Revolution

Mar 09, 2011 Annalisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Annalisa by: YA book club

Shelves: book-club, historical-fiction, young-adult, contemporary

Beginning to end, I hated the main character. Hate is a strong word and I didn't feel that strongly about her, but I didn't sympathize with her one iota. I kept thinking of that saying "a lack of planning on your part doesn't make for an emergency on my part." With Andi it isn't so much a lack of planning as much as a lack of awareness of other people or the world around her or the consequences of her actions that got her into trouble and garnered no sympathy from me. I get that she's grieving o...more Beginning to end, I hated the main character. Hate is a strong word and I didn't feel that strongly about her, but I didn't sympathize with her one iota. I kept thinking of that saying "a lack of planning on your part doesn't make for an emergency on my part." With Andi it isn't so much a lack of planning as much as a lack of awareness of other people or the world around her or the consequences of her actions that got her into trouble and garnered no sympathy from me. I get that she's grieving over her brother's death, but that doesn't excuse her from abusing the rest of the world. And when she wasn't being obnoxiously self-centered, she was obnoxiously dense. There were several times where it was so obvious what was going on and it gets annoying when the main character doesn't follow. Since the book has a fantasy and/or hallucinogenic quality to it, I could give her a little leeway, but it got old.

I didn't quite believe her high school crowd either. I know it's private school and the best of the best, but it was over the top. Maybe I could believe the intellect of a Harvard graduate party, but not high school kids (especially when Andi is so dense later in the book). Gratefully, the books moves to Paris and I didn't have to invest too much in characters I didn't believe. I can't say the same about the music though. A little dropping of band or song names or lyrics to add some ambiance is good, but this gets over the top. It dragged down the story and made it a chore the read (that coupled with a protagonist I didn't care to follow).

So why did I keep reading? Besides Donnelly's writing, The French Revolution, baby. I read this at the same time I was listening to A Tale of Two Cities. Not that I needed any encouragement to want to learn more about the French Revolution, but Dicken's story certainly helped. Donnelly did her research and I enjoyed the facts she sprinkled throughout her novel (and am grateful that she actually did a ton of research for a historical novel).

At times I had a little trouble visualizing Alex's character. For the most part she was spot-on for her time in history (and I am so critical of historical settings), but occasionally she rang untrue. Maybe it was too many conflicting emotions or the snippets of time passing that had me working to follow her. Her diary waxed a little too poetic of a teenager starving through the massacres of Lady Guillotine. Okay, she had Shakespeare memorized and sometimes it's the harshest conditions that bring out the most beauty, but it was a tad over the top for me. What I wanted out of her journal was a connection to her plight, her angst at not being able to save Louis-Charles, not a detached history of how she was involved in the revolution.

The good news is that despite there being two different POVs that are both teenage girls, they feel and sound so differently that even if I weren't reading journal excerpts, I would have had no trouble distinguishing between them. I think Donnelly used present tense with Andi's story to differentiate them even more, but it was unnecessary and I wished she hadn't. I often found myself rewording sentences to past tense.

I also had a little trouble buying into the coincidence that Truman's key would unlock this mystery for Andi. Donnelly saves it from being too contrived with an off-handed comment that the key could have been a standardized key like so many of it's age, but it was a little too convenient. Or is it supposed to destiny? Some twist of fate that tied Andi to Alex and Truman to Louis-Charles?

I liked that the twist that this all builds up to (I expected it early on in the novel) isn't answered black and white but left for interpretation. There is enough about it that bothers me that its open-endedness saves me from having to overanalyze its flaws. It didn't go quite the way I was expecting, but I enjoyed how it tied everything together and how real it made the French Revolution, both for Andi and me. And in the end, I loved the lesson Andi got out of it. It's what saved the book for me. Up until that point, I could have gone either way with Andi's story.

"Oh, dead man, you're dead wrong," I tell him. "The world goes on stupid and brutal, but I do not. Can't you see? I do not."(less)

25 likes · like · see review

Oct 27, 2010 Tatiana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of extra-emo YA, music

Shelves: ya, historical, 2010, tres-annoying, ala-ya-2011

I thought Jennifer Donnelly's debut YA novel A Northern Light was remarkable and well deserving of Printz Honor. I don't think Revolution is worthy of winning any major awards no matter how earnestly it tries to be original and important and how heavily it is promoted as the next big thing. I am just not sold on its merits, even though I understand my personal dislike of certain things in literature might be interfering with my assessment of the novel.

I don't have any problems with Donnelly's wr...more

47 likes · like · see review

Jul 31, 2011 Nomes marked it as graveyard-of-abandoned-books · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, out-of-the-loop

Made it to page 200. And... that's it.

The story is *just* starting to get fascinating, but unfortunately I cannot see myself enjoying this enough to keep wading through it.

The beginning was incredibly slow, and far too suicidal-emo (without stirring any compassion in me) for me to connect to our depressive narrator.

I also found it text book style info-dumpy in parts (regarding music and the French history). This did not help me feel transported into the story.

The French revolution-y part of...more

12 likes · like · see review

Sep 12, 2011 Aleeeeeza rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-read, absolute-favorite, france-is-in-this-book, 2011-faves

EDIT ON 9/13: Gahhhh, I want to read this book ALL OVER AGAINNNN.

Original Review:

When I found out about Revolution, I positively went mental with excitement. Jennifer Donnelly had me utterly in love with her writing and characters in A Northern Light(ALL OF YOU NEED TO READ THAT BOOK! IT'S AMAZING! Ahem), and Revolution sounded absolutely amazing. It didn’t hurt that it snagged glowing review after glowing review, which only whet my wanting for it.

And then...when I finally was able to attain it,...more

21 likes · like · see review

Oct 25, 2010 Mariel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: my smile is a rifle

Recommended to Mariel by: children of the revolution

"Oh, dead man, you're dead wrong," I tell him. "The world goes on stupid and brutal, but I do not. Can't you see? I do not."

That line is the best part of the whole book. The problem with this book is that the ability to understand what message is being told is easier than taking that intimacy inside of you and making it your own heartbreak. You know what they say about forgetting what you learned immediately after the test is over? You didn't really earn it. Experience can beat all, and it doesn...more "Oh, dead man, you're dead wrong," I tell him. "The world goes on stupid and brutal, but I do not. Can't you see? I do not."

That line is the best part of the whole book. The problem with this book is that the ability to understand what message is being told is easier than taking that intimacy inside of you and making it your own heartbreak. You know what they say about forgetting what you learned immediately after the test is over? You didn't really earn it. Experience can beat all, and it doesn't have to be your own. Some real bodily fluid loving is missing here.

I read Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution in mostly one sitting (um bedding) because I'm down with the flu. On a normal health day I might have slugged through it because it's kinda boring in a lacks any urgency sense. I appreciated what Donnelly did with a lot of it, but there's something missing from it. I always felt removed. Maybe I just feel bad already...

Teen-aged Andi is prescribed medicated and self-medicated for the past two years of her young life. Picture your stereotypical cynical disaffected youth. Not quite stereotypical, to the credit of Donnelly. The problem was that the storytelling voice relied too much on this disaffectedness (the pretensious art school kids arguing the merits of A Flock of Seagulls made me laugh out loud. Still, who cares if they play dress-up?). I can analyse it and take Andi as more than that, only she sure as hell presents herself that way in the narrative, and at those times I really wanted more. Hers isn't the kind of depression that I can relate to and take inside me, but I can understand it. She blames herself for the death of her beloved brother, Truman. Mom has checked out (and checked into a looney bin), and Dad bailed years before (and not fast like a band aid). It's the feeling of being let down that moved me the most, rather than unimportant relations with her fellow teens (that she cared that the school hated her over the Queen Bitch was silly- enough to leave the country!- considering that it was set up that Andi is beyond caring about that. Huh). The wearing anger to wear I'm not able to get into so much, but the sadness that it's a fact of life her father easily moves on to a new family? It's the doesn't have to force it sadness that was moving. "What is owed me?" by the rest of the world is harder to do. I couldn't get into how easy her new relationship with Virgil is, at least beyond surface stuff of cuteness and liking good music. On paper, I get it that it's easier with those who don't owe you anything (unlike your mom and dad). See, I wish the drugs had been left out of it. The numbness felt more like feeling killing exposition (for this reader) than it did state of being. The drugs come into play when it is time to gloss over the emotions, but doesn't feel like looking up at the world from the bottom of a swimming pool, as these stunting drugs really do. Andi is perpetually suicidal. Yet I never feel the helplessness of that, or her self-hatred. (Not even the reassuring fallback plan kind. Not even cry for help or punishment. It's just delivered information, period.) She doesn't connect to anyone at all apart from knowing her favorite musicians. Andi's favorite music is my favorite music (I have more favorites, of course, but there wasn't one artist mentioned that I don't love to bits). So why does she immediately take to the journal of revolutionary French teenager Alexandrine? There was nothing in those pages that was not (and much, much more) already in the lyrics of her favorite songs (I know because I've heard 'em all). (They sure as shit weren't as good as Morrissey or The Beatles.) I wish I'd felt the connection more than her telling the reader that she was riveted. Or Virgil's cute butt... (who doesn't like a cute butt? Okay...) Too Fred Savage in The Princess Bride enthusiasm for me, before it gets to the "good stuff". (Why do I always think of him?! I think of all telling and not showing as The Wonder Years bad narration. "And we both knew that..." "Really? She doesn't look like she cares.") (I've said this in another gr review, but I'm Kevin Arnold in real life. "yeah, sure" and then overanalysing everything in my head. "Really? He doesn't look like he cares.")

Picture it, Sicily. It was 1924 and a beautiful young peasant girl made a wonderful pizza. Her name was... Mama Celeste. Oops, I mean: Picture it, Paris, France. It was 1795 and a plain actor girl had ambitions... She wanted to be Hilary Clinton behind Bill... Whoops, I mean she wanted to charm the young Louis-Charles, and through him the world... Andi feels responsible for the death of her little brother. Alex blames herself for not being able to stop the brutal death of the young prince, whom she grows to love as a brother. It's hard to play the roles you set for yourself, let alone the world wants you to play, and then know how to go on pretending after the worst has happened.

When I was about Andi's age I was friends with a depressed Czech Au Pair girl, Lucia. We shared a love of shoe-gazing music and she'd tell me how much she hated watching other people's kids. (I still have some of her mixed tapes. Bands like Ride, Lush, Cranes and Swervedriver are on it. They made her sadder, unlike me, who felt better listening to sad songs.) I have no idea what happened to her. She was really depressed, even more than I was. (The last I heard of her was a post card from home, in 2000. It was of a Madonna and child.) Alexandrine's relationship with the young dauphin reminded me of that, for some reason. Alexandrine's journal is also too much telling. (Donnelly credits actor Gabriel Byrne for answering her questions about acting. I love Gabriel Byrne. That's cool!) I could understand how she wanted to play other parts to be someone else. Like with Andi, it is text book depression and not taking me inside that need to be in another's skin.
Anyway, I was listening to Radiohead in those teen years, same as Andi, and I still needed the relating to my friend to understand my own troubles with sadness. I wish I felt it more than that, though... Don't rely on me for this stuff, authors, 'cause I'm still confused.

I wanted to high five Andi when she started playing guitar like John Frusciante. I knew she was going to be a fan of his, too. (Probably likes Jim O'rourke too!)

Something I felt was to Donnelly's credit was that Andi's being from an affluent family (mama went to the Sorbonne. Dad won a flippin' Nobel) was not an issue. It wasn't even contrasted to Alex's situation in the Revolution. The haves versus the have nots. Something I believe strongly is that it doesn't matter what anybody else has, what anybody else goes through: heartbreak is heartbreak and nobody's negates anybody else's pain. I despise it when people tell you someone else has it worse as if you're supposed to feel smaller (these people always whine endlessly about their own problems, I've noticed). Anyway, I liked that. Not that it didn't bore the shit out of me to read about the rich people. I didn't agree with Alex that no one would want such beauty destroyed. There's beauty everywhere. There's beauty in destruction. It's just not familiar to me, I should say. I can relate to Alex's love of acting and Andi's music. I couldn't relate to feeling owed, or what has to be, other than just wanting emotional well-being.

Andi's breaking it down of history for her dad's fancy friends was great. I remember explaining the French revolution to my seventh grade class as this: "They just wanted to turn the tables."

They already had it... Sometimes you need the good music to tell you what you already had. Or a long lost journal dealing with the same old shit.
(less)

6 likes · like · see review

Aug 21, 2010 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, young-adult, 2010, blog_etb, highly-recommended, holocaust-and-atrocities, multi-dimensional, mystery-and-thrillers, political, reviewed, romance, review-copies, challenge-1010

This is the second of Donnelly's books that I've read, the first being A Northern Light (or if you're in the UK, "A Gathering Light") which I loved. I loved the wordplay and the characters and the story... it was just beautiful to me, with a bit of innocence almost.

This story is nothing like that, but if anything, I like it more for it. There are some similarities between the two stories, though. Each features a girl who stumbles upon a link to the past that is surrounded by mystery. Each featu...more

7 likes · like · see review

Nov 02, 2010 Ralph rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is staggeringly good. It is literary and lyrical like "A Northern Light," but edgier. I think Donnelly takes more risks here: in characterization (Andi is a handful, to say the least), subject matter (the horrors of the French Revolution are at times excruciating to read) and structure (contemporary and historical plot lines are mashed together -- which, of course, is the point: the world goes on stupid and brutal, just like it always has).

What I'm most struck by is how nuanced and la...more This book is staggeringly good. It is literary and lyrical like "A Northern Light," but edgier. I think Donnelly takes more risks here: in characterization (Andi is a handful, to say the least), subject matter (the horrors of the French Revolution are at times excruciating to read) and structure (contemporary and historical plot lines are mashed together -- which, of course, is the point: the world goes on stupid and brutal, just like it always has).

What I'm most struck by is how nuanced and layered this book is. It is chock-full of weighty little references and associations and foreshadowings that -- at least for me -- don't always fully reveal themselves on the first read. Take Max R. Peters, the madman in Brooklyn raving about revolution. He's obviously Max Robespierre, which means ... well, let's see: The spoiled kids in Andi's school are the pre-Rev French aristocracy? (I think so.) Modern-day Bklyn is Revolutionary Paris? (Maybe.) Truman is Louis Charles? (Of course!)

And the Inferno parallels: The three sections of the book. The guide Virgil (driving a cab labeled "EPIC RIDE," naturally!). Alex's last name. The catacombs. Seeing the stars. I'm sure many more exist; I haven't found them yet.

And of course the anagram: Diandra Xenia Alpers = Alexandrine Paradis. They aren't two girls with striking similarities, they're the same character! Their story is one story and it exists throughout time and independent of time. Which, I think, is why Donnelly allows time to run in both directions in this book; it is irrelevant to the tale.

Donnelly cites James Joyce as her all-time favorite author. He was the master of these little loaded references (Ulysses overflows with them), and his influence on Donnelly can be felt in Revolution's little gems. (Hmm: he also took big literary risks ... created challenging characters ... and dispensed with the constraints of physical and temporal reality from time to time. But that's a subject for another essay!)

What a book. Five stars aren't enough. (less)

33 likes · like · see review

Dec 10, 2010 Ashley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: blog, own, favorites

Originally reviewed on my blog, Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly is a vivid and captivating book filled with feeling. If you haven't yet read anything by Donnelly, I seriously think you are missing out, and I strongly recommend you fix that. Now.

Revolution is the story of Andi, an intelligent, talented girl who should have her whole future ahead of her. She's always been smart, has done well in school and is a gifted musician- able to play guitar and write her...more

16 likes · like · see review

Aug 05, 2012 Parvathy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: History lovers

Shelves: broken-characters, confused, fantasy-politics, historicals, informative, movie-material, past-lives, thought-provoking, strong-females, young-adult

4.5 stars

Someone once told me that people tend to like tragedy more than happily ever after stories because it is more realistic. That got me thinking Was it true? Are we really satisfied when a book or a story ends in tragedy? When the guy doesn't get the girl or when things end in the worst possible way. Think about Shakespeare. He is more famous for his classics like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear than his As you like it, All is well that ends well and many of his ot...more 4.5 stars

Someone once told me that people tend to like tragedy more than happily ever after stories because it is more realistic. That got me thinking Was it true? Are we really satisfied when a book or a story ends in tragedy? When the guy doesn't get the girl or when things end in the worst possible way. Think about Shakespeare. He is more famous for his classics like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear than his As you like it, All is well that ends well and many of his other plays were the good defeats evil and the characters have a happy ending. When a book is happy it will not stay with you and torture you for the rest of your life. It gives you fleeting moments of happiness and just fades away into some dark recess of your mind. Tragedy makes you think about what could have gone differently? Tragedy makes you hope, believe that things could have gone differently only if ......

So it would come as no surprise that this book which is centred around a very disturbed young women set in a very tragic time in history aka the French revolution managed to impress me. View point is a very curious thing. When you are a lowly clergy you look upon the nobility with their vainness and vanity, as the most despicable, heartless and cruel human beings that has ever walked this earth. Those who dab themselves in perfume and eat out of a silver platter while your family has barely enough to survive, no one could blame them if you decide to rise up. When you are royalty on the other hand, born and raised like one is it surprising that your viewpoint cannot go beyond the four walls that surround you. Are you to be blamed for the way you were raised and for getting the things others don't get. In this book you have a character who is on the verge of ending her life because of a tragedy she could not prevent. She blames herself on the basis of all the "if only's" that she can think of and wish for a different outcome every day. This very same young woman discovers a diary left behind by a girl roughly her same age who lived and died in the year 1795 in the middle of the French revolution which contains details of her acts of defiance for one small child, she loved more than anything whom revolution marked as a pariah and condemned to a tragic death. The child is non other than the Lost King of France Louie X VII and the diary gives an insiders account of the French Revolution from the point of view of the King and his family. See them not as the monarchs that brought about the downfall of France but as a family trying to stay alive and together. Louis-Charles as an innocent 8 year old boy who was born in the wrong family, at the wrong time. Can you fault any of them for there actions? Is their no end to the revolution? Does characters like Robespierre, Hitler, Napoleon or Mussolini bring about revolutions or is it people like us? These are some of the questions raised by the 17 year old girl who keeps an account of her life so that someone would some day find it and see the revolution for what it is and these are the very same questions that lead a 21st century young girl to follow the same path.

The level of details and the historical research put forth by the author is outstanding and the bibliography is a testament to the effort put in. I have always liked Jennifer Donnelly's characterisation and writing style. She goes into elaborate details about the world she creates keeping monotony at bay and with just enough material to transport you to that time. Being a fiction book if you ask me to describe it in one word I would say realistic. Not the story itself because there are things in there that seem way to convenient and some that would never happen in the real world but the premise itself is what I like to call realistic, the French Revolution background with the severed heads and the guillotine, the streets and gutters of Paris overflowing with blood, the orphans in the street and women pressing their handkerchiefs to the necks of guillotined victims to make souvenirs, all make for a gruesome and realistic picture of this world which is very hard to get out of your mind. Highly informative and remarkably written this book is one keeper that will earn a spot in your bookshelf.
(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Nov 24, 2010 Nian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Let me just say that I don't read a lot of historical fiction, but I have the most respect for authors who decide to write a book in this genre. Just thinking about the amount of research Donnelly had to do, and the expertise she had to consult, awes me.

Revolution refers to not only the French Revolution, but our inner struggles, our inner revolution, and because of that, I think the title is beautiful. This book has just about everything - history, arts, music, passion, love, grief, secret dia...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 20, 2011 Joy (joyous reads) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: EVERY-FREAKING-ONE!!!

Shelves: favourites, cant-put-these-down

10/5 stars? :p

Here's the thing with this book, I know jack squat about the French Revolution. And if I were a person who wanted to learn about it, this is probably how I would start. Sure it's not telling the whole story...the monarchs of France back then were all about excess. Alexandrine's diary kind of gave me both sides. How the King was stupid and naive and all they knew was taking money from the poor. The story of Louis-Charles was so heart breaking. Imagine being walled up, starved with n...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 02, 2011 Trudi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, young-adult, 2011-reads, judge-a-book-by-its-cover, my-heart-beats-for-you, a-sense-of-place, emotional-landmines, in-her-own-words, mothers, prose-that-sings, books-i-want-to-marry, music-is-the-answer, grief-and-loss

I find writing reviews for books I love quite intimidating really. I feel overwhelmed with the task of ever doing a book justice that I want everyone to read. And then there’s always the risk that if you gush too much, it’s going to turn people off, or build their expectations so high that when they do pick the book up they can’t help but be a little disappointed. But perhaps I’m over thinking it too much.

I had never read anything by Jennifer Donnelly before and didn’t know quite what to expect...more I find writing reviews for books I love quite intimidating really. I feel overwhelmed with the task of ever doing a book justice that I want everyone to read. And then there’s always the risk that if you gush too much, it’s going to turn people off, or build their expectations so high that when they do pick the book up they can’t help but be a little disappointed. But perhaps I’m over thinking it too much.

I had never read anything by Jennifer Donnelly before and didn’t know quite what to expect when I picked up Revolution. I thought the cover quite beautiful, and the historical aspect of the story called to me, so I had no qualms about giving it a try. What can I say about a book that totally swept me up in its pages and consumed my every free thought when I wasn’t reading it? The sheer beauty of some of its prose squeezed my heart. Donnelly does such an amazing job writing about music that I swear sometimes I heard the notes wafting up from the page. I’ve never claimed to be a music aficionado of any age or style, I don’t read music, I’ve never taken a music appreciation class – but I listen to music. It has an undeniably important place in my life, as vital as reading, and there is just something so simple and honest about the way Donnelly threads music throughout this novel that left me totally captivated.

Then there’s the story – about a defeated young girl undone by tragedy who has lost her way, and her will to live. Andi is angry at herself, at the world, and the depth of her grief and rage is like a sharp and vicious thing that she carries in her chest. Andi is definitely a young woman spiraling out of control. She’s been essentially abandoned by her parents – her father because he is a Nobel-winning scientist obsessed with his work, and her mother who mourns so deeply for the loss of her child it has unhinged her, leaving her depleted, empty, with nothing to give to her surviving daughter. I thought the relationship between Andi and her mom to be a tender and damaged thing; both women have been so traumatized by loss that a sort of role-reversal has taken place, where Andi has become the fierce protector and the one doing the “looking after”.

I love how this novel unfolds, that it is two stories with two narrators – one contemporary one historical. The detail is so vivid, the sense of place so strong, you walk the streets of Paris and run through the catacombs that haunt the modern city to this day. French Revolutionary history is filled with brutality, intrigue, betrayal, hope and disillusionment. As a novelist, you don’t have to exaggerate any of the historical details, you simply stand out of the way and let the story tell itself. I feel that’s what Donnelly has done here; she’s taken her fictional creation – Alexandrine – and written her into the pages of history. Through Alexandrine’s diary, we get an intimate look at the scale of human barbarity it takes to pull off a Revolution.

Andi becomes consumed with the diary and with Alexandrine’s fate and the fate of the boy King locked in a tower to rot. She can only hope that the diary can give her the peace and understanding she seeks to save her own life. This book is gorgeously textured and layered like an 18th century French painting, or a beautiful piece of composed music. It is also a pulse-pounding page-turning adventure, an enigmatic historical mystery shrouded in intrigue and speculation. It's a love story about the bonds between parent and child, brother and sister, lovers and friends. Read this book.
(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Nov 15, 2010 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, ya, faves, ala-s-best-books

How does one pen a review for such an exquisitely layered work of art? Revolution reads like sadness feels. It’s throbbing, aching, raw, desolate and poignant. In short, it’s lovely and extraordinary in scope.

Revolution is a juxtaposition between two 17 year old girls set worlds and over two centuries apart. Nevertheless, these girls are bound by their love of music and a tangible guilt they both feel as a result of their own perceived selfishness. Andi and Alex each provide an astonishing portr...more How does one pen a review for such an exquisitely layered work of art? Revolution reads like sadness feels. It’s throbbing, aching, raw, desolate and poignant. In short, it’s lovely and extraordinary in scope.

Revolution is a juxtaposition between two 17 year old girls set worlds and over two centuries apart. Nevertheless, these girls are bound by their love of music and a tangible guilt they both feel as a result of their own perceived selfishness. Andi and Alex each provide an astonishing portrayal of a haunted soul struggling for redemption.

Andi lives in present day Brooklyn. When her grief for her deceased brother, Truman, isn’t coercing her to numb herself with anti-depressants, Andi struggles to keep her head above ground and her suicidal thoughts at bay. If it weren’t for her guitar, Andi feels as though she would cease to exist. When news that she is failing school reaches her noble prize winning father, he whisks her away to Paris. He hopes the time away will provide Andi with a revived sense of direction. If nothing else, he will be able to keep a watchful eye on her to ensure she completes her senior thesis. It is in Paris that Andi discovers an antique guitar case, complete with a secret compartment containing the long lost diary of a girl who calls herself Alex.

Alex lives in Revolutionary France. As the daughter of a poor, unknown playwright, Alex must earn her way by reciting Shakespeare, Virgil and the lot. A simple twist in fate secures Alex the position of caregiver to the dauphine, Louis-Charles. However, the country is in an increasing state of unrest, and Louis-Charles is the very representation of power and oppression. Struggling with her own desires and the ever increasing love she feels for the dauphine, Alex will have to make a choice that helps change the course of history.

Andi blew me away with her unapologetic tale of self-destruction. Her loss touched my heart, and her love of music was palpable to the point of becoming its own character. All the same, it was Alex’s story of betrayal and redemption that kept me turning the pages. Each of these girl’s lives are filled with loss. They have been exposed to the volatile and often brutal side of human nature, and yet each continues on without knowing what they move toward. Revolutionis vibrant and surprisingly candid. Filled with dozens of tiny little nuances, it dazzles the mind with its vivid and seamless depiction of a disheartened modern day girl who collides with the all too distant past. There is undeniable beauty in the gutter, as Donnelly shows us all to well. Meticulously researched and thoughtfully penned, Donnelly proves herself to be a truly gifted writer. All in all, this was a wonderful book to get lost in.
(less)

8 likes · like · see review

Jun 28, 2010 Jake Rideout rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, top-fives

Andi is tired of being herself. Two years ago her brother died, and since then her life and her family have been slowly falling apart. Even her music is starting to lose the power to make her forget. Finally her school sends a letter to her parents, informing them that she is in danger of failing her senior year of high school.

Andi's father decides that Andi should accompany him to Paris while he is there on business. When she gets there she comes across an old guitar case and discovers a series...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 04, 2011 smoreads rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

holy hell, that was powerful. all historical fiction should be this transportive & transformative. i want absolutely everyone to read this book; the bibliography is three pages long, and with good cause. but don't let that scare you off. question: do you want to take a trip to paris with more adventure than you can handle along with a simultaneous joyride through 200 years of some of the greatest music ever written? the previous sentence is laughable in how little justice i just did to this...more

4 likes · like · see review

Sep 12, 2010 Barb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: new-in-2010, contemporary-fiction, french-revolution-terror, read-in-2010, vine, ya

I enjoyed Jennifer Donnelly's most recent work of fiction 'Revolution'. While it's cleary written for the young adult reader I found the story and characters engaging, the history interesting and the sense of loss suffered by the main character moving.

Donnelly threads together the past and the present with the story of two girls who are struggling to survive. Andi Alpers has suffered the loss of her brother and the after-effects his death has had on her family. Alexandrine Paradis is scrambling...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 30, 2013 Katie Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites

This would have to be my favourite book. An old friend suggested that I read it so I did and I loved everything about it. I loved Alex's diary entries. I loved the cheeky jokes Andi came up with. I even loved the fact that she was actually depressed and not some idiotic school girl who complained about the smallest of issues. Everything about this book seemed to relieve every itch I had for a book in which I could fully understand and connect with the characters and his/her situation.
In the end...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 20, 2012 April rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bea-2010, for-review, ya, historical-fiction, own, signed, highly-recommended

Past meets present in the stunning book Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. You know an author is a must read when you drop your review pile to read the finish copy you just purchased. I will admit, I was nervous Revolution would not live up to A Northern Light, which blew me away. However, I had no grounds for that fear. This book is amazing. Like, drop your life amazing! I’m not sure I mentioned this in my re-cap of the launch party post, but I brought my friend with me. My friend is currently in...more

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 17, 2013 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, favourites, so-many-feels

This book completely BLEW ME AWAY.

I started this book with little expectations. It takes a lot for a book to impress me nowadays, but this book did more than impress me. It broke my heart.

I have always been very interested in history (namely the witch trials, the Russian and French Revolution, the Greek, etc.) and this book fueled the love I had for the subject again. To honestly understand how I feel about this book, you have to know that I haven't felt passionate about anything for a very lon...more This book completely BLEW ME AWAY.

I started this book with little expectations. It takes a lot for a book to impress me nowadays, but this book did more than impress me. It broke my heart.

I have always been very interested in history (namely the witch trials, the Russian and French Revolution, the Greek, etc.) and this book fueled the love I had for the subject again. To honestly understand how I feel about this book, you have to know that I haven't felt passionate about anything for a very long time. My writing, my reading, everything just became 'average' to me. I didn't hate what I was doing/reading/listening/studying, but it didn't blow my socks off either. This book did. It woke me up.

The book follows how the very depressed Andi struggles to find happiness in her life again after her brother died. She feels responsible, she feels as if she has killed her brother and cannot forgive herself for it. This is what connects the two heroines of this story, both of whom I admire deeply and really care for. Alexandrine is a seventeen year old streetperformer that writes down her life story in her diary, which Andi finds two centuries later. As Andi continues reading Alex's diary she finds out that she really can relate to the things Alexandrine went through and that the two girls aren't at all that different.

I like how well researched this book is. Like I said I know a lot about the French Revolution (I am not going to say that I know it all, because there was a lot of new information this book gave me), but this book did NOT make me roll my eyes at the inaccuracy as most books of this kind tend to do. No, it made me want to run to the library and do some research myself.

I have always hated what has happened to Louis-Charles and I had to put the book down for a moment when I realised where this was headed. Every war or revolution has its casualties, but it's those like this that I truly hate. Where was their equality, freedom and fraternity when they locked up a child in a tower to starve? Honest to God, people can be such hypocrites sometimes...

But moving on, otherwise I fear I'm going to keep ranting about the Lost King... The story is mainly told from Andi's POV, but has many diary excerpts written by Alex. I loved that even though the characters were much alike and had the same things going on in their lives (aside the fact that Andi didn't live during the French Revolution, obviously), it wasn't difficult to distinguish the two. It's often really hard, especially if you're reading from two girls's P.O.Vs to not mix them up. The author really knew her characters, which caused me to feel instantly connected to both of them without feeling like they're the same person.

Jennifer Donnelly wrote a majestic novel that caught my attention from the first page and didn't let it go until I finished it. Her obvious passion for both music and history shines through the pages and I cannot help but admire her writing style. She's become one of my favourite authors and I cannot help but feel like I should write her a thank you-note, because it really was that good. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Jul 05, 2010 rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to rachel by: smo

Shelves: ya, do-not-own, 2010

I'm sorta crazy about the idea of this story, of the idea of history living and bringing solace to a contemporary girl who's mentally checked out of her own life. Donnelly executes it pretty well, too. The voice she gives to Alexandrine, an 18th century French actress who lived during the Revolution, is inspired -- not a small feat, since both historical fiction voices and young adult fiction voices tend to fall flat as often as they come alive (imo of course).

Along these lines, I was less capti...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 07, 2010 Jaclyn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Two girls, one from the past and one from the present, whose destinies become intertwined. Well, I've seen that plot plenty of times before, so I figured Revolution had to really deliver with the characters and the details.

It does. In the beginning, I wasn't sure about it--the writing was good, but the present-day teen characters were rich and sort of pretentious. But in the end, I think that's a parallel to the situation of the French aristocracy, and when Andi finds the diary of a girl during...more

6 likes · like · see review

Jan 24, 2011 Lisa Vegan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: all historical fiction fans; those who have a fascination with the guillotine (which I don’t but…)

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, novel, young-adult, gr-groups-buddies, books-about-books, reviewed

Wow! This story, two intertwining stories actually, was very effective storytelling. It was a fabulous way to tell a historical fiction story.

It’s about two young women in their late teens, Andi who’s living in the 21st century and Alex who’s living in the 18th century, during the time of the French Revolution. We learn about Alex as Andi is reading her diary.

Does every main character in young adult books have to be extraordinary to be interesting to the reader?! When I first started this, that...more

9 likes · like · see review

Jan 11, 2013 Ellen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, young-adult, read-2013, reviewed

I really wanted to like this book (either the way I liked A Northern Light or the way I liked The Tea Rose), but it fell almost completely flat to me, I think because of the modern setting. What in her historical stories felt dramatic and larger-than-life here felt melodramatic and... almost cynical. Andi's personality never seemed authentic to me, and the historical narrative never did, either. (It didn't help that one of the historical figures around whom the story revolves was made up.) (Also...more

1 like · like · see review

Sep 09, 2011 Aly (Fantasy4eva) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pleasantly-surprised, i-ache-for-you, received-for-review

REVOLUTION is a tough book to crack. It's not one of those where you can give an explanation and get on with it. There's a lot more to it than that. There's so much going on, but I suppose what I can begin with is music. Music plays such an important role. Not only are both MC' rather exceptional with the Guitar, but in this instance - music become a coping mechanism. It's one of the only things that in the midst of all the death, pain and hunger that they can really call their own.

Andi is fille...more REVOLUTION is a tough book to crack. It's not one of those where you can give an explanation and get on with it. There's a lot more to it than that. There's so much going on, but I suppose what I can begin with is music. Music plays such an important role. Not only are both MC' rather exceptional with the Guitar, but in this instance - music become a coping mechanism. It's one of the only things that in the midst of all the death, pain and hunger that they can really call their own.

Andi is filled with grief. She is haunted by the death of her brother, and ever since, her mother has never been quite the same. So if her mother painting her son over and over again - to the point where the house is covered with his face, then so be it. She would do anything to take her mother's pain away. Her father has always been in a world of his own. A place where science comes first, even before family. Love, lust, his children, wife. It has taken over his life, and it does not take long until his work starts to tear his family apart. It gets to the point where he hardly ever sees his children, so obsessed he becomes to finding "the key" that he seem to forget that he has a family back home that waits for him everyday. Unfortunately when his son passes away he delves deeper into his work, and instead, his daughter is left to carry the pieces of a broken mother when she can hardly cope herself.

Andi is slightly tricky to decide over. I actually really struggled with her. She's suicidal, yet she come across as so melodramatic that you don't know if you should feel sorry for her, or just slap some sense into her. She's spoilt for one. She's had a lot handed to her growing up. Private schools, the money for any prestigious University for her liking, uses her father's credit card -taking out ridiculous amount of money and is then confused when it is cut off. So although, sure, I felt sorry for what she went through - it was a little hard to sympathise with her at times. Especially when she was sent to Paris as a punishment! Heck, I'd take that as punishment anyday.

It's whilst in Paris though that things take a turn. Although she still slips ups and is tempted to commit suicide and take more pills than needed, it's people like Virgil, Alex, Amade and Louis - Charles that show her why life is worth fighting for, that there is reason to live. During her stay in Paris she comes across a diary. Alexandrine' (Alex) diary. Although the diary holds the thoughts of a girl from over two hundred years ago, there is something fascinating about her account. It's during this time that the duel narrative sets in. It's interesting, yet wonderful to see both of these girls mature and change through the hardships they will both endure.

I've said this before, but I just loved how the author has this wonderful way of interweaving fiction and fact until everything becomes so realistic and fuzzy that you stop searching for what's what. More - so there is always this magical element to her work that I adore. As you become more and more engrossed nothing seems impossible anymore.

Our protagonists are two girls who have both had their share of a tough life. Andi may be privileged compared to some, and a tad annoying at times but her grief and ache -y voice rings true. It's raw, deep and hard - hitting to the point where at the most unexpected of times - she would say something with such feeling that I had to stop for a moment and take it in. Listen. I had to close the book more than once to collect myself and continue. What you have to understand is that she deals with this unbearable guilt due to her brothers death - she feels responsible. On the other hand you have Alex. This is a girl who on the flip side has been brought up surrounded by poverty. Whose life changes dramatically when she comes across a certain family. Greed settles in, want, and determination to never starve again.

But there is this boy. To know that this part of the book is indeed not fiction is very hard. To think that this young boy was placed in this small space, in such horrific conditions, is just torture. It's stayed with me, and although I try to push it away I just can't - it weighs heavy on me, and I keep imagining this small boy, alone, scared, confused and so very helpless. It's enough to make anyone angry and question humanity. You know I have these moments. When there is death, cruelty and baseless violence. Every time there is a war, an accusation, and so much death, I question where the good begins and where the evil ends. Is there such a thing of either? When I think of the Holocaust, when I think of this little boy who was innocent, a boy who shouldn't have had to endure such cruelty, who, no question, died a slow and painful death - this is when I question humanity.

Yes, I do think that the book was a 150 pages too long, but it just means that you will have to trudge through it. It flows at slightly slow pace, so I can imagine some not willing to go through it all - which I can understand. However, I'm glad that I did though. There are some incredible scenes not to be missed towards the end, yet it's the ending itself which leaves me uneasy. I slightly cringed at the Epilogue. It was as if everything was so sloppily put together - tied up neatly as a ribbon, because there were things that ended a little too perfectly, which didn't add up when you looked at the book as a whole. It's something that shouldn't have been the case when you have a book that is well over 400 pages. Reading REVOLUTION required patience, so I would have appreciated for the ending to have been worthwhile as the book - up until then had been. Why not just spend a few more pages and take your time with the ending? I really think that this is one of those instances where an Epilogue just really did not work out.

I do, however, feel like I prefer this to A GATHERING LIGHT. Despite the length, pace, ending and my frustrations with the MC' at times, there is something very lovely about this book. It has its moments. A scene that comes to mind is when Virgil, Jules and Andi are rapping. I was just grinning like a fox. OH, did I forget to mention what an epic lyricist the author is -because she really is. Then there are these beautiful vivid scenes, those magical and enchanting moments where our MC is walking the streets of another time. The research that went into this book is apparent since the detail is just exquisite.

Quotes. I don't even remember the amount of times I bookmarked this book. Like I mentioned - there are some beautiful moments that I could not ignore. REVOLUTION is a tough one to sum up. I can imagine many becoming impatient and frustrated with it early on, whilst others - like myself - will find it worthwhile to stick with it and grow to enjoy as well as appreciate the experience. It's a beautiful - if not - unique read. Not the most easiest books to read since it requires patience, but it sure is worth it.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 04, 2011 Skye rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

This review is also posted on my blog, In The Good Books.

I'm always hesitant to read historical fiction, for some reason. If you asked me if I was a fan of the genre, I'd probably tell you no, but every time I read a book that falls into that category, I end up loving it. Revolution was no different.

I immediately felt a connection with the depressed, brusque, wry protagonist, Andi. She's grieving her younger brother whose murder she blames on herself. Her mother's crazy with grief, too, spending...more This review is also posted on my blog, In The Good Books.

I'm always hesitant to read historical fiction, for some reason. If you asked me if I was a fan of the genre, I'd probably tell you no, but every time I read a book that falls into that category, I end up loving it. Revolution was no different.

I immediately felt a connection with the depressed, brusque, wry protagonist, Andi. She's grieving her younger brother whose murder she blames on herself. Her mother's crazy with grief, too, spending all day everyday cooped up inside painting portraits of her late son. And her father? He's a workaholic and hasn't been around much since he cracked the human genome. He hears about Andi's poor grades and her mother's condition, and so checks his ex-wife into a mental hospital and brings Andi with him back to Paris where he can keep an eye on her.

While checking out a guitar in her father's friend's collection, she discovers the diary of Alexandrina, written in the 18th century to a backdrop of the French Revolution. Her story runs parallel to Andi's told as Andi reads it. Andi's emotions are described vividly - I smiled through the happy scenes, and may or may not have shed tears during the sad ones.

Andi felt a real connection to Alex's story, just as I did, and it's both realistic and heart-breaking how invested in it she becomes. You can draw a lot of similarities between the two girls' stories.

All of the characters in Revolution are written so well. They're all dynamic and three-dimensional, and their personalities are all distinct and non-cliched.

Jennifer Donnelly's writing style is poetic and flows beautifully. I think she could write about anything and make in compelling (I wish she wrote my textbooks for school).

I liked the twist at the end, and how close it brought the two main characters, despite their 200 year difference. I especially liked the ambiguity surrounding it once it was over (it occurs to me that that sentence was, too, ambiguous, but hey, I'm trying not to spoil it).

I give Revolution a 5 out of 5. I recommend it to other reluctant historical fiction fans.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 21, 2011 Teresa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jennifer Donnelly’s first novel A Gathering Light , (US title A Northern Light), is one of my favourite YA/crossover novels so I was relishing the thought of getting my teeth into “Revolution” – 7 years is a long time to wait!

“Revolution” is a busy novel given that it encompasses so many ideas and themes – love, loss, family relationships, music (lots of music) and science including complex DNA testing. To complicate matters there’s a dual time frame narrative with Andi, our 21st century Brookl...more Jennifer Donnelly’s first novel A Gathering Light , (US title A Northern Light), is one of my favourite YA/crossover novels so I was relishing the thought of getting my teeth into “Revolution” – 7 years is a long time to wait!

“Revolution” is a busy novel given that it encompasses so many ideas and themes – love, loss, family relationships, music (lots of music) and science including complex DNA testing. To complicate matters there’s a dual time frame narrative with Andi, our 21st century Brooklyn girl and Alex(andrine) in 1790s Paris. Andi is a troubled teen, struggling to maintain an interest in anything including her demanding timetable at St Anselm’s, an expensive private school with a cast of students who wouldn’t look out of place in Gossip Girl or Beverley Hills 90210 for those old enough to remember! She and her parents are still traumatised by the death of Andi’s younger brother Truman. Andi is removed to Paris by her father in an effort to encourage her to complete an outline for her senior thesis. The discovery of Alexandrine’s diary, written in the 1790s, sets in motion a series of events which push present-day Andi to the brink.

Revolution is well written, it’s very ambitious, the scenes from revolution-torn Paris are extremely vivid and the author has clearly done her research but…for me, it just didn’t come together as a coherent story. Andi is teenage angst personified and has very few endearing qualities – yes, I know likeable characters aren’t compulsory but somehow she didn’t ring true for me. I loved Alexandrine and her account of the travails she and her family faced, her friendship with the young dauphin, her encounters with the intimidating Duc d’Orleansand all the sights and sounds of revolutionary Paris are there for the reader to savour. However, I found the section where Andi and Alexandrine’s worlds collide a step too far on the suspension bridge of disbelief and things went progressively downhill thereafter.

Revolution will appeal to teenagers with its pop culture references but it didn’t hit the spot for me as an adult reader. I also suspect that teen readers don’t need plot devices and gimmicks in order to tie up narratives in neat little packages.

(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 02, 2011 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, historial-fiction

Two girls. Two hundred years apart. One revolution.

Brokenhearted and angry to the point of self-descruction, Andi Alpers is on the verge of losing everything. She’s already lost her mother to grief, her father to his work and a new family, and her little brother, Truman…forever. Facing expulsion from her prestigious Brooklyn prep school unless she can cobble together an impressive senior thesis, Andi travels to Paris with her father. There she discovers the best primary source ever: a hidden di...more Two girls. Two hundred years apart. One revolution.

Brokenhearted and angry to the point of self-descruction, Andi Alpers is on the verge of losing everything. She’s already lost her mother to grief, her father to his work and a new family, and her little brother, Truman…forever. Facing expulsion from her prestigious Brooklyn prep school unless she can cobble together an impressive senior thesis, Andi travels to Paris with her father. There she discovers the best primary source ever: a hidden diary by one Alexandrine Paradis, an aspiring actress caught up in the drama of the French Revolution due to her bond with Louis-Charles, the lost prince of France.

Andi finds diversion and solace in the pages of Alex’s diary, and soon becomes entrenched in the untold story, unlocking the past with a turn of the key around her neck. But when history gets too realistic for comfort, will Andi suffer the same tragic fate as Alex?

I heard good things about this novel, complaints about it. I wanted to form my own opinion. I’m glad I did, because it took me by storm. Every once in awhile you pick up a book that makes you wonder why you bother with all the slog in between. In between stuff like The Hunger Games. And Revolution.

Ignore the Gossip Girl-esque opening; the rich teen angst doesn’t last long. The story picks up double time once Andi arrives in Paris. What struck me right away, though, was the attention to detail. Detail to history and setting. Detail to foreshadowing. Detail to character. It couldn’t have been a cinch for Donnelly to capture the climate of the French Revolution in one moment and present day Paris in the next, while adding past/present parallels (Truman = Louis-Charles, etc.), and maintaining strong personalities for all involved. Yet, it’s the brevity of her style, the easiness of her descriptions, which generate the flow that draws you in and keeps you reading. And reading.

Sometimes in historical fiction, the character of the present isn’t as interesting as the individual in the past. The narrator’s story becomes an annoyance, something you have to read through to get back to the intriguing part of the tale. I have to concede, Alex’s diary entries were a highlight for me. I have a fondness for historical fiction from the POV of adolescents. (When I was younger, I read them to get a better feel for a period in history that I either loved or couldn’t fully grasp.) Her voice, and her story to tell, was fascinating and brutal. The retelling of the siege on Versailles, with Alex pounding on the glass in the Hall of Mirrors, was particularly breathless. As was her “rebirth” under Orléans. However, I found Alex and Andi equally engaging. I wanted to know what happened to both of them, and that’s what made the book unputdownable. I stayed up way too late/woke up way too early just to read another chapter. A few more pages.

The only—small, nearly invisible—hiccup for me was the ‘twist’ towards the end, but let me clarify. I liked the Kate & Leopold of it all; what I disliked was how it sort of went nowhere. After 400 pages, I guess I was expecting a bigger culmination. Not that I anticipated Andi altering history. That was the point. History, Revolution postulates, repeats itself. And all anyone can do is change their own role in it. It’s about doing what’s difficult and what you feel is right, usually one in the same, no matter the outcome.

I’m not touching on whole chunks of the novel, like the great presence of music, from Bach to the made-up Amadé Malherbeau to The Smiths, awesome minor characters (Nathan, G and Lili, Virgil, Vijay and Mrs. Gupta a.k.a. “Momsoon,” “Vietmom,” and all her various nicknames), and the correlation of Andi’s father’s work to the plot. You’ll get those things when you read the novel. It’s better that way. Natural.

But you don’t have to like history or the young adult genre or music to like Revolution. As long as you enjoy a page-turner and a good adventure, it will be well worth your time.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Nov 01, 2010 Jenn Estepp rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So, I've been thinking about and trying to figure out what I'm going to say about this book since I finished it and this is what I've come up with: I respect it and maybe admire it, but I don't especially like it. It's very ambitious, Donnelly gets major points for what she's attempting, as well as for the very obvious, mega-ton of research she did and for some very lovely and evocative bits of writing, especially descriptions. And I'll admit that it made me very interested in the French Revolut...more

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 01, 2010 Claire rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: high school

Shelves: adults-reading-ya-lit, first-person-narrator-all-ages, gms-fall, grief, high-school-and-beyond, historical-fiction, 8th-grade-and-up, high-school-fairs

Haunting.
Andi and her mother, Marianne are in a world of hurt. Andi’s brother Truman died two years ago and both are smothered in grief, it defines each moment of their days. Dad has moved on, literally. A genius Nobel Prize winning geneticist, he has faced Truman’s death, moved to Boston and started a new family.
Andi has been counseled and drugged but the only relief she gets is from making music, a talent that is apparently saving her life. Marianne is not faring as well, beyond sobbing and r...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 03, 2010 Hirondelle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, historical-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This was really disappointing. Not so much about my expectations - I loved Gathering Light, hated The Tea Rose- which were low, but because it starts promising and ends up disappointing my expectations.

It is a book which starts dealing with real pain and guilt, and ends up with fantasy elements which work as therapy. It somehow cheapens the pain, that Andi needs magical attention from the universe and connection to another totally awful loss to go on. What bugged me more than anything was the fa...more

3 likes · like · see review

title link	preview: Revolution
avg rating	preview: Revolution Goodreads rating: 4.06 (12576 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10966190-revolution?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320421044l/10966190.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10966190-revolution?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly[/url]

Revolution

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (19)

Videos About This Book

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Jennifer Donnelly

Books by Jennifer Donnelly

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Revolution

Quotes from Revolution