Review of Ghosting by Edith Pattou

Format: eBook (for review)
Genres: contemporary, verse
Pages: 392
Publisher: Skyscape
Release Date: 19/08/2014
Find The Author: Website ¦ Twitter
Abe Books ¦ Book Depository ¦ Goodreads


On a hot summer night in a Midwestern town, a high school teenage prank goes horrifically awry. Alcohol, guns, and a dare. Within minutes, as events collide, innocents becomes victims—with tragic outcomes altering lives forever, a grisly and unfortunate scenario all too familiar from current real-life headlines. But victims can also become survivors, and as we come to know each character through his/her own distinctive voice and their interactions with one another, we see how, despite pain and guilt, they can reach out to one another, find a new equilibrium, and survive.

Told through multiple points of view in naturalistic free verse and stream of consciousness, this is an unforgettable, haunting tale.


Ghosting is a simple, quick story about a group of teenagers who do what all teenagers in books and movies do - get drunk, drive around and for whatever drunk reason, decide to visit the famous 'ghost house' as it has been named. What happens there changes their lives forever.

The concept of verse is interesting and I didn't really feel that it worked. Instead of coming across as poetic and beautiful, it came across as just bad writing. The character's lives were unfortunately cliched and it was only the massive event that really saved this book. The last half was so much stronger than the first and I'm really glad I stuck with it.

There's a lot of characters in this book that I could keep up with. I did get the feeling that Max was the main character and much of the story and history I picked up from her.My favourite character was Grace, Emma's younger sister. She's kind and thoughtful, I really enjoyed reading her sections even though some parts broe my heart.

 The ending wraps things up well and gives most of the characters good endings. I left feeling happy about where the characters were at. This book deals with a difficult issue in America, and handles it well. I'm looking forward to seeing what else the author will bring to the table.

Comments

  1. Mawa Mahima1:13 pm BST

    Ghosting sounds good enough. The subject on hand is quite current in America, and having books that deal with 'healing' and recovery are always a pleasure to read for me. However, for most reviewers who've reviewed this book that I've read - the verse thing has been a problem. I've always found reading in verse very pleasurable, but I guess we'll just have to see with this one.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love comments! Spam comments will be deleted.

Popular posts from this blog

Many Covers Monday - ALL THE HARRY POTTER SERIES

Image
After it was not so recently revealed that the classic, original covers were to go out of print and replaced with new, shiny covers, I thought I'd do something crazy this Monday. Harry Potter. But not the first book, no! This Monday I'm showcasing... entire sets of the books. Cool, but a lot of work. And a lot of tabs. These won't just be the covers you know and love, I've included international sets of the books too, which I've never seen before. Not all of the covers are here, but most of them are. (Ignore the random pattern for the last image. I wanted to tile them right) (This post was originally posted back in 2014 and since I'm re-reading the whole series I thought I might as well go for a full Harry Potter week on my blog by sharing my most popular post with new cover sets added. UK - these are the new covers revealed by Bloomsbury recently. These are my favourite covers, I wasn't impressed initially but the amazing covers won
Read more

Many Covers Monday: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Image
Today we're looking at the many different covers of Jay Asher 's 13 Reasons Why and choosing a winner! Some are rejackets and others are foreign language covers. Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list. Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers. Book Depository ¦ Amazon UK / US ¦ Goodreads This was his freaking debut? Oh man, this book was amazing. I read it at least 5 years ago and still remember it, I'm going to read it again - as soon as I can grab a co
Read more

Many Covers Monday: One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Image
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.   Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose? Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.    UK/US I really love the US cover. It keeps the air of mystery by covering t
Read more