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Supervision
Something is wrong with Esmé.
Kicked out of school in New York, she's sent to live with her grandmother in a small Appalachian town. But something is wrong with the grandmother Ez hasn't seen for years; she leaves at midnight, carrying a big black bag. Something is wrong with her grandmother's house, a decrepit mansion full of stray cats, stairs that lead to nowhere, beds that unmake themselves. Something is wrong in the town where a kid disappears every year, where a whistle sounds at night but no train arrives.
And something is wrong with the friendly neighbor Ez's age with black curls and blue eyes: He's dead.
Kicked out of school in New York, she's sent to live with her grandmother in a small Appalachian town. But something is wrong with the grandmother Ez hasn't seen for years; she leaves at midnight, carrying a big black bag. Something is wrong with her grandmother's house, a decrepit mansion full of stray cats, stairs that lead to nowhere, beds that unmake themselves. Something is wrong in the town where a kid disappears every year, where a whistle sounds at night but no train arrives.
And something is wrong with the friendly neighbor Ez's age with black curls and blue eyes: He's dead.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 9, 2015
8 people are currently reading
422 people want to read
About the author
Alison Stine
10 books270 followersAlison Stine grew up in rural Ohio and now lives in Colorado. Her first novel Road Out of Winter won the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award. Recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and National Geographic, she has published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and elsewhere.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
April 29, 2015
2.5 stars
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley.)
“It’s just, we don’t know how to do this. We’ve never met anyone like you before.”
“Like what?”
“Someone who can interact with us; someone who is just like us, except, I suppose -”
“Not dead?”
Well, this was a rather strange story, and I’m not even sure where to start with this review.
Esme was a bit of an enigma, we never really found out why she was doing so badly at school, or why her mother felt the need to send her to live with her grandmother, and then we got the added complication of her supposed invisibility once she actually made it to her grandmother’s house!
“I waited for the teacher to notice. I waited for her to give me a book, to ask for my name, to see me. But she never did.”
The storyline in this confused me quite a bit, and I have to say that I still have quite a few questions about exactly what the heck went on in this book. I feel like even though the story has ended, there were just a lot of things that don’t make sense.
“Tom, what are you doing?” I repeated. I reached him and tried to touch him, grabbing for the wrench, but he yanked it back.
“Stopping the train.” His hands kept moving. “Changing its path. I have to do this.”
There was some romance, but not a lot, and I’m still a little confused as to what chance this romance even stands. And yes, I know the book is over, but
The ending to this was likewise a bit confusing, and I’m still not entirely sure
5 out of 10
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley.)
“It’s just, we don’t know how to do this. We’ve never met anyone like you before.”
“Like what?”
“Someone who can interact with us; someone who is just like us, except, I suppose -”
“Not dead?”
Well, this was a rather strange story, and I’m not even sure where to start with this review.
Esme was a bit of an enigma, we never really found out why she was doing so badly at school, or why her mother felt the need to send her to live with her grandmother, and then we got the added complication of her supposed invisibility once she actually made it to her grandmother’s house!
“I waited for the teacher to notice. I waited for her to give me a book, to ask for my name, to see me. But she never did.”
The storyline in this confused me quite a bit, and I have to say that I still have quite a few questions about exactly what the heck went on in this book. I feel like even though the story has ended, there were just a lot of things that don’t make sense.
“Tom, what are you doing?” I repeated. I reached him and tried to touch him, grabbing for the wrench, but he yanked it back.
“Stopping the train.” His hands kept moving. “Changing its path. I have to do this.”
There was some romance, but not a lot, and I’m still a little confused as to what chance this romance even stands. And yes, I know the book is over, but
The ending to this was likewise a bit confusing, and I’m still not entirely sure
5 out of 10
April 28, 2015
http://reading-is-dreaming-with-open-...
I received an e-ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.
I went into Supervision expecting something unusual and amazing, instead it officially became the biggest disappointment of 2015 so far. *cheers* Everything about this book seemed so promising. I love books about ghosts but I've never read anything quite like the story that the blurb of Supervision suggests. And the cover looks magical, doesn't? Before starting this I'd decided that I'll purchase this as soon as it's out in paperback, this is how much I was looking forward to Supervision. You've probably guessed by now that this is not going to happen.
The writing was all over the place. Even if we excuse all the mistakes, that can be corrected for the real publication, we still have the rushed and confusing storyline. At least half part of the novel was a lot like a rough sketch of a book, instead of a nearly ready ARC. Sadly, I found the writing a lot more dramatic than I'd have preferred, though I got used to this later on, and it might not annoy others.
My biggest problem, though, was how disconnected I felt. Reading this book was a lot like watching something through a gray glass. On top of this I was emotionally detached from Esmé. She was a nice enough character, I guess, but I couldn't relate to her, nor did I ever feel for her. There were things I knew about her but I never had the chance to get to know her or to see her intentions and feelings.
Thankfully, most things got better as the story progressed. Not the plot holes, though, because those made the story nearly unbearable to read all through the book. All these ghosts were moving around things even when real people were there. I'm pretty sure by now the Ghostbusters would have appeared.
On top of this, all chapters ended with forced cliffhangers that instead of making the story exciting, made me angry. Moreover, at many parts I felt like the story jumped from one thing to the other. This would have been understandable if the MC had been on heavy drugs but she was not. The dialogues annoyed me to no end. It wasn't enough that the story was boring but Esmé had to go around telling people all about the things that we've just read about. This, and many other things made the story slow.
The romance was maybe the worst thing in the novel. For instance I don't get how can you make out with a ghost if you're not Suze from The Mediator. The chemistry was non-existant and I never even understood why they liked each other in the first place. I know, it's the strangest thing that I say this, but Supervision would have been better off without the romance.
I'm pretty sure there will be people who enjoy this book, but it was simply not for me.
The story idea: 2/5
The realisation of the story: 1/5
The characters: 1/5
Enjoy factor: 1/5
Final rating: 1/5
I received an e-ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.
I went into Supervision expecting something unusual and amazing, instead it officially became the biggest disappointment of 2015 so far. *cheers* Everything about this book seemed so promising. I love books about ghosts but I've never read anything quite like the story that the blurb of Supervision suggests. And the cover looks magical, doesn't? Before starting this I'd decided that I'll purchase this as soon as it's out in paperback, this is how much I was looking forward to Supervision. You've probably guessed by now that this is not going to happen.
The writing was all over the place. Even if we excuse all the mistakes, that can be corrected for the real publication, we still have the rushed and confusing storyline. At least half part of the novel was a lot like a rough sketch of a book, instead of a nearly ready ARC. Sadly, I found the writing a lot more dramatic than I'd have preferred, though I got used to this later on, and it might not annoy others.
My biggest problem, though, was how disconnected I felt. Reading this book was a lot like watching something through a gray glass. On top of this I was emotionally detached from Esmé. She was a nice enough character, I guess, but I couldn't relate to her, nor did I ever feel for her. There were things I knew about her but I never had the chance to get to know her or to see her intentions and feelings.
Thankfully, most things got better as the story progressed. Not the plot holes, though, because those made the story nearly unbearable to read all through the book. All these ghosts were moving around things even when real people were there. I'm pretty sure by now the Ghostbusters would have appeared.
On top of this, all chapters ended with forced cliffhangers that instead of making the story exciting, made me angry. Moreover, at many parts I felt like the story jumped from one thing to the other. This would have been understandable if the MC had been on heavy drugs but she was not. The dialogues annoyed me to no end. It wasn't enough that the story was boring but Esmé had to go around telling people all about the things that we've just read about. This, and many other things made the story slow.
The romance was maybe the worst thing in the novel. For instance I don't get how can you make out with a ghost if you're not Suze from The Mediator. The chemistry was non-existant and I never even understood why they liked each other in the first place. I know, it's the strangest thing that I say this, but Supervision would have been better off without the romance.
I'm pretty sure there will be people who enjoy this book, but it was simply not for me.
The story idea: 2/5
The realisation of the story: 1/5
The characters: 1/5
Enjoy factor: 1/5
Final rating: 1/5
March 27, 2015
Although this book has a few good ideas, it's ultimately unsuccessful. So much so that I'm actually not sure where to start with my review.
The supernatural metaphysics of the book's world don't make any sense at all. The plot is full of huge holes, just one after the next after the next. Most of the characters are thin or inconsistent. Details of place and history are all off. Clunky romance is thrown in (apparently just because?), and clunky chapter endings abound. Perhaps author Stine was attempting to create "weird fiction" wherein atmosphere and the unknowable carry enough weight that the rest doesn't matter as much, but it just doesn't work. The book just isn't well-written, and has no internal logic.
Esmé Wong could have the makings of an interesting YA protagonist, but like most of the characters in the book she's not given enough consistency, depth, motivation, or emotional verisimilitude. I appreciated that she was of Chinese descent, but because her character was generally so underdeveloped it made this aspect seem at some times completely irrelevant while at other times like an excuse for stereotyping when convenient (e.g. overachieving sister, the fates of their 19th century ancestors).
Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book. It was a quick read, but that's one of the only points in its favor.
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley.
The supernatural metaphysics of the book's world don't make any sense at all. The plot is full of huge holes, just one after the next after the next. Most of the characters are thin or inconsistent. Details of place and history are all off. Clunky romance is thrown in (apparently just because?), and clunky chapter endings abound. Perhaps author Stine was attempting to create "weird fiction" wherein atmosphere and the unknowable carry enough weight that the rest doesn't matter as much, but it just doesn't work. The book just isn't well-written, and has no internal logic.
Esmé Wong could have the makings of an interesting YA protagonist, but like most of the characters in the book she's not given enough consistency, depth, motivation, or emotional verisimilitude. I appreciated that she was of Chinese descent, but because her character was generally so underdeveloped it made this aspect seem at some times completely irrelevant while at other times like an excuse for stereotyping when convenient (e.g. overachieving sister, the fates of their 19th century ancestors).
Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book. It was a quick read, but that's one of the only points in its favor.
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley.
August 31, 2015
(I was given an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)
This book is a bit difficult to describe as so many parts are quite original but just a little confusing, as well. Esme Wong has gotten into a mess of trouble and is banished to live with her grandmother in a large house in a small town. Everything seems pretty normal, until Esme notices that not only has no one spoken to her, but people have tried to sit on her a couple of times. Now that just isn't right.
She is able to call her sister back home, but here in town is another story. Even her grandmother doesn't seem to ever see or hear her. As things get creepier, Esme meets a couple of teens, Tom and Clara, who turn out to be long dead and haunting the area. There are a few other ghosts as well, some not as nice as others.
The story has a little bit of a "Secret Garden" feel at times with the large house and the maid named Martha. A scene featuring an apple in the school cafeteria is reminiscent of a scene in Twilight, and I also got a strong Winchester Mystery House feeling with the stairs that lead to ceilings and the Builder who keeps on building. I've been to the Winchester Mystery House a couple of times and there's a fountain outside it that reminded me of the pond in the story.
The atmosphere is sufficiently creepy and the story carries a good level of suspense. I do most of my reading late at night, and actually felt uneasy while reading Supervision, so if you like a little creepy-factor, this one hits the mark.
Esme eventually has to deal with some very strange goings on concerning her place in the world. At first, Tom and Clara tell her she's dead like they are. How else could they see and talk to each other? But no, that isn't exactly the case because Esme's family are quite gifted in diverse ways when it comes to the supernatural. Her grandmother can hear spirits, and her sister can sort of see them (well, at least parts of them at times.) What's happened is that Esme has received her gift early, and because of its strength, it's just not working properly.
Read full review at my book blog.
This book is a bit difficult to describe as so many parts are quite original but just a little confusing, as well. Esme Wong has gotten into a mess of trouble and is banished to live with her grandmother in a large house in a small town. Everything seems pretty normal, until Esme notices that not only has no one spoken to her, but people have tried to sit on her a couple of times. Now that just isn't right.
She is able to call her sister back home, but here in town is another story. Even her grandmother doesn't seem to ever see or hear her. As things get creepier, Esme meets a couple of teens, Tom and Clara, who turn out to be long dead and haunting the area. There are a few other ghosts as well, some not as nice as others.
The story has a little bit of a "Secret Garden" feel at times with the large house and the maid named Martha. A scene featuring an apple in the school cafeteria is reminiscent of a scene in Twilight, and I also got a strong Winchester Mystery House feeling with the stairs that lead to ceilings and the Builder who keeps on building. I've been to the Winchester Mystery House a couple of times and there's a fountain outside it that reminded me of the pond in the story.
The atmosphere is sufficiently creepy and the story carries a good level of suspense. I do most of my reading late at night, and actually felt uneasy while reading Supervision, so if you like a little creepy-factor, this one hits the mark.
Esme eventually has to deal with some very strange goings on concerning her place in the world. At first, Tom and Clara tell her she's dead like they are. How else could they see and talk to each other? But no, that isn't exactly the case because Esme's family are quite gifted in diverse ways when it comes to the supernatural. Her grandmother can hear spirits, and her sister can sort of see them (well, at least parts of them at times.) What's happened is that Esme has received her gift early, and because of its strength, it's just not working properly.
Read full review at my book blog.
April 29, 2015
(I received a copy from Netgalley, In exchange for an honest review.)
Actual rating - 2.5
The characters in this were okay, but I didn't love any of them.
This one couldn't keep my interest unfortunately. I had to keep taking breaks as the story really dragged in areas, and I found it hard to find the motivation to pick it back up. It felt really really long, and I was relieved when I got to the end.
Overall, Not a very enjoyable read for me unfortunately.
Actual rating - 2.5
The characters in this were okay, but I didn't love any of them.
This one couldn't keep my interest unfortunately. I had to keep taking breaks as the story really dragged in areas, and I found it hard to find the motivation to pick it back up. It felt really really long, and I was relieved when I got to the end.
Overall, Not a very enjoyable read for me unfortunately.
June 14, 2015
Something is wrong with Esmé.
Kicked out of school in New York, she's sent to live with her grandmother in a small Appalachian town. But something is wrong with the grandmother Ez hasn't seen for years; she leaves at midnight, carrying a big black bag. Something is wrong with her grandmother's house, a decrepit mansion full of stray cats, stairs that lead to nowhere, beds that unmake themselves. Something is wrong in the town where a kid disappears every year, where a whistle sounds at night but no train arrives.
And something is wrong with the friendly neighbor Ez's age with black curls and blue eyes: He's dead.
Conceptually, Supervision had a lot going for it. Ghosts living in limbo, cursed to relive their death simply because it draws them in, and a girl with a gift in her bloodline that causes her to be attuned to them. When Esme was shipped off to her grandmother’s house in the middle of nowhere, little did she know that her gift would awaken in the strangest way possible – she gets stuck in limbo, meaning she can see and hear ghosts and interact with them but the living can’t do so with her. For all purposes, she is like a ghost with the only distinction being she is actually living. So, stuck in a town she didn’t want to be, she tries to get through to her grandmother while also befriending the ghosts around the house. She, initially, comes off as a bratty teenager, someone who despises the world she lives in, but by the end, she evolves into a strong character when she takes down the villain.
While I loved the concept and the main character, the book was quite difficult to follow through. Things made no sense at the moment of reading, and the writing and pacing was a tad bit slow for me. At times, there was just a lull in the progression of the plotline, and I was a bit bored. The story picked up towards the end, with the exposition, and action, but by then I was already a bit frustrated with it. So, while I mostly got through the book and eventually it did seem good, I did not enjoy reading it.
Received an ARC from HarperCollins via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Kicked out of school in New York, she's sent to live with her grandmother in a small Appalachian town. But something is wrong with the grandmother Ez hasn't seen for years; she leaves at midnight, carrying a big black bag. Something is wrong with her grandmother's house, a decrepit mansion full of stray cats, stairs that lead to nowhere, beds that unmake themselves. Something is wrong in the town where a kid disappears every year, where a whistle sounds at night but no train arrives.
And something is wrong with the friendly neighbor Ez's age with black curls and blue eyes: He's dead.
Conceptually, Supervision had a lot going for it. Ghosts living in limbo, cursed to relive their death simply because it draws them in, and a girl with a gift in her bloodline that causes her to be attuned to them. When Esme was shipped off to her grandmother’s house in the middle of nowhere, little did she know that her gift would awaken in the strangest way possible – she gets stuck in limbo, meaning she can see and hear ghosts and interact with them but the living can’t do so with her. For all purposes, she is like a ghost with the only distinction being she is actually living. So, stuck in a town she didn’t want to be, she tries to get through to her grandmother while also befriending the ghosts around the house. She, initially, comes off as a bratty teenager, someone who despises the world she lives in, but by the end, she evolves into a strong character when she takes down the villain.
While I loved the concept and the main character, the book was quite difficult to follow through. Things made no sense at the moment of reading, and the writing and pacing was a tad bit slow for me. At times, there was just a lull in the progression of the plotline, and I was a bit bored. The story picked up towards the end, with the exposition, and action, but by then I was already a bit frustrated with it. So, while I mostly got through the book and eventually it did seem good, I did not enjoy reading it.
Received an ARC from HarperCollins via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 10, 2015
2.5 Stars
Got an ARC from Net Galley.
I'm on the fence about whether or not I liked this book. I think it was great that the main character was Chinese but I just didn't like Esme Wong or any of the characters at all. I felt nothing for them and I find it strange that Firecracker's real name wasn't revealed until I was ninety percent in. I don't know what the point of that was. I also find it to be a strange nickname.
Esme is being raised by her sister Firecracker until she gets kicked out of school. Esme is sent to live with their grandmother. Soon she realizes that something is wrong. She goes to school and someone tries to sit on her. Okay I'll admit that amused me. She seems to have gone Marice Ross. She meets some kids that can see her and she starts to realize what's happening.
I was interested enough to keep reading but I felt like it was too vague. Esme didn't seem to act the way I'd think a person would act in her place. I would freak out and freak out again and maybe again before I went into study mode and tried to figure out how to fix this problem. I would have been fine without the romance since the idea was a good one. It just didn't flow very well. Nothing really happened in the first half of the book but things picked up a bit when I was over halfway through. I could see why someone would put this book down because it starts off pretty slow. Would I consider reading another book by this author? I would try another book by her but if that one didn't click with me I wouldn't try a third time.
http://www.ficgal.com/book-club/super...
Got an ARC from Net Galley.
I'm on the fence about whether or not I liked this book. I think it was great that the main character was Chinese but I just didn't like Esme Wong or any of the characters at all. I felt nothing for them and I find it strange that Firecracker's real name wasn't revealed until I was ninety percent in. I don't know what the point of that was. I also find it to be a strange nickname.
Esme is being raised by her sister Firecracker until she gets kicked out of school. Esme is sent to live with their grandmother. Soon she realizes that something is wrong. She goes to school and someone tries to sit on her. Okay I'll admit that amused me. She seems to have gone Marice Ross. She meets some kids that can see her and she starts to realize what's happening.
I was interested enough to keep reading but I felt like it was too vague. Esme didn't seem to act the way I'd think a person would act in her place. I would freak out and freak out again and maybe again before I went into study mode and tried to figure out how to fix this problem. I would have been fine without the romance since the idea was a good one. It just didn't flow very well. Nothing really happened in the first half of the book but things picked up a bit when I was over halfway through. I could see why someone would put this book down because it starts off pretty slow. Would I consider reading another book by this author? I would try another book by her but if that one didn't click with me I wouldn't try a third time.
http://www.ficgal.com/book-club/super...
December 6, 2015
First off I need to say a big thank you to HarperVoyager UK for accepting my request to view this book on NetGalley, and to NetGalley for the service that they provide.
If I had to choose one word to describe how I feel about 'Supervision', it would definitely be confused.
In 'Supervision' we follow Esmé, a teenage girl who has been kicked out of her private school in New York. Exasperated with her behaviour, her sister sends her off to Wellstone, a small town in the countryside, to live with her grandmother, but when Esmé gets to Wellstone her life goes from bad to worse. Why? Because she's now invisible. Oh, and she's surrounded by ghosts.
I really liked the premise of this book, so I was hoping I was going to love it, but something vital was lost in translation leaving me with unanswered questions occurring constantly throughout my reading of this book. Written like a bad 'American Horror Story' fan-fiction, ghosts were popping up all over the place, written into and out of the story without much rhyme or reason despite the insistence from the ghosts that if there were more of them around they would know about it... They quite obviously didn't, even if they had been hanging around for over 100 years.
Too much of this book relies on coincidences, meaning you constantly feel cheated at every twist and turn.
Read the rest of my review here!
If I had to choose one word to describe how I feel about 'Supervision', it would definitely be confused.
In 'Supervision' we follow Esmé, a teenage girl who has been kicked out of her private school in New York. Exasperated with her behaviour, her sister sends her off to Wellstone, a small town in the countryside, to live with her grandmother, but when Esmé gets to Wellstone her life goes from bad to worse. Why? Because she's now invisible. Oh, and she's surrounded by ghosts.
I really liked the premise of this book, so I was hoping I was going to love it, but something vital was lost in translation leaving me with unanswered questions occurring constantly throughout my reading of this book. Written like a bad 'American Horror Story' fan-fiction, ghosts were popping up all over the place, written into and out of the story without much rhyme or reason despite the insistence from the ghosts that if there were more of them around they would know about it... They quite obviously didn't, even if they had been hanging around for over 100 years.
Too much of this book relies on coincidences, meaning you constantly feel cheated at every twist and turn.
Read the rest of my review here!
April 18, 2015
I ummed and ahhed about Supervision for a few days before I eventually went ahead and requested a galley. Those days, I was being dumb, because this book has found a permanent place on the shelf of my heart (that's a thing now.)
Supervision started off a bit weird. I didn't like Esme, mainly because she acted really stupidly in venturing into a subway train tunnel because she saw a bit of graffiti. This is explained later in the book, so I shouldn't have judged so harshly. Once I got into this book, with the ghosts (who are sweethearts) and the setting (which is so fricking vivid) I adored it. It's just such an absorbing story, and manages to easily combine ghost story, murder mystery, and self-discovery. I loved the journey Supervision took me on, and Esme was such a good character when I finally got to understand her.
I am so glad I read this book. There are books where you can't say everything is perfect, you know there are maybe things wrong with it, but you get rose-tinted vision and fall headfirst into love with it. Supervision was like that for me. If you like adorable ghosts (A la Noah Czerny) and perfectly written settings, I can't recommend this book enough.
A bonus note: The MC is Chinese-American. And Invisible - I can't believe I forgot to mention she's invisible.
Supervision started off a bit weird. I didn't like Esme, mainly because she acted really stupidly in venturing into a subway train tunnel because she saw a bit of graffiti. This is explained later in the book, so I shouldn't have judged so harshly. Once I got into this book, with the ghosts (who are sweethearts) and the setting (which is so fricking vivid) I adored it. It's just such an absorbing story, and manages to easily combine ghost story, murder mystery, and self-discovery. I loved the journey Supervision took me on, and Esme was such a good character when I finally got to understand her.
I am so glad I read this book. There are books where you can't say everything is perfect, you know there are maybe things wrong with it, but you get rose-tinted vision and fall headfirst into love with it. Supervision was like that for me. If you like adorable ghosts (A la Noah Czerny) and perfectly written settings, I can't recommend this book enough.
A bonus note: The MC is Chinese-American. And Invisible - I can't believe I forgot to mention she's invisible.
April 10, 2015
I received a copy from Netgalley.
Unfortunately this is a DNF for me. Made it 51% in, but I'm not really liking it and don't really have much inclination to finish. The idea was a good one, and there were some fairly compelling ideas and mystery to the novel. At least to start with.
I just found it boring. I wasn't really that invested in any of the characters, I didn't get any sense of much of a personality from the main character, Esme at all which made it really hard to like her. The idea behind the ghosts appearing was not exactly original, but at least interesting enough. The strange circumstances surrounding Esme's predicament were interesting, but as I just didn't care one way or the other what the truth about what happened to her was, it became boring and uninteresting.
There was lots of tell and no show either. I didn't get much of a sense of atmosphere or surroundings other than being told a dull town where nothing ever happens, and then something about missing kids. But it was all...like so what? Half way through and hardly anything has happened, so at this point I'm giving up and moving on.
I would read something by this author again, there's certainly potential in the style of the writing, but this book was not for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for approving my request to view the title.
Unfortunately this is a DNF for me. Made it 51% in, but I'm not really liking it and don't really have much inclination to finish. The idea was a good one, and there were some fairly compelling ideas and mystery to the novel. At least to start with.
I just found it boring. I wasn't really that invested in any of the characters, I didn't get any sense of much of a personality from the main character, Esme at all which made it really hard to like her. The idea behind the ghosts appearing was not exactly original, but at least interesting enough. The strange circumstances surrounding Esme's predicament were interesting, but as I just didn't care one way or the other what the truth about what happened to her was, it became boring and uninteresting.
There was lots of tell and no show either. I didn't get much of a sense of atmosphere or surroundings other than being told a dull town where nothing ever happens, and then something about missing kids. But it was all...like so what? Half way through and hardly anything has happened, so at this point I'm giving up and moving on.
I would read something by this author again, there's certainly potential in the style of the writing, but this book was not for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for approving my request to view the title.
April 15, 2015
I loved this book. It's exactly the right mix of sweet and spooky, and the characters are beautifully developed. At its heart, this is as much a story about longing as it is a story about ghosts, and the subtle emotional thread that runs through the story of each character is really what pulls this lovely YA novel along.
April 10, 2015
I really enjoyed this book as a quick, fun read. I read it while I was home sick in bed and did not want anything too heavy, lengthy, or requiring too much thinking! I found the story compelling and the characters likable. It would make a great vacation light read!
April 17, 2015
3.5 Stars. Going against the majority of reviews, I have to say that I really enjoyed this tale. The storyline was different from the run of the mill ghost tale and I found the characters engaging and refreshing. Suitable for YA.
April 24, 2015
Review to come....
October 14, 2024
Esme and her sister Collette (aka The Firecracker) spend a great deal of time at their grandmother’s strange mansion after their parents die in a car accident. When The Firecracker turns 18, they rent an apartment in New York, where Collette can pursue a career in dance and Esme can go to school. But Esme proves too much for The Firecracker to handle as she enters high school. She is expelled, as well as being hurt during a dangerous prank in a tunnel. When her sister sends her back to Grandma, things go from worse to deadly!
The writing is excellent and Grandma’s house has a insidious, eerie atmosphere that blankets the plot. It would be an excellent novel to share with YA Book Group members who like a ghostly story for October! It is shared with a delicate touch and the sensitivity makes it all the more worth reading!
The writing is excellent and Grandma’s house has a insidious, eerie atmosphere that blankets the plot. It would be an excellent novel to share with YA Book Group members who like a ghostly story for October! It is shared with a delicate touch and the sensitivity makes it all the more worth reading!
December 10, 2022
“Road Out of Winter” was the first work by Alison Stine that I read and I loved it. She leaves a lot to the reader’s imagination and that worked great in “Road Out of Winter”. “Supervision” is an earlier work and not quite as successful but I still liked it. It definitely falls in the young adult genre which might not be appealing to all older readers. I felt that a bit much was left to be interpreted and the story seemed to have some confusing gaps. The ending is quite open-ended which does suit the story but I would have liked a bit more closure. Interesting concept with imperfect execution. But I still thought it was a decent book.
February 22, 2017
As a general rule, I don't read books about the supernatural or ghosts; therefore, I really did not know what to expect of Supervision. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was drawn into Esme's story. The author does a good job of drawing the reader in, and I finished the book in 2 days.
I received my copy free through Goodreads.
I received my copy free through Goodreads.
December 31, 2017
A sweet coming of age ghost story
I put of finishing this book for ages because the beginning chapter didn't strike me initially. I'm glad I did finish this though -its a quick read, and interesting throughout the whole story. It kept me guessing how the heroine would save the day until the last page.
I put of finishing this book for ages because the beginning chapter didn't strike me initially. I'm glad I did finish this though -its a quick read, and interesting throughout the whole story. It kept me guessing how the heroine would save the day until the last page.
September 16, 2018
An interesting take on a ghostly tale and the author should be given credit for holding the reader’s interest.
April 24, 2021
A story and author that shows promise, but clearly written as the writer was finding her voice. Road out of Winter convinced me to read Stine's catalogue - if I'd started here I'd have missed her.
April 11, 2015
I received a free ARC via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
I hesitate to be overly critical, because this is a first novel and I know how difficult first novels are to write. Stine is definitely a gifted prose stylist with a way with words. But this novel has some serious flaws with plotting and pacing that I just couldn't overlook.
First, the characters just aren't well developed. It's difficult to feel attached to Esme because we aren't given a lot of expository information about her--we're merely plopped into her life and told that she's getting bad grades in school. Why is she getting bad grades? Who is she and what does she want? I got the feeling that Stine didn't even know, or that she jumped over character development so she could get Esme to Pennsylvania and move as quickly as possible into the ghost story.
Unfortunately, the ghost story isn't that interesting either. We're introduced to a bunch of ghosts that only Esme can see. Supposedly they're from the turn of the 20th century, but they seem so bland and indistinct that they could be from the 1980s or the future--it wouldn't make any difference. Esme's grandmother is equally dull--it's clear that she and Esme have some kind of history, but because their backstory is barely touched upon early enough in the novel, it's difficult to care.
The plot was too much set-up and not enough pay-off. I felt like I was being strung along and that the answers to questions--even the most insignificant questions--were being continually deferred to keep me reading. So many chapters end on foreboding notes or “cliffhangers” that are supposed to generate suspense, but these moments mostly seemed forced and a bit hokey, and because the book refuses to give you any answers, it begins to feel like a tedious reading experience. Nothing about Supervision made me care about the characters or invest myself in their problems. Largely, the book’s most pressing unanswered question has to do with Esme’s state—she can’t figure out if she’s dead or alive. This idea has been done before in other books and movies, and better. When the plot finally accelerated in the end, it didn’t deliver. It merely unloaded a ton of complicated details and strange unearned twists. Two characters were introduced toward the end of the story, and their sudden appearance made everything seem additionally contrived.
The grandmother's house has staircases that lead to nowhere, and I think that's the most apt metaphor for the book as a whole. There are plenty of strands that don’t seem to go anywhere. There are also endless passages of dialogue, and the dialogue isn’t used well. It often merely reiterates what we’ve just read. Esme will witness or experience something and then she'll go tell another character, giving them a blow-by-blow description of the plot event we already read. For instance, when Esme’s sister shows up toward the end of the book, Esme tells her the entire plot that we’ve spent the last two hundred pages reading. Then Esme runs into Tom and tells him what she talked about with her sister. This kind of dialogue takes up the bulk of the book—characters relaying information back and forth.
I think the title is supposed to be a pun of some sort--the character has “super vision,” get it?
I hesitate to be overly critical, because this is a first novel and I know how difficult first novels are to write. Stine is definitely a gifted prose stylist with a way with words. But this novel has some serious flaws with plotting and pacing that I just couldn't overlook.
First, the characters just aren't well developed. It's difficult to feel attached to Esme because we aren't given a lot of expository information about her--we're merely plopped into her life and told that she's getting bad grades in school. Why is she getting bad grades? Who is she and what does she want? I got the feeling that Stine didn't even know, or that she jumped over character development so she could get Esme to Pennsylvania and move as quickly as possible into the ghost story.
Unfortunately, the ghost story isn't that interesting either. We're introduced to a bunch of ghosts that only Esme can see. Supposedly they're from the turn of the 20th century, but they seem so bland and indistinct that they could be from the 1980s or the future--it wouldn't make any difference. Esme's grandmother is equally dull--it's clear that she and Esme have some kind of history, but because their backstory is barely touched upon early enough in the novel, it's difficult to care.
The plot was too much set-up and not enough pay-off. I felt like I was being strung along and that the answers to questions--even the most insignificant questions--were being continually deferred to keep me reading. So many chapters end on foreboding notes or “cliffhangers” that are supposed to generate suspense, but these moments mostly seemed forced and a bit hokey, and because the book refuses to give you any answers, it begins to feel like a tedious reading experience. Nothing about Supervision made me care about the characters or invest myself in their problems. Largely, the book’s most pressing unanswered question has to do with Esme’s state—she can’t figure out if she’s dead or alive. This idea has been done before in other books and movies, and better. When the plot finally accelerated in the end, it didn’t deliver. It merely unloaded a ton of complicated details and strange unearned twists. Two characters were introduced toward the end of the story, and their sudden appearance made everything seem additionally contrived.
The grandmother's house has staircases that lead to nowhere, and I think that's the most apt metaphor for the book as a whole. There are plenty of strands that don’t seem to go anywhere. There are also endless passages of dialogue, and the dialogue isn’t used well. It often merely reiterates what we’ve just read. Esme will witness or experience something and then she'll go tell another character, giving them a blow-by-blow description of the plot event we already read. For instance, when Esme’s sister shows up toward the end of the book, Esme tells her the entire plot that we’ve spent the last two hundred pages reading. Then Esme runs into Tom and tells him what she talked about with her sister. This kind of dialogue takes up the bulk of the book—characters relaying information back and forth.
I think the title is supposed to be a pun of some sort--the character has “super vision,” get it?
January 11, 2019
I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Supervision was an interesting read – a very interesting read, and I'm not entirely too sure how I feel about this particular novel. The book definitely promotes diversity – the main character is apparently an Asian American character that doesn't actually follow the typical Asian stereotype (about time!).
In fact, this particular Asian American (her name is Esme) sometimes got to the point of making another Asian American (moi) wonder if she was just plain dumb. Not to be racist (not that I CAN be racist with my own race), but a chick who was smart enough to go to a private school in New York City with a scholarship has got to have come across the word "malicious" sometime throughout her scholarly career. Either that, or Esme was just extremely mind blown after being told she's dead, her brain cells stopped working for a second.
But that doesn't mean I'm saying I want an Asian sprouting textbook language.
There were, however, at times where too much was going on – my mind was running around and backtracking, rereading certain points of the book to attempt to get a better understanding and making connections from point A to point B. We have Esme sort of having a normal life in New York before some sort of subway tunnel scene that results in a flash of white light, which made me wonder if Esme is actually dead or dreaming. It finally results in Esme getting sent straight to a small town that is far from the spectrum of New York with her eccentric grandmother.
In all honesty, that particular scene that seems to be the ultimatum of sending Esme to Wellstone wasn't entirely confusing at first. But then we have a cast of ghosts that try to figure out why Esme can see, hear, and touch ghosts yet still experiences what the living experiences: two say Esme is dead, another says Esme isn't living or dead – she's in between. And between all of that, Esme tries to let her grandmother know she's okay (with fail), figure out why the Stationmaster is interested in her, uncovering the ghosts' pasts, and why at least one kid goes missing from Wellstone every year.
Half the time I feel as though Stine tries to build Wellstone in a supernatural way – it's obvious she seems to do a pretty good job in making the supernatural side of the town be as supernatural as possible. However, the other half of the time I feel as though Supervision would be a lot better explained if it were a movie with all the visual effects that Stine tries to apply at some points in the book.
In the long run though, Supervision was enjoyable and fun to read. While the concept was interesting, the book's movie version (should there ever be one) would probably be a lot more exciting and clearer than the book version.
This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts
Supervision was an interesting read – a very interesting read, and I'm not entirely too sure how I feel about this particular novel. The book definitely promotes diversity – the main character is apparently an Asian American character that doesn't actually follow the typical Asian stereotype (about time!).
In fact, this particular Asian American (her name is Esme) sometimes got to the point of making another Asian American (moi) wonder if she was just plain dumb. Not to be racist (not that I CAN be racist with my own race), but a chick who was smart enough to go to a private school in New York City with a scholarship has got to have come across the word "malicious" sometime throughout her scholarly career. Either that, or Esme was just extremely mind blown after being told she's dead, her brain cells stopped working for a second.
But that doesn't mean I'm saying I want an Asian sprouting textbook language.
There were, however, at times where too much was going on – my mind was running around and backtracking, rereading certain points of the book to attempt to get a better understanding and making connections from point A to point B. We have Esme sort of having a normal life in New York before some sort of subway tunnel scene that results in a flash of white light, which made me wonder if Esme is actually dead or dreaming. It finally results in Esme getting sent straight to a small town that is far from the spectrum of New York with her eccentric grandmother.
In all honesty, that particular scene that seems to be the ultimatum of sending Esme to Wellstone wasn't entirely confusing at first. But then we have a cast of ghosts that try to figure out why Esme can see, hear, and touch ghosts yet still experiences what the living experiences: two say Esme is dead, another says Esme isn't living or dead – she's in between. And between all of that, Esme tries to let her grandmother know she's okay (with fail), figure out why the Stationmaster is interested in her, uncovering the ghosts' pasts, and why at least one kid goes missing from Wellstone every year.
Half the time I feel as though Stine tries to build Wellstone in a supernatural way – it's obvious she seems to do a pretty good job in making the supernatural side of the town be as supernatural as possible. However, the other half of the time I feel as though Supervision would be a lot better explained if it were a movie with all the visual effects that Stine tries to apply at some points in the book.
In the long run though, Supervision was enjoyable and fun to read. While the concept was interesting, the book's movie version (should there ever be one) would probably be a lot more exciting and clearer than the book version.
This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts
April 19, 2015
In Supervision, the narrator, Esme Wong, has been having problems in school, and after she is injured in the subway, she is sent from her home in New York to live with her grandmother in a small town. Esme is apprehensive about the move; she hasn’t seen her grandmother in years and remembers her home as being very strange. When she gets there, her fears seem justified, because her grandmother and everyone else ignores her like she’s invisible, except for two strange teenaged siblings named Tom and Clara. Then they reveal to Esme that they are ghosts. But that’s just the beginning of the strangeness, as Esme learns that she has unique skills that enable her to interact with the spirits haunting her new home. And those skills are necessary, because one of the unquiet dead has a long and murderous history, and only Esme may be able to lay him to rest . . . .
Given the very vague description given for this novel, I was a little hesitant to read it, because I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. It’s a hard book to summarize without giving away too much of the story, which I don’t want to do, because half the pleasure of reading it is learning along with Esme just what is happening to her. What I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed the unique ghost story presented in the novel. I was totally sucked in by the mystery that Esme encounters in her new home to the point that I was unable to put the book down. As I read, I found myself greatly empathizing with Esme, who is very unhappy with her life at the beginning of the novel and gradually comes into her own as she interacts with the ghosts surrounding her. Some of those ghosts are extremely likeable, and the murderous one is quite creepy. And there’s a sweet love story between Esme and Tom, too.
I seem to be in the minority here on Goodreads, though. I think maybe whether or not you enjoy this novel will depend to some extent on how much you are willing to just go with the flow of the story and let it exist in its own reality, which is very different from our own. I wouldn't quite call it magical realism, but that might be the best way to think of it. The novel is very dreamlike in tone. For example, characters don't always react the way you and I might react if something paranormal happened to us; they just accept it and go on. At one point Esme is literally running up a staircase that disappears as she goes, exactly like a nightmare. There are definitely plot holes regarding the metaphysics surrounding the ghosts, which sometimes bothered me as I was reading. Ghosts can affect the physical world, BUT everything they do is eventually undone. So how can a ghost murder someone? The resolution of the problem of the murderous ghost isn't fully explained and didn’t quite make sense to me, either. But, in general, I found myself so caught up in the unfolding of the story that I was willing to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the ride.
An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Given the very vague description given for this novel, I was a little hesitant to read it, because I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. It’s a hard book to summarize without giving away too much of the story, which I don’t want to do, because half the pleasure of reading it is learning along with Esme just what is happening to her. What I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed the unique ghost story presented in the novel. I was totally sucked in by the mystery that Esme encounters in her new home to the point that I was unable to put the book down. As I read, I found myself greatly empathizing with Esme, who is very unhappy with her life at the beginning of the novel and gradually comes into her own as she interacts with the ghosts surrounding her. Some of those ghosts are extremely likeable, and the murderous one is quite creepy. And there’s a sweet love story between Esme and Tom, too.
I seem to be in the minority here on Goodreads, though. I think maybe whether or not you enjoy this novel will depend to some extent on how much you are willing to just go with the flow of the story and let it exist in its own reality, which is very different from our own. I wouldn't quite call it magical realism, but that might be the best way to think of it. The novel is very dreamlike in tone. For example, characters don't always react the way you and I might react if something paranormal happened to us; they just accept it and go on. At one point Esme is literally running up a staircase that disappears as she goes, exactly like a nightmare. There are definitely plot holes regarding the metaphysics surrounding the ghosts, which sometimes bothered me as I was reading. Ghosts can affect the physical world, BUT everything they do is eventually undone. So how can a ghost murder someone? The resolution of the problem of the murderous ghost isn't fully explained and didn’t quite make sense to me, either. But, in general, I found myself so caught up in the unfolding of the story that I was willing to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the ride.
An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 30, 2016
Originally posted on Fables Library
I received this book from Xpresso Blog Tours for the Supervision Blog Tour, that doesn't affect my opinion on the book.
When I signed up to do a review as part of a Blog Tour for Supervision, I was both excited and nervous. Nervous because I don't read to many Ghost stories, and was worried that this one might be super super creepy, or bloody, or gross, I don't take bloody/gory books well. The excitement was from the summary, why does her grandmother leave at night? What is happening to those kids? WHY IS HER NEIGHBOR DEAD?
Happily, the book was not very terrifying, there were intense moments but nothing that would give nightmares. Supervision was a wonderful book that, in my opinion many will enjoy.
The Good:
What I loved the most about Supervision, was the story which was both fast paced and interesting. This wasn't the kind of book you would pick up only to drop a few days later, it was the kind of book that starts off slow but quickly drags you into the gripping story. With so many great descriptions, and strange paranormal events, I finished this book in a few days. The characters are all enjoyable and easy to fall in love with, it's difficult to not be curious about who they are. The main Antagonist was a real villain, the kind that makes your blood boil and hair stand up on end.
There was close to nothing that I didn't enjoy about this story, but while this holds true, I did not give Supervision 5 stars, I gave it 4.
The Bad:
While I found the story to be really good, the beginning was slow making it hard to get into. The plot was at times, very predictable which took away from the books excitement. The author did her best to answer all of the readers questions, but even then I felt like it all happened too conveniently, and some questions weren't fully answered.
I'm pretty sure this is a standalone book, but I'm still hoping for another :)!
I received this book from Xpresso Blog Tours for the Supervision Blog Tour, that doesn't affect my opinion on the book.
When I signed up to do a review as part of a Blog Tour for Supervision, I was both excited and nervous. Nervous because I don't read to many Ghost stories, and was worried that this one might be super super creepy, or bloody, or gross, I don't take bloody/gory books well. The excitement was from the summary, why does her grandmother leave at night? What is happening to those kids? WHY IS HER NEIGHBOR DEAD?
Happily, the book was not very terrifying, there were intense moments but nothing that would give nightmares. Supervision was a wonderful book that, in my opinion many will enjoy.
The Good:
What I loved the most about Supervision, was the story which was both fast paced and interesting. This wasn't the kind of book you would pick up only to drop a few days later, it was the kind of book that starts off slow but quickly drags you into the gripping story. With so many great descriptions, and strange paranormal events, I finished this book in a few days. The characters are all enjoyable and easy to fall in love with, it's difficult to not be curious about who they are. The main Antagonist was a real villain, the kind that makes your blood boil and hair stand up on end.
There was close to nothing that I didn't enjoy about this story, but while this holds true, I did not give Supervision 5 stars, I gave it 4.
The Bad:
While I found the story to be really good, the beginning was slow making it hard to get into. The plot was at times, very predictable which took away from the books excitement. The author did her best to answer all of the readers questions, but even then I felt like it all happened too conveniently, and some questions weren't fully answered.
I'm pretty sure this is a standalone book, but I'm still hoping for another :)!
April 12, 2015
This is a trimmed down version of my review, to view the full review visit The Book Ramble.
This book was provided by HarperCollins on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Esme is sent to her grandmother's house after she starts to cause trouble for her sister. The trouble is no one can see her, and the people she can see can't be seen by anyone else. Everyone she knows seems to be dead, and maybe Esme is dead too. Esme has to figure out how to let everyone know she's there and help the ghosts in town cross over before the man that killed them all kills her too.
I didn't really enjoy this book. I found the plot confusing and poorly explained, the tone was boring and uninteresting, and the characters were hard to connect with. It was a fairly easy read once I actually got into the book, but that took an extremely long time to do. I think this was a fun enough read but I didn't really enjoy it at all and was kind of disappointed with the ending.
The story follows Esme as she lives with ghosts in her grandmother's house. Honestly it's all a little unclear. You're never really made to understand what is going on with Esme, which has the power to speak to ghosts. Then there are several lines of action about her grandmother's career, parent's death, sister's dancing past, the ghosts' individual lives, the man who killed them all, and there's a romance plot. It's a lot and it doesn't tie together all that clearly to be honest. I think it was easy enough to follow but if you thought about it at all it stopped making much sense and got just kind of confusing. Nothing is explained, in fact the idea of "not worrying about it" is sort of written into the book, which just felt lazy.
I didn't really care about any of the characters particularly much. I didn't feel that things were developed well character-wise. I was never sure what age anyone was supposed to be or the type of character they were meant to be. Things just sort of swayed back and forth randomly in terms of personality. This also meant the tone was hard to follow and it just didn't connect for me. I was not a fan of the characters or story telling.
Overall, I was not a fan. It was an easy enough read but it wasn't something I would recommend to others.
This book was provided by HarperCollins on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Esme is sent to her grandmother's house after she starts to cause trouble for her sister. The trouble is no one can see her, and the people she can see can't be seen by anyone else. Everyone she knows seems to be dead, and maybe Esme is dead too. Esme has to figure out how to let everyone know she's there and help the ghosts in town cross over before the man that killed them all kills her too.
I didn't really enjoy this book. I found the plot confusing and poorly explained, the tone was boring and uninteresting, and the characters were hard to connect with. It was a fairly easy read once I actually got into the book, but that took an extremely long time to do. I think this was a fun enough read but I didn't really enjoy it at all and was kind of disappointed with the ending.
The story follows Esme as she lives with ghosts in her grandmother's house. Honestly it's all a little unclear. You're never really made to understand what is going on with Esme, which has the power to speak to ghosts. Then there are several lines of action about her grandmother's career, parent's death, sister's dancing past, the ghosts' individual lives, the man who killed them all, and there's a romance plot. It's a lot and it doesn't tie together all that clearly to be honest. I think it was easy enough to follow but if you thought about it at all it stopped making much sense and got just kind of confusing. Nothing is explained, in fact the idea of "not worrying about it" is sort of written into the book, which just felt lazy.
I didn't really care about any of the characters particularly much. I didn't feel that things were developed well character-wise. I was never sure what age anyone was supposed to be or the type of character they were meant to be. Things just sort of swayed back and forth randomly in terms of personality. This also meant the tone was hard to follow and it just didn't connect for me. I was not a fan of the characters or story telling.
Overall, I was not a fan. It was an easy enough read but it wasn't something I would recommend to others.
April 26, 2015
Supervision by Alison Stine is a book that the young adult audience will devour and completely enjoy! Right from the start of this novel I was drawn into the story and intrigued by what was going on with the main character, Esme. Not only does weird stuff happen to her, but, right out of the blue, her sister sends her to live with her grandmother when Esme gets in trouble at school.
Most of the characters in this book are rich with story and not all of them are likable which makes me appreciate them even more. At times I found there were perhaps a couple of characters that weren’t genuinely needed in order to move the story along, but I enjoyed learning about them anyway. However, there were a couple of characters who I kept mixing up and I am not sure if it was because they were similarly described in personality or just due to the fact there were a large group of characters involved with the story. I was also unsure about Esme’s grandmother as I felt her character was almost split in personality, like two different characters entirely from the beginning of the novel and then compared with her character towards the end of the story.
There were moments when this book reminded me of one of my all time fave young adult books, Displaced Person by Lee Harding. Yet, at other times I certainly felt more of the paranormal aspect to the story.
While I really enjoyed this novel, there were moments when I found the story did not entirely match up with the blurb and while that wasn’t such a bad thing, I did find it annoying that what I had concluded from the blurb was not actually the full truth of the novel.
My main concern with this story, and the reason why I scored it three and a half stars rather than four, was the fact that there seemed to be two different story lines occurring with the main character. I was never quite sure as to which story line was more important and the one I should be investing in; why Esme was the way she was or why there was a vengeful ghost after her.
Overall, I am strongly recommending Supervision by Alison Stine to young adults and lovers of that genre and giving the novel 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Most of the characters in this book are rich with story and not all of them are likable which makes me appreciate them even more. At times I found there were perhaps a couple of characters that weren’t genuinely needed in order to move the story along, but I enjoyed learning about them anyway. However, there were a couple of characters who I kept mixing up and I am not sure if it was because they were similarly described in personality or just due to the fact there were a large group of characters involved with the story. I was also unsure about Esme’s grandmother as I felt her character was almost split in personality, like two different characters entirely from the beginning of the novel and then compared with her character towards the end of the story.
There were moments when this book reminded me of one of my all time fave young adult books, Displaced Person by Lee Harding. Yet, at other times I certainly felt more of the paranormal aspect to the story.
While I really enjoyed this novel, there were moments when I found the story did not entirely match up with the blurb and while that wasn’t such a bad thing, I did find it annoying that what I had concluded from the blurb was not actually the full truth of the novel.
My main concern with this story, and the reason why I scored it three and a half stars rather than four, was the fact that there seemed to be two different story lines occurring with the main character. I was never quite sure as to which story line was more important and the one I should be investing in; why Esme was the way she was or why there was a vengeful ghost after her.
Overall, I am strongly recommending Supervision by Alison Stine to young adults and lovers of that genre and giving the novel 3.5 out of 5 stars.
May 18, 2015
I guess I did like this book, even if it was a bit confusing. The premise was really neat. How the ghost world operates, and all that. It was kind of the usual stuff, but also some really neat new stuff as well.
The usual being that ghosts can touch/move objects and each other, but can’t be sensed by most of the living. Also that they remain as ghosts if they have unfinished business and then pass on to the next- and final- phase of existence.
I definitely feel as if this was more of a plot-driven story than a character-driven one. I wasn’t too fond of Esmé, but that may have been because I hardly knew anything about her. There wasn’t that much exposition. And her little love story kind of felt like it was background. It was cute, and sad, but background. As for the other ghosts, well, naturally they were one-dimensional, because they all had that one unfinished thing before they passed.
But I did enjoy the plot. It was a little random, a little confusing, a bit scary, somewhat unexpected, but really interesting. I loved the beginning, how she was completely ignored and didn’t understand why. It was so eerie. I couldn’t figure it out myself until a few days of it, and then I began piecing it together. But even then I was a little wrong (Wong? Wrong? Get it? Haha). Some things were kinda predictable or easy to figure out but mostly I was on my toes. So many new things and aspects of ghosthood kept coming into play. Especially towards the end, when things got really crazy and I didn’t know what was going on until the last second, and even then I was still confused about some things (nothing I probably couldn’t reason out after thinking about it a bit), but mostly I was happy for a resolution. And all the little subplots, too. Although there was one loose tie at the end…Louise.
But generally I think this is a fun quick read, if just for the premise. It’s always fun for me, reading about new takes on the afterlife.
See the full review on my blog, Awesome Book Assessment.
The usual being that ghosts can touch/move objects and each other, but can’t be sensed by most of the living. Also that they remain as ghosts if they have unfinished business and then pass on to the next- and final- phase of existence.
I definitely feel as if this was more of a plot-driven story than a character-driven one. I wasn’t too fond of Esmé, but that may have been because I hardly knew anything about her. There wasn’t that much exposition. And her little love story kind of felt like it was background. It was cute, and sad, but background. As for the other ghosts, well, naturally they were one-dimensional, because they all had that one unfinished thing before they passed.
But I did enjoy the plot. It was a little random, a little confusing, a bit scary, somewhat unexpected, but really interesting. I loved the beginning, how she was completely ignored and didn’t understand why. It was so eerie. I couldn’t figure it out myself until a few days of it, and then I began piecing it together. But even then I was a little wrong (Wong? Wrong? Get it? Haha). Some things were kinda predictable or easy to figure out but mostly I was on my toes. So many new things and aspects of ghosthood kept coming into play. Especially towards the end, when things got really crazy and I didn’t know what was going on until the last second, and even then I was still confused about some things (nothing I probably couldn’t reason out after thinking about it a bit), but mostly I was happy for a resolution. And all the little subplots, too. Although there was one loose tie at the end…Louise.
But generally I think this is a fun quick read, if just for the premise. It’s always fun for me, reading about new takes on the afterlife.
See the full review on my blog, Awesome Book Assessment.
January 16, 2016
Originally posted on my blog, With Her Head in a Book.
Thank you Netgalley for this e-ARC copy of Supervision.
Supervision is a paranormal mystery through and through. Ghosts galore. Spooky happenings. A murder mystery (or ten). What more could you ask for? Well, there’s also some romance just in case and a few history lessons (though they’re not totally accurate).
Esmé has had a rough childhood and has been sent to live with her estranged grandmother. Turns out her house is just as weird as she is and maybe Esmé is, too, when she starts to see ghosts. Lots of ghosts. She sets out to figure out her own mystery as she tries to uncover why they died and what do they want.
Generally, the characters have little consistency in their personality or actions. I would blame that on their ghosty existences, but even the living face the same issues. On the plus side, each character has a few certain distinct traits that have carried over into the afterlife, setting them apart from one another. Esmé and her family are also Chinese descendants. Unfortunately, her ethnicity is more of a plot device than anything else.
Supervision isn’t necessarily a bad book, it’s just no where near good or even worth reading. The book is loosely held together by weak story building with plenty of plot holes. Dialogue is the main tactic used to spur on the storyline, lacking variety and balance in writing style and story elements. To be honest, it reads very much something a new writer would post on a writing site (much like fanfictions that have every character you ever liked bend to your every whim).
I didn’t violently dislike the novel, so I feel a bit weird giving it a one star, but it doesn’t deserve anything higher. If I hadn’t received a copy of the novel through Netgalley, I would have stopped reading very early on. I would not recommend this book for anyone.
Plot: 1/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 1/5
All Around Idea: 2/5
Total: 1/5
Thank you Netgalley for this e-ARC copy of Supervision.
Supervision is a paranormal mystery through and through. Ghosts galore. Spooky happenings. A murder mystery (or ten). What more could you ask for? Well, there’s also some romance just in case and a few history lessons (though they’re not totally accurate).
Esmé has had a rough childhood and has been sent to live with her estranged grandmother. Turns out her house is just as weird as she is and maybe Esmé is, too, when she starts to see ghosts. Lots of ghosts. She sets out to figure out her own mystery as she tries to uncover why they died and what do they want.
Generally, the characters have little consistency in their personality or actions. I would blame that on their ghosty existences, but even the living face the same issues. On the plus side, each character has a few certain distinct traits that have carried over into the afterlife, setting them apart from one another. Esmé and her family are also Chinese descendants. Unfortunately, her ethnicity is more of a plot device than anything else.
Supervision isn’t necessarily a bad book, it’s just no where near good or even worth reading. The book is loosely held together by weak story building with plenty of plot holes. Dialogue is the main tactic used to spur on the storyline, lacking variety and balance in writing style and story elements. To be honest, it reads very much something a new writer would post on a writing site (much like fanfictions that have every character you ever liked bend to your every whim).
I didn’t violently dislike the novel, so I feel a bit weird giving it a one star, but it doesn’t deserve anything higher. If I hadn’t received a copy of the novel through Netgalley, I would have stopped reading very early on. I would not recommend this book for anyone.
Plot: 1/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 1/5
All Around Idea: 2/5
Total: 1/5
October 22, 2015
Esme is different than all the other kids at her prestigious school in New York City. She's on a scholarship, she looks different, she dresses different, and everyone thinks she lives in an imaginary world. Both of her parents died when she was five and now her older sister raises her and struggles to make ends meet so they can keep their apartment. As Esme's grades are slipping, her sister warns her that the next time she messes up, she's on a train to her grandmother's house in the Pennsylvania countryside. Esme ends up getting into trouble after investigating a graffiti sign in a train tunnel and her sister ships her off to her grandmother. Except, once Esme arrives, her grandma can't see her, and when she goes to school the next day, her teachers and classmates don't notice her. She finally meets Clara and Tom who take her under their wing, but they have a secret: they're dead and so is Esme. Esme is positive she is still alive since she can breathe, bleed, eat, drink, and sleep. Tom and Clara can't, but with no one being able to see her, Esme begins to second guess herself as she becomes involved with Tom, Clara, and the other ghosts as well as their past lives. What happened to Esme? And can she figure out a way to return to her old life or will she join the other ghosts haunting the town?
I loved the concept of this story, but the downside was the writing. The sentences were choppy and sporadic, and there was a lot of jumping around inside the chapters which didn't make the writing flow. There were spelling and grammatical errors that should be corrected before publication since this was an ARC. At times the plot grew boring but then an event would occur to draw me back in. Some scenes didn't make sense in the plot and I didn't connect to the main character. She was pretty flat with no significant traits or unique characteristics. With that being said, this was a nice read for those who are interested in light ghost stories.
I was provided an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for a review.
I loved the concept of this story, but the downside was the writing. The sentences were choppy and sporadic, and there was a lot of jumping around inside the chapters which didn't make the writing flow. There were spelling and grammatical errors that should be corrected before publication since this was an ARC. At times the plot grew boring but then an event would occur to draw me back in. Some scenes didn't make sense in the plot and I didn't connect to the main character. She was pretty flat with no significant traits or unique characteristics. With that being said, this was a nice read for those who are interested in light ghost stories.
I was provided an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for a review.
May 24, 2015
So I saw some of the ridiculous reviews written for this book. My reply to them is you have to finish the damn book to write a review and know what happens! Sorry it annoys me when reviewers just use their words meanly! Now into my review. I actually really liked this book. Not for my normal reasons either. It should be labeled a paranormal mystery in my view. It's not fast paced- it's a suspenseful slow unraveling of a wonderful ghost story! And the paranormal part- fantastic because it's unique. Lemme tell you!! What if your gift allowed you to completely interact with ghosts by becoming one without dying. This dreaming blew my mind with how awesome this was done. Yes, it's not my normal fast paced action packed blow things up paranormal. This is a sweet reminiscent inspirational find yourself story. And I think it broke my heart at the end!!
Esme is different. She knows this. But things start happening and she's struggling. So her sister sends her to her grandmother. I won't spoil anything more than I already did but I would be a tearful insane mess if what happened to her happened to me. I would be utterly devastated. Isolation to me is horrible! But then she meets Tom, Clara, Martha, Mr Black. I mean yes they are different but they are people with feelings in a rough situation like her. I fell in love with them! Except one. You see there's always a bad guy and esme needs to find herself, figure out her gift, and save them all from the bad guy.
I liked the writing and I think the story is so unique that I couldn't help but like it! It's got it's own freshness that sometimes just keeps you captivated. I really couldn't put it down because I had to know the ending. And I loved the great transformation of esme finding herself. There were a few explanations I would have liked to have a little bit more thoroughly but nothing huge! With that said, this is still a ghost story that's pretty awesome! 4.25 PAWS!! :)
Esme is different. She knows this. But things start happening and she's struggling. So her sister sends her to her grandmother. I won't spoil anything more than I already did but I would be a tearful insane mess if what happened to her happened to me. I would be utterly devastated. Isolation to me is horrible! But then she meets Tom, Clara, Martha, Mr Black. I mean yes they are different but they are people with feelings in a rough situation like her. I fell in love with them! Except one. You see there's always a bad guy and esme needs to find herself, figure out her gift, and save them all from the bad guy.
I liked the writing and I think the story is so unique that I couldn't help but like it! It's got it's own freshness that sometimes just keeps you captivated. I really couldn't put it down because I had to know the ending. And I loved the great transformation of esme finding herself. There were a few explanations I would have liked to have a little bit more thoroughly but nothing huge! With that said, this is still a ghost story that's pretty awesome! 4.25 PAWS!! :)
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