Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Confessions Of An Angry Girl

Review Time! I'm currently on holidays and I've been completely slacking off with my reading and reviewing! Forgive me lovely readers! Confessions of An Angry Girl by Louis Rozett is a 2012 YA Debut that was published by Harlequin Teen Australia in September. You can purchase a copy of the from Fishpond | The Nile | Booktopia | Dymocks | Angus and Robertson. Thanks to Harlequin Teen for the review copy!


(Goodreads) Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some confessions to make…. 

1. I'm livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I'm allowed to be irate,don't you?

2. I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who might be dating a cheerleader. She is now enraged and out for blood. Mine. 

3. High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and "seeing red" means being angry—get it?)

Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable. 

(Don't know what they mean? Look them up yourself.) 
(Sorry. That was rude.)

The Short Story? - An enjoyable read, Rozett has managed to tackle the controversial topic of starting high school with flair and humour. A strong and opinionated protagonist, a funny and realistic plot and a solid narrative voice, Confession Of An Angry Girl really hits the nail on the head with it's easy approach to life, death, grieving and surviving high school! Rozett's debut puts the ANGRY in angry girl!

The Long Story? - I'm on the fence about Confessions Of An Angry Girl, this book was obviously written for a younger audience and while it does cover a lot of controversial issues that affect people of all ages, I couldn't really get into the book. I *did* enjoy it but not as much as I thought I would.  The plot was solid, it was very realistic and very coming to age. In a way it was refreshing to read Confessions of An Angry Girl because the novel lacked real drama, it was all very superficial and very 'middle-grade'. On the other hand because of the lack of real drama, there were parts that I found really boring. The pace was a little slow for my liking and there wasn't really much depth in the romance side. To be frank, there were elements of the novel that I really liked such as the writing and the ending but overall, it wasn't really my cup of tea! I do know a lot of readers that loved the book but it wasn't love for me. Still enjoyable but not love!

My biggest problem with the novel was actually the protagonist. Now I know the novel is called Confessions Of An ANGRY Girl but I felt like Rose's anger just made it so difficult for me to connect with her. I just couldn't see her side of things and I felt like some of her actions were childish and that she just needed to grow up. Rose had plenty of reasons to be angry but Rose and I were like oil and water. It wasn't her, it was me. I'm not an angry person and I just find it so hard to see the world through Rose's perspective. Jamie was a great character although his role in the novel was really small and he wasn't quite a love interest, I liked what I saw of him. Rozett's characters are all very well developed and they're really strong characters in terms of personality and I'm disappointed that I couldn't connect with Rose as much as I wanted to but overall it was a good characterisation.

Confessions Of An Angry Girl is one of those novels that you're either going to love or hate, it's a very controversial debut. There were elements of the novel that I liked but overall it really wasn't *my* cup of tea due to various reason all which are my fault. It's definitely targeted at a younger audience so if you like MG-YA novels, you should definitely give this one a go! It wasn't for me but going through Goodreads Reviews, I'm definitely one of the minority which didn't enjoy the novel as much as I hoped to!

What's it Worth - Squeeze into the Budget

Badass Bookie xx

3 comments:

  1. Sorry you didn't love Confessions but I'm glad you still enjoyed it. I personally loved it. It was so much fun and enjoyable, though I can definitely see readers who don't like younger protagonists and themes not liking it as much as others. I normally like Older YA but...I dunno, I really loved this. It was light and addictive and just suited the mood I was in.

    Awesome review, Lisa! ♥

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  2. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this-I was hesitant after realizing Rose was only 14 but ended up very impressed. I can't wait for the sequel and maybe it will have more depth as Rose will have grown up a year.

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  3. I really loved your review, 'cause i had the same troubles with the book, especially Rose. Because of the blurb i've expected a tough, angry protagonist, who is not afraid to speak her mind, but all i got was this hurt girl, who couldn't deal any other way than with anger (which honestly i found very often extrem childish). I'm glad i'm not the only one having difficulties with this one.

    greets
    Kat

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