Drobne Błędy

Do-Over #1

by Heather McElhatton

Bu kitabı okumaya normal bir kitap gibi birinci sayfadan başlayın. İlk bölümün sonunda, önünüze bir yol ayrımı çıkacak. Kararınızı verin ve ilgili bölüme gidin. Her bölümün sonunda seçimlerinizle kaderinizi kontrol etmeye devam edeceksiniz.Kitabı okurken bazen hiç beklemediğiniz bir yere ulaşacak, bazen de kendinizi daha önce olduğunuz yerde bulacaksınız. Hayatın size neler hazırladığını asla bilemezsiniz. Ama şunu biliyorsunuz, iyilikler her zaman ödüllendirilmiyor ve bazen hatalı kararlar, şahane olayların başlangıcı olabiliyor. Her yolculuğun sonunda başa dönüp tekrar başlayın, unutmayın, herkes ikinci bir şansı hak eder. Yüzlerce farklı hayat sizi bekliyor. İyi şanslar. Elinizdeki romanın kahramanı sizsiniz! Bu şahane roman size yepyeni dünyalar Siz okudukça dönen, şoklar ve mucizelerle dolu dünyalar! Köşkün biricik efendisi mi olacaksınız, nehir kenarında yaşayan bir evsiz mi? Hayatınızın aşkıyla sonsuza dek mutlu ve sakin bir hayatınız mı olsun, yoksa zirvede tek başına bir bilim insanı olarak mı öleceksiniz? Japonya'da Zen rahibinin yanında mı bitecek öykünüz, New York'da bir karavanda mı? Kader mi hayatımızı yönlendiriyor yoksa yaptığımız tercihler mi? Gerçek hayatta geçmişinizi değiştiremezsiniz ama Şahane Hatalar'da imkansız diye bir şey yok! Yine de küçük bir uyarı, seçimlerinizi dikkatli yapın. "Tıpkı hayatın kendisi gibi, ne zaman ne olacağını asla tahmin edemeyeceğiniz, dopdolu bir kitap." Forbes "Uyuşturucu, tecavüz, patlama, sevgi, aşk, huzur. Duygulu anlatım, kapkara mizah.

Genres: Fiction, Choose Your Own Adventure, Chick Lit, Short Stories, Contemporary, Book Club, Adult Fiction

560 pages, Paperback

First published May 8, 2007

About the author

Heather McElhatton is an independent producer for Minnesota Public Radio and Public Radio International. Her commentaries and stories are heard regularly nationwide on This American Life, Marketplace, Weekend America, Sound Money, and The Savvy Traveler, and she hosts the live radio show called Stage Sessions. She will soon be appearing with Ira Glass on the television version of This American Life. (from the publisher's website)"

Reviews

[Bess · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is supposed to be a choose-your-own-adventure for grown-ups, which sounds fantastic in theory (who didn't love those books as kids?) except that it's totally substanceless, plotless, and reads more like a MadLib page than the "novel" it claims to be.

I guess it would be cool if a real, established writer attempted such a project, because then at least it might have a fraction of redeeming literary merit, but the author is a radio announcer (or something) from Minneapolis who clearly just wanted to cash in on the whole everybody-else-is-doing-a-book-so-can-I thing.

I didn't even have exceptionally high hopes for this book -- I thought it would at LEAST be a quick, fun read to serve as a nice light escape from all the heavy-ass Lionel Shriver I've been reading -- but it managed to disappoint me anyway.

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Updated Review 9/1/08:
I originally gave this book three stars, but when I picked the book up last night and tried reading a few more "lives," I wanted to throw it away. I really like the idea of the book (choose-your-own-adventure), but I feel like the author did a horrible job executing it.

Notes:
1) "Shocking" writing does not equal "good" or "interesting" writing.

2) The consequences of the choices you make have nothing to do with what you chose to do in the book. I understand that the different choices you make should lead you down interesting life paths, but it seems like it doesn't matter what choice you make, something horrible will happen to you. Sometimes you end up with the same outcome no matter what you do.

Example:
Choice 1: Stay in school and get your Master's degree.
Choice 2: Take a job as a pharmaceutical sales rep.

Outcome of Choice 1: Become a meth addict.
Outcome of Choice 2: Become a meth addict.

WTF?! Seriously? Why don't you just write one story if you've already decided where you want it to go? Where is the "choice" that you pretend you are giving readers?

3) No matter what you do, you hate your life the way it is. Each choice you make pulls you further and further into the abyss that is your life until you (a) are randomly murdered on your way home, (b) die of a drug overdose, (c) manage to live the rest of your life and die of old age, but WAIT, you are incredibly lonely because everyone in your life has left you or you murdered them!

4) This book is NOT interesting. This book is ridiculous and a waste of time.

Old Review:
This is an adult Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book. Each "life" you read starts out right after your high school graduation and leads you to your death (good or bad). The writing isn't that fantastic, and the author seems stuck on trying to shock you. Overall, this is a fun book if you want to just play around and live a few "lives."

[jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

choose-your-own-adventure book for adults. there's one beginning, and 150 different endings. it was good for me to read while traveling, as i could read it during the 3000 miles between pittsburgh and seattle easily. each section is short, quick, and entertaining, so it was easy to pick up and put down in the hustle and bustle of cross-country adventure. in my first life, i killed my rich, abusive doctor husband and lived like a king with his money and my two children. in my second life, i was shot in the face in an Arby's parking lot right after high school graduation. the third time around, i became a fabulously wealthy lesbian and married my beloved jewelry-designing lover. i was hooked. i went to art school, married a pastor, became an alcoholic, joined a cult.... all in a few hours.

the book is not infinitely amusing, it repeats itself occasionally, but at times is actually laugh-out-loud funny. italy, japan, meth, cocaine, go back to the previous choice and try again. this time, i think i'll turn down the sugar daddy, hijack some antiques, and have a lot of grandchildren around me when i die at 92. i'm not sure if i found every single ending, but i had a good time trying. some questionable portrayals of queer lives, and realistic levels of unempathetic and discompassionate portrayals of different kinds of experiences. great for: ADHD, traveling, indecisive people full of regrets, and bad decision makers.

[Burçak Kılıç Sultanoğlu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Benim ilk maceram 350lerde bitti.. Başıma bir sürü olay geldi futbol sahasına çıplak dalınca medya peşime düştü bende küçük bi kasabaya taşındım.. Orda sevgili bulup mutlu yaşarken sevgilimi üniversiteye yolladım geri dönüşte evli, çocuklu döndü.. Ben de nispet için başka bi adamla çıktım ama evlendik :) Adam bayağı zengin çıktı ve şehrin hanımı oldum ve 92 yaşında gece uykumda huzur içinde ölüp cennete gittim :D

Kitap çok güzel kurgulanmış.. her bölümün sonunda seçim yapıyosunuz ve sizi başka bölümlere yönlendiriyor ve macera yaşamış oluyorsunuz.. Defalarca, sıkılmadan okunacak bi kitap ben çok sevdim :)) Bi kaç kitap sonra tekrar bi macera yaşarım :D

[aza · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was given to me by a friend back in elementary school. I think the format of the "make your own adventure" plus the funky cover made her parents think it was a book for kids when they bought it for her

But this is an adult choose your own adventure which means it has Adult themes like abusive boyfriends, meth addiction regardless of your life choices, and premature death

I remember rereading this is a child hoping to find a happy ending and there never is one. As a kid I thought, maybe there is a lesson there... as an adult putting old books in the "giveaway" pile I know that this choose your own adventure just sucks

[Dominica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book for grownups. Why didn't anyone think of this before? The original CYOA books all had a theme, whether it was searching for big foot or getting abducted by aliens. The adventure in this novel is life, with the book starting out at high-school graduation and taking you along various paths until your death. Every decision always presents you with the tough choice of going with or against your better judgment. I liked majoring in the sciences and turning down marriage proposals. But the limitations of a book like this is that the author can't involve you in every decision, and every time the protagonist makes a decision without the reader, it's a reminder that you only have the illusion of controlling the narrative, with ultimately minimal input in how things actually turn out. I felt left out of important decisions. I could decide where I wanted to travel, but not if I wanted to become a drug addict, or have sex with the janitor in a utility closet. A sense of disappointment accompanied the realization that the protag is nothing like me. I want this book to be about my life, but there is no way it possibly can.
Good decisions often have bad consequences and bad decisions too often get good endings. That's life, I guess, but in fiction it makes for an unsatisfying read. In my books, I prefer good behavior to be rewarded and bad deeds punished. Fiction is about imposing order on an unruly reality (see Ian McEwan's Atonement).
The book's "flip to page whatever" format means the protag can never be affected by any of her past decisions. Each piece of the story is nearly independent from all others.
A nice speculative touch is the glimpses of the afterlife that occasionally accompany the protag's death. I won't ruin any, just know that they are creative and diverse, and sometimes depend on the manner of death.
This book is light, but it's meant to be. It's entertaining without being nourishing.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, of course, a choose-your-own-adventure book for grown-ups. It's really a hundred or so very, very short but highly inventive stories balled up into a single book. Each "chapter" is only a page or two long, so I do spend a lot of time flipping through the book and holding my fingers in the places of my various decisions so that I can go back to my last decision once the story ends. It's funny, fast-paced, and great for when you need to pass a few minutes of time.

You won't like this book if you're looking for a thoughtful, carefully written novel that you can devour over a pot of tea. You also won't like this book if you are bothered by the fact that the author lets you make decisions of where to travel and whom to marry, but not whether you shall have unprotected sex in a coat closet with a sexy, unnamed janitor, or whether you will barter sex for the services of a sweaty, unattractive auto mechanic who warns you that he has a "big wiener."

This book emphasizes the unfairness of human existence: chance plays a bigger role in the protagonist's life than does my decision-making.

Our control over our lives is illusory, though we like to pretend it's not. We study and ponder and move slowly through our decisions to avoid negative consequences, but the fact is that we still can't protect ourselves from some of the most awful aspects of being human. And while we're moving slowly and pondering and studying, we miss the brilliant, unforeseeable joy that comes from spontaneity.

[Lex Montoya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh.

I, like everyone else, was very intrigued by the concept of this book. I am a huge fan of CYOA books, and many impostors, so it would logically follow that I would be lured in by the premise of a book in that style, but geared towards an older audience.

Unfortunately, this book fell short of my expectations.

Instead of feeling like my decisions actually altered what I was reading, I was presented stories that mostly went in the direction influenced by decisions we DIDN'T make.

Example: Go to college for art, or science?
-->Science.
You are on your way to being a doctor! But you are addicted to meth now (yep)! Keep going to school to finish your studies, or go work at a pharmaceutical company as a sales rep?
-->Doesn't really matter! Either way, you wind up miserable because of a meth addiction that you automatically got by going to college.

Why don't I get to choose NOT to start a meth addiction? I don't think all doctors were required to go through a period of drug addiction as part of their studies. Furthermore, just because I chose science, why do I have to be a doctor?

I know these books can't let us choose EVERYTHING, but it seems regardless of what otherwise responsible choices we make, we are drafted into completely irresponsible ones.

You just woke up! Do you want to eat breakfast first, or shower first? Eat breakfast? Man comes in to rob you, you tell him to go eff himself, he shoots you in the face, and you did. You shower first? As you reach for the soap, an earthquake happens, your ceiling collapses, and you die.

Okay, that last part isn't in there, but it's pretty much how this entire thing reads.

But, as we don't have a choice about our drug addiction, reading this summary wouldn't have prevented me from getting this book, and giving it a try.

[Miranda Medrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It seems like just an adult themed choose your own adventure (or a handbook on how to screw up your life at times) but I think it actually becomes a commentary on the way we live our lives and how no matter how many 'right' decisions you make or how many bad things happen to you, you never know if you'll live a long happy life or a short miserable one or any combination there of.
There are parts (lots of them) that are not for the squeamish. And a lot of it isn't very probable, which people who didn't like this book seemed to complain about the most. I find that the neatest part! It's not predictable at any point, and even when it might be it moves so fast that it doesn't matter. I had no expectations for this book. I thought I might like it just as easily at hate it, I was floored that is resonated in the way it did.
It makes you think. It grosses you out, and make s you marvel at the fucked up situations someone can end up in and sometimes laugh at the way a 'great' life decision can turn out so terribly terribly wrong! It makes your heart swell at times and ache at others. Anyone who can do that in snippets of stories is a good writer, and I can't wait to read her next one.
I recommend post-it page markers to anyone who wants to make sure they don't miss parts of a story. I started using them about halfway thru to mark parts to go back to and read the other choices.

[Priya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book of this kind i have read since my Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys combination book days!
I appreciate the effort it takes to spin off the various threads based on the choices of the reader and sync them in case they eventually merge as it did for me in one set of choices.
The story line begins with a choice of university or travel after school and goes on to a whole lot of options, many of which are actually juvenile to be honest.

But I read this to get a feel of the format of choose your own adventure so it was ok.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book in my library's used book store. I was immediately intrigued by the book because it is a choose your own adventure novel. I loved those books as a kid (who didn't) and the idea of reading one written for adults seemed exciting (key word "seemed").

The sections are really disjointed and pretty far-fetched. Each "story" is very short; only once did I jump more than five times. The stories were neither creative nor did the consequences equal the choices I made. I died in every ending and depending on the choices I made I was either incredibly happy and at peace or I was some miserable waste of space. The odd part, however, was the choices seemed to lead to some ridiculous and impossible outcomes.

Example: In one story-line I became an alcoholic and after beating a baby on the head with a bottle of wine I end up in jail. After three years I am paroled and must choose to be a janitor or a waitress.

Choice 1: I chose to be a janitor at a hospital where I was raped by a monkey which lead to me living happily ever after on millions before dying of a rare monkey disease.

Choice 2: I chose to be a waitress and worked at the same restaurant for the rest of my life. I was miserable, never married the abusive jerk I lived with and finally died after a pressure cooker exploded on me.

What the heck? How is that possible? How does getting raped by a monkey lead to a happier ending? Why is that even an event that occurs? Was that supposed to be funny? I don't even know what to think of that.

The novel is also very graphic. I don't have an issue with books that have foul language, descriptions of sex, or excessive gore. The author, however, seems to have included a gratuitous amount just for the sake of it. It's not particularly shocking in my opinion, but it does get a little tiresome after awhile.

The novel only had a few redeeming qualities. It was a quick read. It was super easy to read a section of the story on the bus. It has a few humorous scenarios. Overall, though, the books just falls flat.

In theory, a choose your own adventure novel for adults is fantastic. I am sure that if a more established writer had taken on this task the novel would have been more enjoyable. However, due to a lack of linear movement from choice to consequence and some downright disgusting and repulsive events and decisions Pretty Little Mistakes is a good idea gone wrong.

[Banshee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I managed to reach my mid-thirties before I learned about the existence of co-called 'choose your own adventure' books. I somehow missed them when I was growing up, probably because they just weren't a thing in my country.

So this was my first 'choose your own adventure' book ever. The experience was somewhat weird and trippy.

The thing that was hardest to get used to was the constant second person narration, except it wasn't a literary tool, but rather an attempt to make the reader associate themselves with the unnamed character of the book. Except the main character was so unrelatable to me and kept making dumb mistakes that made me cringe at every step to an extent that made it impossible for me to imagine that it actually was 'my' adventure. It didn't matter what "choice" I made, because the MC always found a way to do something incredibly stupid like take drugs, drunk-drive or prostitute herself for a car repair. And she was so unbelievably judgmental.

The storylines were sometimes entertaining but completely whacky. Sometimes they were so ridiculous that it was amusing, other times they left me dumbstruck.

And the more I read, the more the song 'Dumb Ways to Die' started and just kept playing in my head for reasons obvious to anyone who also read this book.

Also, the further into the scenarios I went, the more impatient and annoyed I got. I expected this book to be pure fun, but it wasn't really. I'm not sure yet, if I just don't like choose-your-own-adventure books or this particular execution. I can't judge the entire genre by one book.

I marked the book as 'finished' but I'm not actually sure how much of it I read. It wasn't good enough for me to make notes to make sure I completed all the routes.

[Maggie Needham · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was super excited when I found this book at the store. I loved loved loved choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid and this seemed like such a fantastic idea. I quickly did a few read-throughs, and slowly it dawned on me that it didn't work. At all. Here are my problems with this book:

First of all, I hated who I was in this book. A lot. I slept around and didn't give a crap about my family, no matter what path of choices I followed.

Each section was only a few pages long, and there was no continuity, so plot and character development were nonexistent.

This is just my opinion, but I think choose your own adventures should be fantasy or sci fi or something more exciting than "you just graduated high school. What now?" I mean, it's supposed to be an adventure. This book didn't seem like an adventure.

This book is SO chick lit-y. I would not have bought this if I had known that.

Anyway, this book is just annoying and not worth reading. If you want the novelty of the choose-your-own-adventure aspect of this book, just sit in the bookstore and read a story one or two times through. That's as long as the novelty will last.

[Fahmina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was hoping this choose-your-own-adventure book would be fun or at least funny, but no, it's not. Basically, the character in the book, who is supposed to be "you," is kind of a bad person. Either you're a meth head, an adulterer, a thief, a loser, a liar, or someone who will degrade herself for money. I didn't find many redeeming qualities about this book, and I certainly didn't want to choose even one of the paths found in this book in my own real life.

Some of the "lives" you lead in the book have a nice buildup, but then everything comes to a screeching halt in the endings, which usually have you die either suddenly, or fast-forward about 50 years and then you're dead. Also, after each death, you might experience a different kind of after-life. I'm not really sure what the point of all the different after-lives was, was the author trying to tell us something or not? If not, then why not just leave the after-life out of it, instead of describing what our heaven or hell or whatever will look like?

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really didn't enjoy this book. Mainly because I kept dying after six pages. I never got any where far, except for when I ended up marrying a (what I thought was a creepy) old man, who was rich and took care of me. This book isn't really recommended for someone looking for the fluffy romantic or dramatic angst filled adventures. It's basically for people who have already had reality slap them in the face. Choices that you make in the book may seem very nice, but sometimes they can wind you up dead by overdose or dead because a bunch of druggies killed you. The only connection that I have for this book, is that it connect to life it's self. Choices and plans you make now may seem amazing and I bet most of you think that it'll work out the way you planned it, but guess what? Life isn't always what it seems. After all that's why this book is called Pretty Little Mistakes. Make them now and think about them, before they actually happen.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I read this entire book, but it's a little hard to tell given the choose-your-own-adventure format.

I really wanted to like this book. I decided to read it after an interview with the author regarding her new book appeared in the newspaper and made it sound interesting. But there's really nothing "pretty" about the mistakes "you" make in this novel. Almost every choice leads to rape and/or meth addiction. I also expected there to be more plot since this is for adults; I think each story would've been more interesting if the sections had gone into more detail and had more dialogue.

[Karina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried about six adventures from beginning to end, and skimmed some endings and was very disturbed: anytime the heroine acted maturely, she ended up badly or disastrously. And the choices were often extreme.

The book's a cute premise, but the author seems to imply that you're better of behaving badly, which I don't think is accurate or appropriate. Just my two cents...

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept is fun, but the writing is very amateurish. The scenarios are really over the top and many of them have the exact same ending which I felt was lazy. It’s okay for a while but I ended up not making it through all the scenarios because it started to get old. I mainly read it for a reading challenge prompt. Should be subtitled 1000 overly exaggerated ways to die.

[Zoë · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I've had enough of this now.

'Choose your own adventure' for adults - fantastic concept (albeit not original) but the story/stories were just ugghhhhhhh. Cosmopolitan magazine is probably the best descriptor.

I want this to be so much better.

[Natalie Meagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's weird but not always in a good way.

[Digdem Absin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Şahane Hatalar 215 bölümden oluşan interaktif bir kitap yani seçimlerle ilerliyorsunuz. Kitaptaki bölümleri sırasıyla okursanız bütünlüğü olmayan farklı hikayeler okumuş olursunuz. Tavsiye edildiği gibi birinci bölümün sonunda sunulan seçenekleri takip etmeye başlayarak her bölüm sonunda seçimlere devam ederseniz daha anlamlı fakat kısa hikayeler çıkar. Aslında okumaya karar verdiğimde bende oluşan fikir seçeneklerin devamlılığı olacağı ve kitabın sonuna kadar süren uzun bir hikayenin ortaya çıkacağı yönündeydi. Fakat ikinci şahıs olarak anlatılan hikaye her seferinde 5-6 bölüm sürüyor ve sonunda ölüyorsunuz. Ne kadar çabalanırsa çabalansın 10 bölüm sürmüyor hayatınız :) Hele benim gibi kesin fikirleri olan bir insansanız hikayeniz daha da kısa ve sıkıcı oluyor :)) Her seferinde başa dönüp yeniden bir hikaye okumaya çalıştım fakat o durağanlık bir süre sonra sıktı. Ben de kendi yöntemimi geliştirdim kitabın tamamını okumak için.
Kitap bir genç kadının lise mezuniyetiyle başlıyor, ağırlıklı olarak ABD’de geçiyor. ‘Sizin’ hikayeniz anlatılmak istense de toplumsal ve kült��rel farklılıklar sebebiyle sizin hikayeniz olmayabilir.
Normalde elime alıp arka kapağını bile okumayacağım bir kitap. Ama girdiğim Latife Tekin bunalımından çıkma yolları ararken, saçma bir şekilde okurken buldum kendimi :))
Şimdi normale dönme zamanı.

[Monica Singh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was beyond excited by the idea of an adult "choose your own adventure" book. I was in love with the fantasy "choose your own adventures" as a child and this book promised to be a more realistic version of those books. A book that could let me relive some life decisions or imagine how it would been if I went down different paths. Ironically, there is a very little amount of choice in this book. No matter what path you take you get abuse, drugs, very annoying stereotypes, and very little character development.

No matter what choices you made, the author always tagged you along with a man. In the middle of your new chapter you were given a description about a man that you recently met and regardless of if you loved how he sounded or wanted to run for the hills...you were dating. Also 96% of the time they were terrible to you during the relationship. (by potentially raping you when you didn't want to have sex, pushing you to take drugs or partake in selling drugs, cheating on you and saying that it wasn't their fault because it was just what men of his culture did, and/or hitting you as soon as you went against their wishes.).

Also apparently taking meth is unavoidable regardless of if you go to college, get a science degree, an art degree, travel the states, or travel the world (news to me). Also why are the only two degree choices I have in college art or sciences? And if I don't want either I am destined to drop out...I mean the author mentions the MC's (main character's) boyfriend having a business degree, but apparently that is out of our realm of possibility.

And lastly, the stereotypes. Rather than develop different characters and make them individuals the author decided to rely on stereotypes 100% of the time. Science majors never have any fun and are constantly dead from overwork. Also they are normally the ones who take meth the most to stay awake and they are the pushers. I have some science major friends...apparently I need to ask them more about their lives before I met them. Business majors and law majors are the boring snooty type who just want to suck the joy out of your souls. FYI there is no actual major for a lawyer...so we are just hiding in every college major ready for you to take us in your confidences and suck out the joy from your soul. (I may have revealed a dark secret).

And the stereotypes extend beyond college. Apparently British people hate American tourists so much that no matter where the American goes they feel constantly judged and hated. I have never been to London but if that was the case I feel like no American tourist would ever travel there....unless all tourists who go to London are into reaffirming their self hate, but I hope that isn't the case. Indian culture is just a black hole of hatred against western progression. Aussie's are drunks. Italians like to sleep around and that is just how it is. And surprisingly...other than one comment I found...the French are the most human and tend to be the most stable and interesting characters.

In short, The author tried to do way too much with this book and did not develop any characters in the novel (excluding the one French man towards the end). 99% of the time she doesn't seem to care about making characters likable. She also doesn't develop the MC which makes sense if the book actually let you control the MC and put yourself in her life, but again it doesn't. There should have been more choices throughout the book. This book should have been a three part series. One book for college/travel, one book for masters/travel/career, and a book wherever those left off to death. That way the author would get more mulah and be able to rely less on stereotypes and show people for who they are, individuals.

[Shelley Pearson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is odd. I chose it for the Popsugar Reading Challenge, since one of the prompts is a choose-your-own-adventure book. I was immediately turned off by the first chapter, which talks about how your boyfriend (it’s written in second-person, like classic choose-your-own-adventure books, which I liked) “annihilated your virginity” and about what a huge dick he has. It was kinda gross right off the bat. But after I read the first storyline, I was curious about where else the story would go, so I kept going. Then it turned into kind of a challenge to myself, to read all the stories. Plus, I didn’t want to have to find and start a new choose-your-own-adventure story. And I’m pretty sure I finally did it! I read all the stories!

There were moments that I liked, and about a third of the endings were actually kind of nice. But there was also a lot of bullshit. Like a lot of body shaming. Not just all the big dick = good dick talk, of which there was a lot (including one paragraph that was just “size counts” all in caps, over and over), but also references to “birthmark people” lying about themselves on dating sites, and lots of fat shaming. Even when you start a group called “Fat Grrrls” that gets national attention, the group is focused on diet tips and people have to be weighed to attend meetings (no one under 200 lbs allowed). There are a lot of big things you don’t get to choose. Like whether to have sex in exchange for auto repairs, whether to have sex with a monkey, or whether to start doing meth. I would also say that the writing isn’t that great. It read more like a list of things that happened than like an actual story.

I thought the most interesting parts were the after-death snippets, like how sometimes you go to heaven, sometimes hell, sometimes you’re a ghost or get reincarnated. It was kind of fun to see all the afterlife possibilities.

[Crystal M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very fun read! This is an adult choose your own adventure book. I ended up traveling to Italy, meeting a man who I moved in with but he was broke and I had to pay for everything so eventually when I meet a much older man he asks me to become his sugar baby sugar. Things go well he moves me into an apartment, gives me an allowance and pays for my school. We go to high end events and dinner parties and I eventually drop out of school because of how much time we spend together. One day we get in a fight and he kicks me out of the apartment. I end up working in a bakery that was trafficking gold coins I steal 5 gold coins worth 100k and then buying my own bed and breakfast. I get married, having kids (one I name after my sugar daddy), and buy my parents a vineyard they move into and retire in Italy me. I live to 102 and now haunt my B&B.

I read it again. This time I went to college and moved in with my high school sweetheart. Our apartment was shitty and so was he. We fought a lot and one day I walked in on him with another girl and threw him out. I had decided to study science but it was really hard so I started using speed to stay up and study, eventually that turned into a meth addiction. I couldn’t handle going for a masters degree so I opted to take a pharmaceutical sales rep job where I pay doctors to give patients certain cancer drugs. A drug dealer for government basically. I meet a nice young oncologist and have a one night stand with him, we fall in love and get married but we never tell each other we love each other. My drug addiction gets worse and I develop cervical cancer (ironic right) I die a slow and horrible painful death screaming I love you to anyone who would listen and my husband is not by my side. I will read it one more time and update again.

The third time I read the book I decided to go travel to England. While there everyone was rude to me so I was thinking of going to Paris. I met an Indian transsexual named Alouette and he brought me back to his apartment. I end up staying there as his room mate until one day his wife knocks on the door and tells him he has to come home to a funeral. He asks me to come with him all expenses paid so I decide to go. While there his family is very critical of his lifestyle and thinks I am his new girlfriend even though I’m not. He gets frustrated and decides to go out late at night, I decide to go with him and we go to a busy market and buy miscellaneous things. One of the things we buy is apples and I eat one, after the funeral I go back to England alone as it is mourning time for his family. Once I get back I begin to feel very sick and when allouette finally returns home from India he rushes me to the hospital. I find out I have hepatitis A and die within a few weeks.

The 4th time through I decided to travel to California after graduation but my car breaks down on the way. I gamble most of my money away and then have to sleep with the mechanic at the mechanic shop in order to get my car fixed. Once it’s fixed I head to LA to meet up with a friend who says I can go on open casting calls with her.
I drive down to her house but no one is home and I can’t reach her on her cell phone I decide to wait a while and then drive back over to check on her. It’s after dinner time though and I don’t want to take food from her so I stop at Arby’s to get some takeout. I’m in the drive through when a kid walks up to my car and asks if I want to buy a candy bar. I say yes and look for change in my purse, all of a sudden the manager comes out and grabs the kid and starts yelling at him for selling candy bars at his business. He won’t let go of the kid and he’s shaking him so I get out to try and get the manager to let him go. Just then the kids older brother walks over and is apparently not mentally stable and misunderstands who is being mean to the kid. He pulls out a .38 and shoots me point blank in the face and I die instantly.

I read it a fifth time and this time it was very fucked up. I moved in with my high school sweet heart and decided to major in art. When I went to school I met a guy named Thaddeus and started sneaking around with him. One day my boyfriend came home and caught me and he broke up with me. Thaddeus is a bit of an odd ball and likes to film us having sex for some reason. There’s an art show coming up and I enter a piece comprised of bronzed vagina moulds I took of other art students and shaped into the arch of St. Louis. (WHAT?!) I do not win a prize. My boyfriend decides to display the videos of us having sex on a monitor during the event as his ‘art piece’. The video spreads and ends up online, eventually someone send a copy to my parents and they demand I leave the school and move away before more damage can be done to my life. I decide to decide to drop out and move home but I become so depressed my mom eventually drags me out of bed and to the doctor where I get put on antidepressants. She also suggests I go to a motivational speaking event she heard about in town so I go. It turns out to be a ‘nondenominational religious group’ *cough cough cult*. After the event they ask me to come check out their youth Center so I agree. Everyone is very nice and I meet a cute guy named Summer at the Center. They say I can move in with them and I don’t have to work or pay rent. I agree. Once I move in they tell me they will take care of all my debt so I give them financial control over me and they tell me I can’t watch tv, leave, have visitors, call anyone, have a cell phone or go on the internet because I need to cleanse myself. Meal times are inconsistent and I start to lose weight and we are woken up at all hours of the night to pray. We are forced to pray and bath religiously. One day the leader of the group thinks I’m not praying and bathing properly which results in a prolonged session of prayer, him bathing me and raping me. After this my food rations increase and I’m treated better in the house. Months go by and then my parents come looking for me and tell me I’ve joined a cult. I tell them it’s not a cult and to leave me alone. On Saturdays we sell candles at a farmers market and a woman approaches me and says she used to be in a cult, my parents sent her and she says she can help me escape. I agree and go with her and she takes me home to my parents where they hold an intervention. I agree to stay but sneak out of the house later that night and back to the cult to get my stuff. When I arrive Summer is in the living room and tells me to follow him to the prayer room in the basement, once we get down there he hits me over the head with something and rapes me while I’m barely conscious. I wake up a few hours later in the back yard sore all over and stumble home. I don’t tell anyone because I’m ashamed I snuck out and went back. After a month I start to feel funny and discover I’m pregnant. I decide to keep the baby but I can’t bond with it because it is my rapists baby. I struggle for months to mother the baby who I name Mark but I can’t stand to be around the baby. I go to a store and buy a gun. I go home, get in the tub, and shoot myself in the head. (HOW FUCKING MORBID?!)


The 6th time I read the book I decided to go travel to England. While there everyone was rude to me so I was thinking of going to Paris. I met an Indian transsexual named Alouette who asks if I want to stay at his place, I say no and go to Paris where I meet a rowdy bunch of Australians on a train. They say they want to rent a caravan to travel across Europe in and ask you to join them. I agree and they take me to the caravan. It turns out to be an old school bus that they renovated very primitively and it doesn’t have running water or a toilet. Once we’re on the road they tell me they’re actually drug runners. Crystal meth to be exact. I travel with them for months through many European countries until one day a group of teenagers comes to buy crystal meth and some stay the night in the bus. The next morning I awaken to yelling and discover one of the teens has OD’d. One of the drug dealers I’ve been travelling with decides we need to bury the body. I decide I’m going to take off because I don’t want any part of that. As I’m trying to leave one of the drug dealers stabs me in the stomach with a shovel and kills me.

This book is a hoot! Highly recommend.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ordinarily would not even consider writing a review for a book after only spending 1 1/2 hours with it, but I simply cannot wait to tell people about this book.

Heather McElhatton, radio host, producer and now author, may well be a genius. Remember the books when we were
kids that made you decide at the end of each chapter where you wanted to go next, letting you chose your ending? Pretty Little Mistakes is the grownup version with literally 150 different possible endings.

The story is about you--you've just graduated from high school and you must decide whether you want to go to college or you want to travel. From there the stories branch off in several intriguing--and I'll admit addictive--ways. In my short afternoon with this book, I : died of cervical cancer; murdered my abusive husband; was killed by a terrorist attack in Chad; was murdered by a 4 foot albino; died a very old woman responsible for saving/impro ving thousands of lives through free clinics. All of which involved only subtly different choices at the end of some of the
same sections.

Clearly all of the endings are not "happily ever
after", but they are intruiging and page turning. I couldn't help myself--I kept diving back in to see how one or two changed decisions would change "my" life. And I'm not done yet! I just had to stop long enough to tell say "READ THIS BOOK!"

[Kensie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I have to admit, I picked this book up purely because it reminded me of those radical choose-your-ending books I was so enthralled with in elementary school. I found I rather enjoyed the concept of the "modern day" version of such, but it left me wanting a little more. I ended up finishing two of the seemingly endless possibilities; in one I ended up as a lesbian artist living with my girlfriend and cat, happy and wealthy in some cape cod-ish town, and the other a member of a secret team of nun-assassins in Rome who scour the world and kill off bad men to do God's justice. Pretty epic tales, really. But I wasn't entrigued enough to try any more options. Take that as you may... It still could be worth figuring out if you have as tits decision-making skills as I do. :)

[Carolee Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it hilarious that people criticize this book for being too shocking, or that all choices end up with you dying. OMG! Like, real life isn't like that!

Personally, I give the author a ton of credit for crafting so many different outcomes that are bound to be outside many readers' experiences. Many people do sleep around, have substance abuse problems, and even nice people meet bad ends. If I had to read a choose-your-own-adventure book that mirrored a "conventional" or "appropriate" life, I'd be bored to tears.

And for the person who commented negatively that "all the choices make you unhappy," I say: that's right. In some way or another.

[Gary Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some time ago, something about this book appealed to me. However, once I started I soon realized this book was nothing more than a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' type for the Chick Lit crowd.
Every third decision found "you" fucking someone, marrying someone, divorcing someone, deciding whether or not you want to meet your current lover's family, or crashing on an Italian tranny's couch...until you either die tragically or find something resembling a 'happy ending.'


Oh, there's supposedly a sequel in the works as well.

[Marisa Pedro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good concept, poorly executed. The stories were too short never giving us the reader a chance to decide if we like, hate, empathize or have any emotion whatsoever towards the main character.

The author also did not have a good editor. At times, the story picked up from a point where it shouldn't have. Meaning, one story when she completes medical school has an option for the character to go join doctor's without borders. A path where she is also a drop our from art school will take you to the same decision.

[Sude Nur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kaç kez okudum kaç kez farklı bir sonuçla karşılaştım bilmiyorum fakat tek birinde bile kendimi bulamadım. İnsan her kitapta kendisini çok az da olsa bulur ya, başrolünde siz varsınız ama o kitapta kendinizi bulamıyorsunuz gibi bir şey. Beğenmedim yani fakat fikir olarak muazzam bir kitap. Çok daha iyi yazılabileceğinin kanısındayım.