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mandafofanda

Mandafofanda Reads Lots

The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no?

And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no?
Doesn't that make life a story?

- Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Wander Dust - Michelle Warren I got up to the beginning of Chapter 8 when I began to think, "This is really feeling like a chore to read." This was after pages and pages of purely being in the protagonist's head with little action besides "I went to school, I went to classes, I stared out the window, I went home, I went to school again..." and barely any dialogue to break up her thoughts. Seriously, I started to think, "Agh! Get me out of her head!" It's not that she's particularly horrible, she's just a bit of a boring narrator (not witty or humourous, which would keep my interest) and I was usually somewhat confused by her thought processes or conclusions. The characters are also oddly developed, and not in a good way. Seraphina describes herself as a rebel because.. she cuts classes and has a purple streak in her hair! Oh the horror! The actions and descriptions of her father (who she refers to by his first name) and his girlfriend just seem to be there for you to feel sorry for Seraphina, but just make you confused to why they act that way at all. I mean, in the opening restaurant scene, they are making googly eyes at eachother and ignoring Seraphina while she get sung Happy Birthday by the waiters. Later when she faints, the girlfriend takes a picture of her while she's on the floor and Seraphina thinks, "I pray that she won't post the photo on the internet, but I know that she already has." I mean, WTF? Neither of them seem to hate Seraphina, and Ray isn't so indifferent that he will get angry and yell at her when she's done something wrong. So I can only conclude that these are just things to make you think, "Oh, she has a horrible life," but you're really thinking "WTF is up with everyone?"

This book also suffers from the horrid I-was-captured-by-his-gorgeous-eyes-syndrome. Seraphina is utterly captivated by this boy with BEAUTIFUL GREEN EYES, first in a picture, then later running into him in real life. While I know that in real life, there exist people with BEAUTIFUL GREEN EYES, if every time she sees him I have to read about these BEAUTIFUL GREEN EYES and just how BEAUTIFUL and AMAZINGLY GREEN and OCEAN-LIKE and JEWEL-LIKE they are, I start to go Aaaarrhghghghghh! I get it! Shut up!

This is approximately the part where I dropped the book.