Clean is a book that thoroughly surprised me. Firstly, I thought this book would be about mental illness. Actually it’s about addiction. I should’ve realized that before I started reading but as usual, I hardly glanced at the synopsis. Secondly, I was impressed with how the characters were portrayed in terms of depth, development and voice. Best of all, I was amazed by the writing style. It was on the experimental side, which I hadn’t expected.
THOSE GIRLS by Lauren Saft
There are so many reasons to hate Those Girls. Yet when I step away from the content and simply think about the structure of Those Girls as a novel, it actually holds up pretty well. This is why I think Lauren Saft has what it takes to become a successful author but I don’t have it in me to like this book much.
I LOVE I HATE I MISS MY SISTER by Amélie Sarn
I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister arrived in the mail yesterday, just about a week after publication. When I had it in my hands, I did something I rarely do when a book arrives: read. Since I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister is such a short book, I decided to keep reading, thinking I might as well finish it one go. And finish it I did. I started reading at 10 p.m. and was done by 12.30 a.m. Just as well, since I pre-ordered it.
TEASE by Amanda Maciel
Some might find it difficult to read a book about bullying from the perspective of the one who bullied. That is exactly the perspective that Tease offers. It is not a book that can be taken lightly. Neither is it a book about a victim of bullying who overcomes her plight. No, it is a story about the bully after her victim committed suicide.
THE LIST by Siobhan Vivian
There are a whole lot of main characters to keep track of in The List! Eight of them, to be exact. At least the narrative is in third person. That gives it a semblance of consistency, even though it still felt like I was juggling eight points-of-view as I read the book. At 332 pages, each character averages 40 pages, unless their paths overlap, which doesn’t happen all that much because they all hail from different social circles.
