy this book, it was too many point of views for my liking. Then the main students had their friends and I just get too confused sometimes. But that didn’t stop me from devouring this book. Which I think was the benefit of having many point of views, once I finished one person’s chapter I was eager to get back to them and that was just one endless cycle, well I guess it ended when the book ended, but you get my point. - Shannon
Honestly for myself when there are so many point of views, I usually get lost with the characters until about a quarter of the way through, sometimes more depending on the story. By that time the characters have started forging their path and their own personalities and characters begin to stick. With having five different point of views, it did take me awhile to remember who was who and what their story may be. Whitney, Zoe, Mia, Jake, and Gregor may have all been completely different from each other, but they all went through major struggles and hurdles throughout the years that shaped the person they evolved into. High school is hard, finding yourself, figuring out your future, going through hormones, and having to study is taxing on a person and I don’t think we give youth enough credit for everything that gets piled on them during those four years. And a lot of this book focused on that, the things we hide but struggle with daily, questioning ourselves, and trying to figure it all out. We get to see the students evolve into something different, something stronger, and something better for themselves.
While I did enjoy this book, it was too many point of views for my liking. Then the main students had their friends and I just get too confused sometimes. But that didn’t stop me from devouring this book. Which I think was the benefit of having many point of views, once I finished one person’s chapter I was eager to get back to them and that was just one endless cycle, well I guess it ended when the book ended, but you get my point. - Shannon
April 4, 2016
solid three stars!!
I was really looking forward to this one, because I thought the premise sounded really amazing! I ended up flying through this, and I really enjoyed it! I thought the characters were relatable and the idea ended up working out really well. The one complaint I had, and the reason that this is only three stars, is that I felt like the chapters were too short. There are five POVS in this novel, and every time I would feel oriented to a new person, I felt like the chapter would change. It was because of this that I felt like I didn't really connect to the characters fully until the book was almost over!!
Overall, nice premise, loved the characters, wasn't crazy about the layout.
I was really looking forward to this one, because I thought the premise sounded really amazing! I ended up flying through this, and I really enjoyed it! I thought the characters were relatable and the idea ended up working out really well. The one complaint I had, and the reason that this is only three stars, is that I felt like the chapters were too short. There are five POVS in this novel, and every time I would feel oriented to a new person, I felt like the chapter would change. It was because of this that I felt like I didn't really connect to the characters fully until the book was almost over!!
Overall, nice premise, loved the characters, wasn't crazy about the layout.
September 24, 2015
The narration put me to sleep and I could not relate to any of the characters. Yeah it was like The Breakfast Club but I just --- it was booooooring.
January 12, 2018
I was not as impressed by this story as I hoped I would be. I never connected to the characters because their POV chapters felt choppy, rushed, and under developed. :(
July 19, 2017
This story follows five different teenagers through their four years of high school. They all meet on the day before their freshman year starts because they are all in the same group at orientation day. They decide to write letters to their future selves and hide them in school. On graduation day they would come back and read those letters. And that's when the journey starts...
Oh my, this was such a gorgeous book! I loved every single word of it.
All of the five were great, they were so different in some ways and so alike in others and I loved them all.
It was absolutely great to accompany each of them on their respective paths and I loved how things happened or friendships developed where you wouldn't have believed it in the beginning. I loved how some of them really changed during the story and what effects this had and how everything in general developed.
Some people said in the comments that they couldn't connect to either one of the five and that five were too much POVs.
I cannot agree with that in the slightest. I could totally get into the story and connecting wasn't a problem at all. Also five weren't too much in my opinion. It was just right.
The story was told from all of the five in turn. The chapters were very short and therefore the POV changed quite often and quickly but that didn't cause any problems for me. I could still keep up easily with each storyline and wanted to know more and I didn't confuse one for another or anything. And in fact I loved it that way.
The whole book had a really quick pace, which was great. It's separated into the four years of high school and also into the months of each year and sometimes a month consisted of only two 'chapters', i. e. two POVs.
Oh, another thing that was really, really great was the very first page. I'm not going to spoil here but it was kind of an introduction and you could see things that would happen in the future. For example: 'On that first day they had no clue that xy would happen (day xx)' and so on. Oh goodness I love things like that! I totally made me want to inhale the story to get to those points and to see what exactly would happen and who it would happen to.
Everything about this book was great. I can do nothing but rave about it ♥
Please go and read it.
Oh my, this was such a gorgeous book! I loved every single word of it.
All of the five were great, they were so different in some ways and so alike in others and I loved them all.
It was absolutely great to accompany each of them on their respective paths and I loved how things happened or friendships developed where you wouldn't have believed it in the beginning. I loved how some of them really changed during the story and what effects this had and how everything in general developed.
Some people said in the comments that they couldn't connect to either one of the five and that five were too much POVs.
I cannot agree with that in the slightest. I could totally get into the story and connecting wasn't a problem at all. Also five weren't too much in my opinion. It was just right.
The story was told from all of the five in turn. The chapters were very short and therefore the POV changed quite often and quickly but that didn't cause any problems for me. I could still keep up easily with each storyline and wanted to know more and I didn't confuse one for another or anything. And in fact I loved it that way.
The whole book had a really quick pace, which was great. It's separated into the four years of high school and also into the months of each year and sometimes a month consisted of only two 'chapters', i. e. two POVs.
Oh, another thing that was really, really great was the very first page. I'm not going to spoil here but it was kind of an introduction and you could see things that would happen in the future. For example: 'On that first day they had no clue that xy would happen (day xx)' and so on. Oh goodness I love things like that! I totally made me want to inhale the story to get to those points and to see what exactly would happen and who it would happen to.
Everything about this book was great. I can do nothing but rave about it ♥
Please go and read it.
March 7, 2016
This book made me think that I was about a year behind everyone else in high school. Like a lot of the characters I went through some major life events (Dad passing away at the end of my junior year) and feeling alone. The kids in this book seemed to be getting things together their senior year, but for me it was college where I had the most growth. This book also reminded me that you never know what is going on in others peoples lives. I liked how the book ends with the kids being open to connecting with everyone, no matter who they are or how different they are from you, since that has happened with me over the years and I have established some good friendships out of it. But I feel the book is missing something at an emotionally deeper level and that is why I gave it three stars.
January 19, 2016
Being a freshman in high school, this book really makes me think. Who have I started high school with? Who will I end high school with? What is important to me now? What will be important to me then? So many things could happen.
I really loved this book because I can relate to the characters and I see some of this stuff in my everyday life. I like having the different characters and months go by very fast, never spending too much time on one thing.
I really loved this book because I can relate to the characters and I see some of this stuff in my everyday life. I like having the different characters and months go by very fast, never spending too much time on one thing.
July 4, 2015
A wonderful reminder of the ups and downs of high school.
A note though: I think readers should go into this with the undestanding that there's no major character arcs and/or eureka! moments for any of them. It's more just a gradual understanding/evolution of people becoming who they're meant to be.
A note though: I think readers should go into this with the undestanding that there's no major character arcs and/or eureka! moments for any of them. It's more just a gradual understanding/evolution of people becoming who they're meant to be.
January 19, 2019
“Infinite in Between” by Carolyn Mackler is a great book that follows the journey through high school of five very different but also very similar kids. Gregor, Whitney, Jake, Mia, and Zoe are all in the same freshman orientation group- where their story begins. These five kids, all from different pasts meet at their freshman orientation. There, they all write letters to their future selves- planning to open them at graduation. This book follows Gregor, Whitney, Jake, Mia, and Zoe through the four years of high school. Gregor goes into high school with band, cello, and Whitney on his mind. Whitney on the other hand, has one man focus: maintaining her popularity. Jake is trying to cope with who is is and having the guts to admit it to himself and his parents. At the beginning Mia is only worrying about not being seen, but that soon changes. And, Zoe, after troubles with her famous mom, is just trying to get used to the small town life. The five kids all have their visions of what high school will be like, but soon learn that it is definitely not what they had hoped for. [SPOILER] By senior year, Whitney doesn’t care about having the “perfect” family, and “perfect” friend group- because her family and friends are far from what freshman Whitney had imagined, but she is grateful for that. Gregor went through the loss of his father, but he learned how to deal with it, and is finally happy again. Jake finally was able to tell his family about his sexuality. Mia learned how to express herself, and speak in front of people- as Valedictorian of her class. Zoe learned to love the small town life as opposed to the famous LA life. [SPOILER ENDS] By the end of the novel, the five kids, Gregor, Whitney, Jake, Mia, and Zoe have found themselves and the people they want to be as they begin the new journey of adulthood.
I really enjoyed this book, and the fun high school story. I liked how Mackler told all the kids stories separately, but in one way or another they all connected. This book was very real with the current high school society and social norms and it never shied away from the struggles all high school students face. This book was a great read and although it is fairly long, it was very easy to get sucked into. Because the book follows five kids through fours years of their lives, it sometimes got hard to keep up with the fast pace of the book. I however, did not find that a huge problem for me. I think anyone who likes books about high school kids will enjoy this book, as it covers it all. The book includes school, fun, sports, parties, tragedies, and much more. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it for anyone looking for a good read.
I really enjoyed this book, and the fun high school story. I liked how Mackler told all the kids stories separately, but in one way or another they all connected. This book was very real with the current high school society and social norms and it never shied away from the struggles all high school students face. This book was a great read and although it is fairly long, it was very easy to get sucked into. Because the book follows five kids through fours years of their lives, it sometimes got hard to keep up with the fast pace of the book. I however, did not find that a huge problem for me. I think anyone who likes books about high school kids will enjoy this book, as it covers it all. The book includes school, fun, sports, parties, tragedies, and much more. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it for anyone looking for a good read.
April 18, 2022
O poveste a unor adolescenți minunată. Cartea ilustrează mai toate posibilitățile de viață pe care le poate avea un copil care se apropie de maturitate. De la iubire până la moarte, de la ură până la prietenie, dar mai ales de la a vedea niște persoane și a ajunge să fii nedespărțit de acestea (mai pe scurt, de la necunoaștere la cunoaștere). Asta este povestea a 5 copii cărora le-a fost scris să se întâlnească la grupul de orientare al școlii Hankinson.
Ceea ce a făcut cartea cu adevărat specială și cu o temă nemaiîntâlnită de mine până acum a fost motivul ”scrisorilor” care dă o notă specială poveștii, ceva ce ar fi drăguț să facem cu toții ca să ne amintim de niște vremuri pe care le-am îndrăgit sau le-am urât. Cu toate că ei nu au deschis scrisorile la final de absolvire a fi împreună cu persoanele dragi îți ridică moralul mai mult decât niște scrisori, trebuie să apreciem faptul că cei dragi sunt încă alături de noi și să apreciem prezentul împreună cu ei.
Autoarea a găsit ceva creativ de aștenut pe hârtie, o poveste de viață de la care trebuie să rămânem cu ceva, orice, cât de mic e acel ceva, totul contează, niciodată nu știi când ceva frumos se stinge, iar lucrurile frumoase se termină repede doar pentru că aprecierea noastră față de ele este considerabil mai ridicată.
Ceea ce a făcut cartea cu adevărat specială și cu o temă nemaiîntâlnită de mine până acum a fost motivul ”scrisorilor” care dă o notă specială poveștii, ceva ce ar fi drăguț să facem cu toții ca să ne amintim de niște vremuri pe care le-am îndrăgit sau le-am urât. Cu toate că ei nu au deschis scrisorile la final de absolvire a fi împreună cu persoanele dragi îți ridică moralul mai mult decât niște scrisori, trebuie să apreciem faptul că cei dragi sunt încă alături de noi și să apreciem prezentul împreună cu ei.
Autoarea a găsit ceva creativ de aștenut pe hârtie, o poveste de viață de la care trebuie să rămânem cu ceva, orice, cât de mic e acel ceva, totul contează, niciodată nu știi când ceva frumos se stinge, iar lucrurile frumoase se termină repede doar pentru că aprecierea noastră față de ele este considerabil mai ridicată.
October 29, 2022
DNF 15% (58 pag)
Am primit cartea asta cadou undeva în 2021 și am început-o imediat fiindcă descrierea suna bine. Imediat după ce multiplele perspective stupide m-au lovit am regretat alegerea făcută.
De-a lungul anului am tot pus mâna pe cartea asta încercând să mai citesc din ea fiindcă capitolele sunt scurte, scrisul e mare și se citește relativ repede.
Problema mea e că un YA clasic în care toți adolescenții prezenți fac lucruri tâmpite și în jurul lor roiește această dramă adolescentină de care eu tot încerc să fug.
Not my cup of tea anymore și fără niciun regret îi dau DNF. Refuz să mai îmi pierd timpul cu cărți și personaje care nu-mi plac.
Dacă căutați o carte cu elevi adolescenți și drame care se citește repede, this is the one.
Am primit cartea asta cadou undeva în 2021 și am început-o imediat fiindcă descrierea suna bine. Imediat după ce multiplele perspective stupide m-au lovit am regretat alegerea făcută.
De-a lungul anului am tot pus mâna pe cartea asta încercând să mai citesc din ea fiindcă capitolele sunt scurte, scrisul e mare și se citește relativ repede.
Problema mea e că un YA clasic în care toți adolescenții prezenți fac lucruri tâmpite și în jurul lor roiește această dramă adolescentină de care eu tot încerc să fug.
Not my cup of tea anymore și fără niciun regret îi dau DNF. Refuz să mai îmi pierd timpul cu cărți și personaje care nu-mi plac.
Dacă căutați o carte cu elevi adolescenți și drame care se citește repede, this is the one.
September 9, 2018
I loved this book! It was fun and fast paced and interesting. I loved all the main characters and they were relatable and they felt real. I also liked seeing how all the main five’s stories intertwined throughout high school even if they hadn’t been friends at the time. I also like seeing how each character got their own important development- they all had changed from when they were in the freshman orientation that started the book. I would definitely recommend this book to high schoolers because it gives a perspective of how fast high school can go by, and how different of a person you may be before and after.
May 31, 2018
I really enjoyed reading this book because of the way it was set up and how the chapters reflected on each students perspective. This book was really fun to read since it was something differnt than I would usually read!
June 24, 2017
I literally have no words. This ultimately is one of my favorite contemporary YA novels I have ever read. It was that good. I'll write a proper, full review later, but right now I can't think straight and my heart is racing and aching at the same time from the AWESOMENESS of this book. I recommend this book to everyone.
April 7, 2019
O carte cu şi despre adolescenți, o poveste despre prietenie, dezamăgire, fiorii primei iubirii, despre iluzii şi speranțe. O poveste potrivită adolescenților şi, nu numai 🙂 .
Recenzia mea aici : https://www.delicateseliterare.ro/inf...
Recenzia mea aici : https://www.delicateseliterare.ro/inf...
July 2, 2016
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales
Quick & Dirty: A unique coming of age novel that I connected with.
Opening Sentence: In the beginning the five of them made a promise.
The Review:
The Infinite In Between follow five characters: Zoe, Jake, Gregor, Mia, and Whitney. All live drastically different lives. Zoe is daughter of an alcoholic movie star. She doesn’t know her father and her mother’s PR problem is beginning to affect her. Jake is coming to terms with the fact that he’s gay and is trying to find himself. Mia is shy, too shy to interact with the people she observes. She watches from a distance but is never a part of anything. And Whitney is bubbly, popular, and beautiful – from the outside, her life is great. If only they knew what she’s been going through. Gregor is falling in love from afar, and then his life changes when he is overcome by a loss. These very different people meet at freshman orientation and promise to meet up after graduation. Little do they know the ways their lives will connect and develop over the next years.
The Infinite In Between is not a contemporary for those who enjoy focuses on trauma, tragedy, or huge romances. Don’t get me wrong – it has its fair share of those three things – but more than anything, its a coming of age novel. All five characters are growing into who they are throughout the four years of high school. Its a cool story because you really get a glimpse into the connections that bind us unconsciously. For me, going through high school and dealing with the stresses of social life, I did enjoy, and academics, this book struck a nerve in certain areas. It helped to remind me that feelings that have been overwhelming me are not taking place in me alone. It helped me to look at others with a different eye, because the book revealed that everyone has more depth than the surface reveals.
The characters were all very different and very complex. Take Mia, the shy one of the group, the observer. She’s polar opposites from bubbly, popular Whitney, but they share so many similar emotions despite their lives being dramatically different. I liked that throughout the story you could see these people evolving. Because the story moves through three years, the chapters are often months apart, and in a way you see a time lapse of what is going on. In this way, you can see the subtle changes develop into whole different people, and you see how different the character that emerges on the other side has become.
As for romances, they did vary, which helped to convey a nice array of perspectives. None of the romances or relationships eclipsed each other, and all the characters were equally looked upon by the reader. There was a gay relationship, and I enjoyed that addition, and the contribution to diversity in YA books. None of these romances were easy and they ranged from a couple chapters to a storyline that covered the entire plot. That’s one of the things that made The Infinite In Between so unique – the variety. The book really covered a lot of characters and lifestyles and revealed a lot about human nature.
Altogether, I enjoyed this novel. It wasn’t the writing style, which was basic but easy to follow, that made it special, nor was it the romances. I think the characters and the degrees of lifestyles that were showcased in this coming of age book were what made it stand out among so many other contemporaries in the aisles. The book came full circle by the end, with the whole idea of freshman orientation group coming back together, and realizing how tangled their lives had become and the connections they never were conscious of. I did enjoy this novel and I would recommend it to contemporary lovers, although fans of science fiction and fantasy could find it a little dull.
Notable Scene:
“Hey, I wish we’d hung out more in high school. Why didn’t we?”
“I was hiding,” said Jake thoughtfully.
“Me too.”
“You?”
“In my own way.”
Hearing that made Jake wonder if they’d all been in hiding, if he hadn’t been the only one who’d felt alone for so much of high school.
FTC Advisory: HarperTeen provided me with a copy of Infinite in Between. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Quick & Dirty: A unique coming of age novel that I connected with.
Opening Sentence: In the beginning the five of them made a promise.
The Review:
The Infinite In Between follow five characters: Zoe, Jake, Gregor, Mia, and Whitney. All live drastically different lives. Zoe is daughter of an alcoholic movie star. She doesn’t know her father and her mother’s PR problem is beginning to affect her. Jake is coming to terms with the fact that he’s gay and is trying to find himself. Mia is shy, too shy to interact with the people she observes. She watches from a distance but is never a part of anything. And Whitney is bubbly, popular, and beautiful – from the outside, her life is great. If only they knew what she’s been going through. Gregor is falling in love from afar, and then his life changes when he is overcome by a loss. These very different people meet at freshman orientation and promise to meet up after graduation. Little do they know the ways their lives will connect and develop over the next years.
The Infinite In Between is not a contemporary for those who enjoy focuses on trauma, tragedy, or huge romances. Don’t get me wrong – it has its fair share of those three things – but more than anything, its a coming of age novel. All five characters are growing into who they are throughout the four years of high school. Its a cool story because you really get a glimpse into the connections that bind us unconsciously. For me, going through high school and dealing with the stresses of social life, I did enjoy, and academics, this book struck a nerve in certain areas. It helped to remind me that feelings that have been overwhelming me are not taking place in me alone. It helped me to look at others with a different eye, because the book revealed that everyone has more depth than the surface reveals.
The characters were all very different and very complex. Take Mia, the shy one of the group, the observer. She’s polar opposites from bubbly, popular Whitney, but they share so many similar emotions despite their lives being dramatically different. I liked that throughout the story you could see these people evolving. Because the story moves through three years, the chapters are often months apart, and in a way you see a time lapse of what is going on. In this way, you can see the subtle changes develop into whole different people, and you see how different the character that emerges on the other side has become.
As for romances, they did vary, which helped to convey a nice array of perspectives. None of the romances or relationships eclipsed each other, and all the characters were equally looked upon by the reader. There was a gay relationship, and I enjoyed that addition, and the contribution to diversity in YA books. None of these romances were easy and they ranged from a couple chapters to a storyline that covered the entire plot. That’s one of the things that made The Infinite In Between so unique – the variety. The book really covered a lot of characters and lifestyles and revealed a lot about human nature.
Altogether, I enjoyed this novel. It wasn’t the writing style, which was basic but easy to follow, that made it special, nor was it the romances. I think the characters and the degrees of lifestyles that were showcased in this coming of age book were what made it stand out among so many other contemporaries in the aisles. The book came full circle by the end, with the whole idea of freshman orientation group coming back together, and realizing how tangled their lives had become and the connections they never were conscious of. I did enjoy this novel and I would recommend it to contemporary lovers, although fans of science fiction and fantasy could find it a little dull.
Notable Scene:
“Hey, I wish we’d hung out more in high school. Why didn’t we?”
“I was hiding,” said Jake thoughtfully.
“Me too.”
“You?”
“In my own way.”
Hearing that made Jake wonder if they’d all been in hiding, if he hadn’t been the only one who’d felt alone for so much of high school.
FTC Advisory: HarperTeen provided me with a copy of Infinite in Between. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
May 10, 2016
Earlier this week I picked up The One Thing, a novel I had completely forgotten why I even owned, and fell in love. I decided to pick up another couple books I wasn’t sure why I had to see if I would have the same sort of experience.
With Infinite in Between this was not the case. It’s an oddly large third person contemporary novel, and while it was an easy read I had a lot of issues with it. 2 ½ stars
The book follows a group of five high schoolers who are paired together for freshman orientation and decided to write letters to their future selves to read together when they graduate. The novel follows all five students throughout their lives for their four years at high school.
From the blurb I thought it had a very Breakfast Club vibe, and since I love that movie I was motivated to try this book. Premise wise I do think the two are comparable, but the characters in this novel are nowhere near as interesting as the ones in the film.
We’ve got Gregor, the band geek, who I wasn’t even sure why his perspective was included. He was completely uninteresting being that his only personality trait seemed to be that he was obsessed with Whitney.
Zoe is the daughter of an alcoholic celebrity, and while the beginning of her story was interesting I found her to be one of the most boring of the characters. At times I resorted to skimming her perspective.
Jake is gay, and pretty much his entire story revolves around that aspect of his life. There’s this boy named Teddy he’s obsessed with despite the fact that Teddy continually screws him over. He was likable enough.
Mia thinks of herself an ugly weirdo but smart, and halfway through the book makes a transition to a “hot girl”. Her story arc was entertaining, I guess.
Whitney was probably my favorite, merely because her story was the most eventful. She starts out in the book as a generic bubbly popular girl but develops quite a bit throughout.
I’ve read quite a few stories that deal with characters that embody those clichés, and while some have done a great job of turning those clichés on their heads, I don’t feel like this book did anything different.
I’ve read a good number of contemporary novels, but usually they aren’t written in third person (or at least the ones I’ve read haven’t). I don’t think third person works well with contemporary? Feel free to disagree, but I felt like it only made me feel detached from the story.
The chapters are tiny and short, perspectives switched every three pages or so. If you aren’t a fan of multiple POVs this book would be your worst nightmare. It was probably the best part of the book for me since the constant change of characters and storylines would keep me semi-interested and flying through the story.
A problem with those constantly switched perspectives would be that some seemingly important events would just get cut off by a switched perspective and never resolved. Other times we would spend too long on an irrelevant everyday snippet of their lives.
I was overall disappointed with the very abrupt ending. Many times were left unresolved and it felt so random. Some people are fine with ending like that, but not me.
While I enjoyed some parts I don’t recommend this one overall. There are far better contemporary novels.
With Infinite in Between this was not the case. It’s an oddly large third person contemporary novel, and while it was an easy read I had a lot of issues with it. 2 ½ stars
The book follows a group of five high schoolers who are paired together for freshman orientation and decided to write letters to their future selves to read together when they graduate. The novel follows all five students throughout their lives for their four years at high school.
From the blurb I thought it had a very Breakfast Club vibe, and since I love that movie I was motivated to try this book. Premise wise I do think the two are comparable, but the characters in this novel are nowhere near as interesting as the ones in the film.
We’ve got Gregor, the band geek, who I wasn’t even sure why his perspective was included. He was completely uninteresting being that his only personality trait seemed to be that he was obsessed with Whitney.
Zoe is the daughter of an alcoholic celebrity, and while the beginning of her story was interesting I found her to be one of the most boring of the characters. At times I resorted to skimming her perspective.
Jake is gay, and pretty much his entire story revolves around that aspect of his life. There’s this boy named Teddy he’s obsessed with despite the fact that Teddy continually screws him over. He was likable enough.
Mia thinks of herself an ugly weirdo but smart, and halfway through the book makes a transition to a “hot girl”. Her story arc was entertaining, I guess.
Whitney was probably my favorite, merely because her story was the most eventful. She starts out in the book as a generic bubbly popular girl but develops quite a bit throughout.
I’ve read quite a few stories that deal with characters that embody those clichés, and while some have done a great job of turning those clichés on their heads, I don’t feel like this book did anything different.
I’ve read a good number of contemporary novels, but usually they aren’t written in third person (or at least the ones I’ve read haven’t). I don’t think third person works well with contemporary? Feel free to disagree, but I felt like it only made me feel detached from the story.
The chapters are tiny and short, perspectives switched every three pages or so. If you aren’t a fan of multiple POVs this book would be your worst nightmare. It was probably the best part of the book for me since the constant change of characters and storylines would keep me semi-interested and flying through the story.
A problem with those constantly switched perspectives would be that some seemingly important events would just get cut off by a switched perspective and never resolved. Other times we would spend too long on an irrelevant everyday snippet of their lives.
I was overall disappointed with the very abrupt ending. Many times were left unresolved and it felt so random. Some people are fine with ending like that, but not me.
While I enjoyed some parts I don’t recommend this one overall. There are far better contemporary novels.
December 1, 2016
This comes pretty darn close to a perfect YA novel, in my opinion. It's a hefty 462 pages long and I very nearly read it in one sitting—I might have if I'd started it before 10 PM, I might have. As it was I read until I fell asleep, then woke up and immediately picked it back up again to finish.
The book attempts to present the four years of high school as a saga unto itself. It looks at five students and their lives from orientation to graduation. The students are assigned to the same orientation group and, as a project, write letters to their future selves to be opened at graduation. Though their paths often overlap, their lives are for the most part pretty separate and distinct once the letters are sealed and hidden away.
The story bounces back and forth in brief chapters, alternating between the five different perspectives as the months tick away: September of freshman year, April of sophomore year, and so on. It’s sort of Breakfast Club crossed with 500 Days of Summer (though I was a little bummed that the counting days motif didn’t carry beyond the prologue).
The stories aren’t given the kind of depth that a book focusing on one character should have, but there’s just no way Mackler can cover five lives in that much detail without writing a thousand pages. This might annoy some readers, but I was okay with it given the context. I still think Mackler did a pretty good job representing the variety of personalities and personal histories that you’d find in your average high school. There isn’t a sensational or sentimental Big Event at the epicenter here; it’s meant to mirror real life and I think she does that very well. What I saw here very much captured my memories of high school in an incredibly realistic and less idealistic way that many contemporary YA books do.
High school is a bizarre little developmental period, somehow both insular and full of growth. It’s meant to prepare you for college, which is itself typically a baby step towards independence and responsibility. You enter high school as a kid and leave as a little mini proto-adult. There’s massive amounts of change and growth and self-reflection, but most of it still happens inside the bubble of your hometown where things are probably relatively homogenous. It really is a journey, a saga unto itself and Mackler’s approach made me incredibly sentimental for my own high school years.
The book does leave some threads hanging – not everything is given an acknowledged resolution. And the ultimate ending doesn’t really come full-circle . I kind of appreciated that it didn't culminate in this big Event that so often defines the genre. Their lives aren’t over, their stories aren’t over. It’s just that high school is over. But I loved reading this book and I found myself desperately wishing I’d had it to read when I was getting ready to enter high school a zillion years ago.
The book attempts to present the four years of high school as a saga unto itself. It looks at five students and their lives from orientation to graduation. The students are assigned to the same orientation group and, as a project, write letters to their future selves to be opened at graduation. Though their paths often overlap, their lives are for the most part pretty separate and distinct once the letters are sealed and hidden away.
The story bounces back and forth in brief chapters, alternating between the five different perspectives as the months tick away: September of freshman year, April of sophomore year, and so on. It’s sort of Breakfast Club crossed with 500 Days of Summer (though I was a little bummed that the counting days motif didn’t carry beyond the prologue).
The stories aren’t given the kind of depth that a book focusing on one character should have, but there’s just no way Mackler can cover five lives in that much detail without writing a thousand pages. This might annoy some readers, but I was okay with it given the context. I still think Mackler did a pretty good job representing the variety of personalities and personal histories that you’d find in your average high school. There isn’t a sensational or sentimental Big Event at the epicenter here; it’s meant to mirror real life and I think she does that very well. What I saw here very much captured my memories of high school in an incredibly realistic and less idealistic way that many contemporary YA books do.
High school is a bizarre little developmental period, somehow both insular and full of growth. It’s meant to prepare you for college, which is itself typically a baby step towards independence and responsibility. You enter high school as a kid and leave as a little mini proto-adult. There’s massive amounts of change and growth and self-reflection, but most of it still happens inside the bubble of your hometown where things are probably relatively homogenous. It really is a journey, a saga unto itself and Mackler’s approach made me incredibly sentimental for my own high school years.
The book does leave some threads hanging – not everything is given an acknowledged resolution. And the ultimate ending doesn’t really come full-circle . I kind of appreciated that it didn't culminate in this big Event that so often defines the genre. Their lives aren’t over, their stories aren’t over. It’s just that high school is over. But I loved reading this book and I found myself desperately wishing I’d had it to read when I was getting ready to enter high school a zillion years ago.
March 4, 2023
This normally isn’t my genre, but I made a deal. It was incredibly unfortunate that i ever read this book and I would be more than glad to act like I never read this but here we go.
Gregor - he was creepy as hell when I first met him and then he was still creepy but then something sad happened so I felt bad for him
Jake - so his entire personality is just being like gay or something? i barely knew anything about him and his friend Mona Lisa was so weird. Also why did he end up dating that Ted dude like he’s so rude and literally broke up with him, because he wanted to be single for senior year like excuse me but how is that supposed to work
Zoe - the only normal and decent character in the book
Whitney - some popular girl who seemed nice and went through a lot, she was ok but I didn’t like her that much. Most of her friends were soooo bad especially that girl Kyra
Mia - creepy as hell, what is wrong with her, I kinda hated her, she’s weird
Gregor - he was creepy as hell when I first met him and then he was still creepy but then something sad happened so I felt bad for him
Jake - so his entire personality is just being like gay or something? i barely knew anything about him and his friend Mona Lisa was so weird. Also why did he end up dating that Ted dude like he’s so rude and literally broke up with him, because he wanted to be single for senior year like excuse me but how is that supposed to work
Zoe - the only normal and decent character in the book
Whitney - some popular girl who seemed nice and went through a lot, she was ok but I didn’t like her that much. Most of her friends were soooo bad especially that girl Kyra
Mia - creepy as hell, what is wrong with her, I kinda hated her, she’s weird
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
February 28, 2016I like the idea of a novel that spans all four years of high school and the changing that takes place. Due to the number of characters who have their stories told and the fact that it covers 4 years you don't get a lot of depth into any particular character/story. It takes on a lot of different issues with these characters and mostly just skims the surface. As such, it will undoubtedly disappoint those who want a more in depth look into the characters or issues. I do think that teens reading this will likely relate to something with one of the characters since there are so many issues portrayed.
I think the author was more successful with some of the characters than others. The weakest character's story was Mia's, which was kind of all over the place. While I appreciated the attempt to include a teen that was on the fringe and perhaps had some diagnosable issues I didn't like the execution. Her story ended up being an ugly duckling story and I didn't think the ultimate message worked for this character. I would have preferred if she had stayed awkward and found others like herself to relate to rather than becoming a swan before being found worthy. I understand that part of her growth was to find out that she didn't want to be just like everyone else but I thought the swan aspect as well as being accepted by some of the coolest kids at the school wasn't necessary to make it happen. I think it will make her less relatable to the kids who might most identify with her.
I also found the resolution of Jake's relationship issues unsatisfying. I think this one is mostly due to the lack of depth the book was able to achieve with such limited time to devote to it. Zoe's transitions were not smooth but I liked that she wasn't what one kids assume would be the child of a famous person. Gregor's story was pretty good and I really appreciated that his major issues took a lot of time and psychological help to resolve. His was a good depiction of depression. I also liked Whitney's arc and that the author included her seeing a therapist. I think a positive look at mental health is important. It is good to see these issues treated with respect.
I think the author was more successful with some of the characters than others. The weakest character's story was Mia's, which was kind of all over the place. While I appreciated the attempt to include a teen that was on the fringe and perhaps had some diagnosable issues I didn't like the execution. Her story ended up being an ugly duckling story and I didn't think the ultimate message worked for this character. I would have preferred if she had stayed awkward and found others like herself to relate to rather than becoming a swan before being found worthy. I understand that part of her growth was to find out that she didn't want to be just like everyone else but I thought the swan aspect as well as being accepted by some of the coolest kids at the school wasn't necessary to make it happen. I think it will make her less relatable to the kids who might most identify with her.
I also found the resolution of Jake's relationship issues unsatisfying. I think this one is mostly due to the lack of depth the book was able to achieve with such limited time to devote to it. Zoe's transitions were not smooth but I liked that she wasn't what one kids assume would be the child of a famous person. Gregor's story was pretty good and I really appreciated that his major issues took a lot of time and psychological help to resolve. His was a good depiction of depression. I also liked Whitney's arc and that the author included her seeing a therapist. I think a positive look at mental health is important. It is good to see these issues treated with respect.
January 12, 2018
Wasn’t a huge fan of this one. It was hard to even care about any of the characters because you got so little about them. The 5 also barely interact. The way the book is written is in small random chunks for each person. I didn’t like Mia at all. Just wasn’t the book for me.
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