Live to Tell 3

Live to Tell, Review Day 3

February 6, 2014

Plot and Twists:

I hate tropes, I love mystery. Put a commonly used amnesia accident and assimilate it with a mystery suspense genre you have a bittersweet flavour in your retinas, but add a fantastic plot twist and the bitter taste is diminished into nearly nothingness. 

Live to Tell was a short book, but had fantastic pacing (due to the fact that the setting never changed, but that's another story). There was surprisingly a lot of suspense and tension, even though there was no threat in the area, just the prospect of something happening or a sudden discovery of events (e.g. finding out your mom is the killer even though she's far away in Booneville, Kentucky at a sausage convention. Don't ask where this came from), despite suffering from a slow beginning and an overused plot point (amnesia). But I will promise it picks up really quickly.

Lastly I want to mention that there is a huge factor that comes near the end that will change everything (sadly afterwards there's a terrible epilogue that's meaningless and full of exposition, but at least it's short)

My final opinion about the plot is that it's good. Great suspense, great mystery, bad epilogue, slow beginning. Check in for review day 4.

Live to Tell 2

Live to Tell, Review Day 2

February 5, 2014

Characters (and dialogue too):

To preface:

Gender diversity is a good thing, honestly, it is. But why don't books have gender diversity anymore? It seems to be a trope to have girl characters lead a series to avoid sexism, but having so many authors do this makes having girls ironically sexist. In Live to Tell, the guys are the evil, lying, sinful beings that just happen to be there, whereas the women are the ever pure, innocent, empowered, independent, beautiful, goddesses, except for the women who betray other women for men.

OPINION! OPINION! LOOK OVER THERE, WHAT'S THAT? AN OPINION!^^^^^^^^



To Postface:

Pardon my blunt personality 

Libby is naive and stupid as well as an accomplished "crier". She'll like anyone with a pretty face and gifts, and deny anyone because of their looks and previous actions.There are no redeemable qualities about her. None. I hate her.

Kasey is the tough, sweet, realistic best friend. She's a skeptic and actually thinks before doing something as well as a whimsical talent: window entering (it's when you climb through a window instead of using a door). I like her, she's a quaint comic relief.

Cal is a hotty. He's blonde and a little mysterious. THE END. I do not like him.

Emma. The little, cute, innocent, sweet sister. All of those traits make her generic and unlikable, but she likes High School Musical so that touched a little close to home. She's alright. (I included her in the roster for the sake of balancing out my likes and dislikes)

Overall (according to my comments) the characters get a 2/4.

They weren't special, or memorable. I actually forgot Kasey and Emma's names before I wrote this, having to verify by the summary on the back of the novel (even though they were the only characters I liked, that probably tells you a lot).

In nutshell those were the characters and my input. Stay tuned tomorrow for review day 3!

P.S. here's what High School Musical looks like all you connoisseurs of great cinema:

High School Musical 

Live to Tell 4: part 1 and 2

Live to Tell, Review Day 4...kinda

February 8, 2014

Fore note:

Sorry I haven't posted recently as my usual schedule has been interrupted by the Sochi Olympic Winter games, and to be frankly honest I like to sleep. From now on I'd like to inform you that I will catch up and do a double post tomorrow as well as compensation for the cause of THIS compensation. 

Setting:

Now I really didn't like the setting of this book for one reason: there seriously was only one place in the entire novel aside from the hospital and the two page occurring: courthouse

The entire novel revolved around Libby's house, and even though the plot didn't really need a setting it just felt lazy. Unlike a poem book which revolves around the linguistics, this was an actual novel, the author could have done much better.

1/5 bad.

part 2

Voice:

It's hard to describe how well the voice works without spoiling the plot. The story is told in the real time perspective of Libby the main character, with the occasional flashback from their pre-amnesia phase.  

I quite liked it, and then liked it even more at the end. By Libby's perspective, take that in a completely literal way, the way she see's things and the way she hears things. I loved it. 5/5

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK FOR DAY 5

Live to Tell 1

Live to Tell - Review Day 1

February 4, 2014

First impressions:

Have you ever looked at a candy bar or any other variant of food stuff and muttered out loud (or in your head)

"that smells bad, looks nasty, and feels like 'crepe', "

But then you actually took a bite and said:

"yep, I was right"

BUT THEN you chewed it, kept in in your mouth for a few seconds because you were afraid to down it, and then swallowed and finally said.

"you know, that wasn't half bad"

Of course you'd never try the food/thing again, but if held at gunpoint to do it, the task would be a cinch. Reading Live to Tell by Lisa Harrington was exactly this, the cover looked generic, the plot looked generic, the introduction was generic, and the book smelled bad, but after finishing the book I kind of liked it. It definitely had some flaws: dialogue, introduction, characters, conclusions, but overall it was pretty decent. 

Tune in for review day 2!

Live to Tell 5 and finale

Live to Tell, Review Day 5

February 9, 2014

Here's my final post relating to Live to Tell. It's been fun, but sadly it must come to an end. This part includes the final element of Live to Tell and my final opinion. Enjoy!

Theme:

It took a long session of computer pondering and shower thinking to figure out what the theme of Live to Tell really was, but I eventually figured it out after some Chinese food and soda (it's all in the sauce). In Live to Tell the theme is revelation. All mystery books have some kind of revelation towards the end, they're quintessential, but in Live to Tell they're also the added fact that it's told in Libby's perspective, whom is suffering from amnesia struggling to reveal what happened before, as well as finding out things along the way.

This theme is actually pretty strong, working on many levels, and to be honest: it's pretty original and enjoyable, learning about the shady past of Libby.

5/5


Opinion:

Overall I found this book better than what I generally expected. The cover looked generic and the beginning was slow but overall I liked it. The setting was crepe, and the characters were lackluster, but overall I quite enjoyed it with it's amazing plot, theme, and voice. 

Now before I get to the end, thank you for viewing this far and sadly this is the end. And now finally, my final rating is...4/5

It was honestly a good book, and got a higher score for just impressing me that much after going in with low expectations . And now I sign off.

All the separate ratings for each category have no impact on the overall rating 

My god that was so painful to write as a teen girl who doesn't know she's unpopular

All Good Children: OVERALL RATING

Setting-2.5/5 stars
Characters-3/5 stars
Plot-4.5/5 stars
Voice-3.5/5 stars
Theme-4/5 stars

OVERALL RATING-3.5/5 stars

I think this book needed to work on a few of the elements, but overall it was nice and exciting book.
I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.  

All Good Chlidren: Part 7-Theme

I think the theme of All good Children is freedom. I say that because the parents take away their child's freedom, and drug them to be obedient. All of the children in New Middletown and the U.S. had their freedom stripped away from them, and the parents took away everything, even their own distinct personalities. My personal rating: 4/5 stars.