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The Indigo Notebook (Notebook #1)

by Laura Resau (Goodreads Author)

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 535 ratings · 120 reviews

An exciting new series from the acclaimed author of Red Glass.

Zeeta's life with her free-spirited mother, Layla, is anything but normal. Every year Layla picks another country she wants to live in. This summer they’re in Ecuador, and Zeeta is determined to convince her mother to settle down. Zeeta makes friends with vendors at the town market and begs them to think of upst...more

Paperback, 315 pages

Published August 10th 2010 by Ember (first published October 13th 2009)

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Sep 11, 2010 Cara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Cara by: Ash

Shelves: 2010, realistic-fiction, series

The reason why I picked up this book was because I absolutely fell in love with Resau's writing in Red Glass. Her writing is still impecable here, but a little different like it should be.

Zeeta the seeker and Wendell the wanderer collide paths when they both meet in the colorful country of Ecuador. For Zeeta it's just another move, but she has this restless unease of not being normal and the feeling of not belonging to one place. Wendell on the other hand does have a home, but is looking for a...more The reason why I picked up this book was because I absolutely fell in love with Resau's writing in Red Glass. Her writing is still impecable here, but a little different like it should be.

Zeeta the seeker and Wendell the wanderer collide paths when they both meet in the colorful country of Ecuador. For Zeeta it's just another move, but she has this restless unease of not being normal and the feeling of not belonging to one place. Wendell on the other hand does have a home, but is looking for a missing piece of himself and hoping he'll find that by meeting his birth parents. The two will join forces to find Wendell's parents and along the way maybe Zeeta's mom, Layla, will finally become the responsible adult that Zeeta wants her to be. The question is do they really want those things? or will they find something different all together?

One of the author's strengths is letting the reader really feel immeresed into the cultures they are being introduced to. I can smell the food and even the air. I can hear the chatter and banter between the locals. This is no easy task and the author makes it look so easy. I enjoy reading books set outside of the United States to get a glimpse how other people live and this book will definitely do that for you. Zeeta is observant, but sometimes she annoyed me. I can't quite pinpoint it. It must had to do with the comment that she spoke seven languages, which is all fine and dandy but not realistic. She moves to a new country every year, so could she really keep up with learning and retaining all those languages? I don't think so, but that is a minor irk really. Wendell (what a horrid name poor guy) was great, and has a good perspective on things.

I am all for seeing the world and getting new insights on things, but I was a little disappointed that the US was made out to look like a society that sucks the good out of people. Yes we are far from perfect, but I'd liked to think there is some pretty awesome stuff about us.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how climatic the final scene turned out to be because I truly did not expect the book to deliver anything suspenseful. Though I sounded a bit negative up there I do recommend the book because it sends the message that everyone's life carries imporatance no matter how it is lived.(less)

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Sep 10, 2010 Valerie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: realistic-fiction

It's been more than a week since I've read this book but I do remember that I thought the writing was great. It flowed beautifully and seemed effortlessly. Resau can definitely write no doubt about it.

The plot is Zeeta helping an American boy, Wendell, find his birth parents in Ecuador. The other subplot is Zeeta's mother turning herself normal, instead of being free spirited and irresponsible as she has always been.

Really I loved the story and Zeeta is very observant. Wendell is nice though I...more

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Jul 09, 2010 Janette added it · review of another edition

Laura Resau writes so elegantly that I would probably enjoy reading her grocery lists. (Creamy butter that melts softly under the sultry Arizona sun . . .)

In this book we have the main character, Zeeta, who has just moved to yet another country with her flakey, irresponsible, promiscuous mom. Zeeta meets and gets involved with Wendell who is in Ecuador searching for his birth parents. The adoption angle of the story had me choked up during one part. It's very sweet and probably influenced by the...more

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Jan 26, 2010 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"If you had one wish, what would it be?" Zeeta asks.

Zeeta wishes for a normal family. Gaby wishes for happiness. Wendell wishes to find his birth family. And so begins a story woven in Ecuador with threads of Remi, Spanish, love and longing.

"The way I see it, people think they know what they want, and it turns out they don't have a clue," responds Gaby.

Resau shows us this truth through a beautifully written story of searching for wishes and what we think we want. And it turns out, Gaby is right....more

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Nov 25, 2012 Doris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you had just one wish, what would it be, the main character, Zeeta, asks of all her new acquaintances. She listens seriously, and records their answer in her Indigo (dark purple) notebook, which she is using to record her adventures during her stay in Ecuador.

Zeeta has a new color notebook for each country, where she records thoughts, observations, comments and questions about and to the people she meets. She and her mother are wanderers, going from place to place, only stopping for a short...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Autumn West rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked this story enough to read it a couple times. Laura created a wonderful book which is fun, colorful and easy to read. The characters all seemed very much like they could be real people. I Loved Zeeta and her mother Layla's relationship. Layla is a free-spirited woman who loves to travel to exotic places. Zetta has lived in 15 different countries one for every year of life, and now all she wants is to settle down and start a normal life, and a normal family. Zetta writes her experiences fr...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Jay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is abook about a young girl and her mother. They travel to a different country each year while the daughter fills notebooks about her travels and the people she meets.

OK I'll agree, it doesn't sound too promising, but within a few chapters I was hooked. Layla (the mother) is a free spirit, gypsy-esque in her thoughts and deeds, she quotes a mystic poet and bathes in rose petals. Zeeta is a young girl that loves life and all it has to offer, she sees the good in people where ever she travels...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Maggie Desmond-O'Brien rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Don't let the choppy summary put you off - The Indigo Notebook is one of the best "travelogue" YAs I've ever read, and given my penchant for travelogues, that's quite a compliment. A crazy mom, her down-to-earth kid, a sweet teen romance while on vacation? The whole thing should be a big cliche, but Resau creates a distinctive and believable voice for Zeeta that makes this a fresh and memorable read. A tad too formulaic, but memorable all the same.

Plus number one? It never tries to be straight u...more Don't let the choppy summary put you off - The Indigo Notebook is one of the best "travelogue" YAs I've ever read, and given my penchant for travelogues, that's quite a compliment. A crazy mom, her down-to-earth kid, a sweet teen romance while on vacation? The whole thing should be a big cliche, but Resau creates a distinctive and believable voice for Zeeta that makes this a fresh and memorable read. A tad too formulaic, but memorable all the same.

Plus number one? It never tries to be straight up, info dump realism, incorporating enough "magical" touches (the waterfall, Wendell's gift) that we know the author is both paying homage to South American magical realism greats like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and is trusting us to be big kids with her research and figure out what's real and what's not. Resau uses Spanish without any annoying repetitious translations, and she even works in some Quichua (the Incan language that's more common than Spanish in a lot of places in South America). In short, instead of trying to bludgeon us over the head with the exoticism of her story - the problem with so much multicultural middle grade and YA - she leaves us alone to enjoy her world.

And, in another rarity for mainstream multicultural lit, the world actually takes backseat to the characters. From Zeeta's batty mom who reminded me of a brighter, less murderous Ingrid from White Oleander, to the sweet and goofy Wendell, Resau occasionally lapsed into caricature but mostly (especially in the case of Zeeta) gave us colorful characters that could stand head and shoulders above most of the YA crowd: especially, and thankfully, because of their lack of tortured-ness. A little teen angst, sure - I mean, this is a "searching-for-birth-parents" story with a little romance thrown in - but even on our most hardcore angsty days, teens are not as tortured as most YA would have you believe. Well...at the very least, we (I?) don't like to read about it, and Resau thankfully spares us without sacrificing the integrity of her story. One angsty moment I really appreciated was Zeeta's internal monologue about how she hated the "Biracial kids are always so cute" comments. Internal monologues are almost always not rad (seriously, Rose Hathaway? Just shut up), but this one added a frankness to the story I used to be guilty of making those biracial comments, until I thought about how it would make me feel and shut my big fat gringa mouth - Zeeta made me feel sheepish all over again.

Unfortunately, the ending was disappointing. Everything wrapped up a little too neatly, and while the actual mystery kept me guessing, the character arcs were frustratingly predictable. From the preview of the next book (The Ruby Notebook), it looked like we were really heading for cliche territory. Highlight for spoiler: Um...a love triangle? Right after the reader is d'awwwing over Wendell? No. No more love triangles! Resist temptation! Anyway, I'll probably pick up the next book if I run across it, but this series might have doomed itself to "brief fling" territory with the ending. We'll see.

Still, it's sweet and very different than most YA out there, but not in the hipster "look at me! me! meeeee!" way that some books seem to be in the counter-supernatural and -dystopia trends. (Bleeding Violet, for one, though Bleeding Violet deserves hipster squealing.) It's younger YA, but should still be interesting for older teens, and would add a lot of fun and swoonyness to social studies curriculums. In the end, it might not make converts of hardcore urban fantasy/dystopia/etc. etc. fans, but for those who crave a more international flavor, it's a great and unusual pick.(less)

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Sep 05, 2011 Caren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

Having read the author's more recent book, "The Queen of Water", I wanted to read her earlier work of fiction set in Ecuador. (Well, "The Queen of Water" is ostensibly fiction, but is based on real events.) In "The Indigo Notebook", the author introduces us to a very interesting and likeable mother/daughter duo, fifteen-year-old Zeeta and her free-spirited mother, Layla. Zeeta is the product of a one night stand on a beach and so doesn't know who her father might be. Layla has moved every year o...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Ari rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-summer-of-ya-contemporary, read-in-2011, ya-latino-a

4.5/5

This is a silly thing to dislike and I didn't dislike it per se but I genuinely did not understand the Rumi quotes. My confusion over what he was saying made me feel like a complete idiot but maybe in time I will understand better. For now I'm content just thinking that he writes vague poetry that celebrates nature, simplicity and individuality (and that might not even be right). I was bothered by the fact that the Layla storyline was really cliche, whimsical mother kept safe/protected by d...more 4.5/5

This is a silly thing to dislike and I didn't dislike it per se but I genuinely did not understand the Rumi quotes. My confusion over what he was saying made me feel like a complete idiot but maybe in time I will understand better. For now I'm content just thinking that he writes vague poetry that celebrates nature, simplicity and individuality (and that might not even be right). I was bothered by the fact that the Layla storyline was really cliche, whimsical mother kept safe/protected by down-to-earth daughter who desperately wants her mother to change. I was hoping Layla would have a less abrupt change (ex: *spoiler highlight to read* What made the one accident in Ecuador lead Layla back to Jeff? Why didn't Layla do that when she had other close-calls and Zeeta begged her to go back to a 'normal' life?* End of spoiler*) and be a little less of a caricature.

This book left me with a serious case of wanderlust. It was hard for me at first to fathom how Zeeta could want to give up her traveling lifestyle with Layla. She spoke seven different languages and had already lived in fifteen different countries. I want to travel the world and speak at least four languages so badly, I'm envious of all those who get to travel and it's hard for me to understand people/characters who don't appreciate the immense opportunity they've been given to travel the world. The author did an excellent job of (almost) completely immersing me in the world of Otavalo (I do wish more Quichua and Spanish words had been thrown in). The hustle and bustle of the market, the loud, cajoling calls of the vendors to tourists with backpacks and water bottles, the dazzling crystal caves in a quiet village, every scene is described in glowing terms down to the most minut detail. Zeeta is the typical teenager in that she doesn't know exactly what she wants and often feels torn between two different sides. She is observant, meticulous and she has a cautiously adventurous spirit. I didn't think Zeeta was boringly practical because she was always willing to explore, she just wanted to know her mother had a financial nest egg for their future.

The Indigo Notebook excels in bringing to life the colors, sounds, smells and even the textures of Ecuador to readers who may never get the chance to visit the country. Not only does it provide more than a cursory glance at life in Ecuador but it opens the page to the larger world of Central American culture (obviously Latin American cultures are very diverse but there are some unifying/common elements). The 'treatment' of being bicultural/multiracial was rarely mentioned but when it was, it was handled deftly. Zeeta's mother is white but Layla doesn't remember what ethnicity her father was but it's clear he wasn't white (and that is why this is not an off-color review). Zeeta observes (and is somewhat irked) that the conversation between Layla and her new 'boy toy' will soon "take a turn to how 'mixed-race' kids always turn out beautiful-in the same way that mutts are tougher than purebreds-and then he'll ask, Where is her father from anyway?" (pg. 6). Through Wendall's avid search for his birth parents, Zeeta is able to live vicariously through him because she doesn't have a clue as to her father's name and where he might live. This is a tale that I was absolutely enamored with due to its fantastic setting of Ecuador, mostly unique characters and the fact that Ecuador did not overpower Zeeta and the other characters. The setting did not overtake the plot and/or the characters which is something that I think is quite important. Otavalo was a major character in and of itself but it wasn't more important than Zeeta, Wendall, and a few other characters. I can't wait to read the next book in the series, The Ruby Notebook!

(less)

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Jan 22, 2010 Shenek rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is about a 15 year-old girl who lives with her mom. Every year they move to another country and every country she writes in a different color journal (to help her adapt to her new surroundings). This year she is in Ecuador, which is why I picked up the book.

I was so impressed by how well Ecuador is represented. Descriptions of food (including guinea pig and cilantro), the buses (they would have looked nice 30 years ago), the garbage (overflowing in the street), the drunks, the beauty...more

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Dec 02, 2011 Erin Forson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Indigo Notebook
by Laura Resau
“There is an inner wakefulness that directs the dream. And that will eventually startle us back to the truth of who we are.” – Rumi
Zeeta is the daughter of a wanderer. Since she was an infant, she has traveled from country to country with her mother, learning the truth of who people are, souls who all want to be loved, taken care of, appreciated, and remembered. Zeeta knows that people all need a place in this world where they belon--but, Zeeta isn't sure what...more

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May 01, 2010 Books and Literature for Teens rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-ve-read-in-2009, family-drama, favorite, published-2009, realistic-contemporary, young-adult, travel, adventure

Fifteen year old Zeeta and her eccentric mother, Layla, travel the world hitting a new country every year. From Italy to Guatemala to Australia to Thailand, Zeeta has been traveling her whole life and she's ready to stop, to have a normal� life. When Layla moves Zeeta to a small village in the Ecuadorian Andes, Zeeta meets an American boy named Wendell who is desperately scouring the market place for his long lost birth parents. Together the unlikely pair team up to search the country side and d...more

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May 30, 2011 Marti rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teen

There were some really interesting things about this book that might be appealing to teens - the main character is a biracial 15 yr old who doesn't know who her father is and has a mother who moved them to a new country every year. This book could be a nice way to introduce American teens to very different ways of life in other countries and introduce them to citizens of first world countries who choose to live nomadically in third world countries. One of the other main characters was a boy who'...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Marina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, my-car-read-me-the-book, contemporary, series-fiction, realistic-fiction, romance

The Scoop:
Zeeta and her free-spirited, wanderlust, ESL-teaching, Rumi-quoting mother Layla have lived in 15 different countries. That's one country for each year that Zeeta has been alive. And for each of those countries, Zeeta has kept a notebook (well, since she could write, at least) that holds her observations, thoughts and the stories of the native people. This year, the year of living in Otavalo, Ecuador, Zeeta has an indigo notebook.
Now, more than ever (she's just three years away from go...more The Scoop:
Zeeta and her free-spirited, wanderlust, ESL-teaching, Rumi-quoting mother Layla have lived in 15 different countries. That's one country for each year that Zeeta has been alive. And for each of those countries, Zeeta has kept a notebook (well, since she could write, at least) that holds her observations, thoughts and the stories of the native people. This year, the year of living in Otavalo, Ecuador, Zeeta has an indigo notebook.
Now, more than ever (she's just three years away from going to college) with the year-after-year of moves and making new friends and learning new customs Zeeta wishes for her mother to finally grow some roots and just "stick." And, maybe, Zeeta's wish is going to come true in Ecuador. Even while enlisting her newfound friends at the local market to find a potential suitor for her mother Zeeta notices subtle changes in her mother. Because, after a near-death experience at a waterfall her mother is beginning to morph into somebody who could be more tradtional, more grounded, more parental. Layla goes from having a boyfriend that is a surfing clown (even down to making making balloon animals) to one that is more stable and has a career in the business world. During this time Zeeta has met an American teenager named Wendell who has traveled to Otavalo to find out the identities of his birth parents. Zeeta agrees to become his translator and they set out on a journey to learn of the Otavalenos and the Quechua Indians that might hold an answer to Wendell's heritage. And, Zeeta, besides being tasked to help Wendell to find answers to his own life (and mysterious abilities) might be finding out that maybe the life she's always been dreaming about isn't exactly what she wants after all.

My Thoughts:
I am eternally grateful that I listened to this book. I am not the best with languages and knowing how to pronounce words in languages other than English (sometimes that gives me issues, too, but I digress). This book was sent in Ecuador and, even though I didn't actually see any of the words, I knew that I would never get anywhere close to right pronunciation as the narrator could do and be even better at it. So, her being able to pronounce the foreign words correctly and use the right accent (probably--who am I to judge whether or not an accent is correct but it sounded good) far outweighed my problem with her sounding a little too old for the character of Zeeta. All of the other characters had complimentary voices but for some reason I had a problem with the way Zeeta's voice sounded. But, that distraction was minor.
I had never read any of Laura Resau's books before and I'm glad this was my initiation. Her descriptions of the area were so well written and articulated that I felt I was right there eating bread in the village of Agua Santa with Mamita Luze (like I said, I listened to the book so I have no idea if I am spelling any of these correctly). Or, I felt like I was sitting with Zeeta and her merchant friend, Gabby, at the Otavalo Market. I felt from Resau's descriptions of these places that she had to have personally visited and loved it (click on the links to Laura's personal blog postings about the book which includes recipes and pictures depicting her time in Ecuador). There was so much depth to the location, people and food that I wanted to move Ecuador up on my list of places to visit (even though I had never thought of visiting there before).
Not only was the location a character unto itself but the characters were so well crafted that I wanted to join them at the market or other locales so lovingly depicted. Zeeta, having such a "flaky" mother had to be mature for her age, was the best person to go on a journey through Ecuador with. She was travel-hardened and she knew what to do so she wouldn't stick out in a new country. She was the best person for "fish-out-of-water" Wendell to have as a guide in the search for his birth parents. Her mother was just the right amount of flaky that it wasn't overboard and she still seemed like a somewhat responsible adult. The rest of the native Otavalenos and Quechua Indians were wonderful secondary characters and, like most villages/towns/cities of the world they had the good and the bad residents.
I don't think I realized how much I enjoyed this book until I started writing down my impressions and am surprised at how much stuck out with me. It might have been the bit of "offness" to narrator's portrayal of Zeeta that threw me from realizing on how much I was enjoying this book. Or, I think at the time I thought maybe it was just about a teenage girl, who wasn't really regular because of all the places she had lived, but she had a mom who wasn't her ideal (how many teenagers think the exact same thing?) and a life that wasn't as perfect as she wanted (again, same teenage thought train here, right?). But when I got right down to what I enjoyed it was the lovely, descriptive writing style that pulled me into Zeeta's life and the lives and locations in Ecuador.
So, I know I said at the beginning that I'm grateful that I listened to it but maybe it was a good thing I can't for the life of me find an audio version of the next chapter in Zeeta's life, The Ruby Notebook (although I'm sure I'll be retracting that thought when I have trouble pronouncing all the French words--thank goodness for Google translate).(less)

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May 30, 2010 Vicki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, good-for-girls, young-adult-books

This is really a good one -- a nicely paced, nicely connected story about a girl who's been a world traveler pretty much since she was born. Her mother is an ESL teacher who realized she was pregnant a few months after she'd left whomever the father might have been. So it was just Layla, the young ESL teacher, and Zeeta, her baby girl born in Italy. Now Layla's a teenager, and they've landed in Ecuador, after Thailand. Zeeta is sick of her mother's flighty Rumi-quoting ways, and wishes for norma...more

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Feb 03, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teenfiction, squeaky-clean-fiction

Another novel by Resau set in Ecuador. A solid, good read; not amazing, but really good.

Zeeta is 14 and has lived in a different country every year of her life. Her mother, a bohemian spirited woman, flits about through like like gauze in the wind. Zeeta wishes for nothing more in life that to be NORMAL. A kid living in Maryland with a sofa, tv and munching on McD's fries.

When a series of events place Zeeta with an adopted American teen who is searching for his birth parents AND her mother has...more

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Dec 27, 2009 Deanna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Realistic fiction, travel, family, adventure/mystery.

15 year old Zeeta and her 35 year old English teacher mom travel and live in a new country each year--this year in Ecuador. Zeeta dreams of a normal life with a fantasy father and family. In each country she gets a new writer's notebook which serves to help her in her chaotic life. "Writing in my notebooks always makes me notice more things" (p. 12). Mother and daughter visit landmarks in each country. For example they get up very early in the...more

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May 05, 2013 Lindsay rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-ya, not-the-lower-48, e-book

It feels so good to return to Laura Resau. I love how her books balance conflict with innocence. They make a great cusp between middle grade and YA lit. I love how each book reflects just how profoundly Central and South America made an impact on her--there is such a delicious sense of place in each. In The Indigo Notebook, the plot was perhaps a bit see-through, but I was still glued to each page. I loved most Zeeta's character development--I understood each step of her desire for a "normal" li...more

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Mar 01, 2011 Rachal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone age 13+

Recommended to Rachal by: school

This was a really good book. The title was deciving, but the synopsis drew me in. It was a nice size book, but I finished it in a respectible amount of time. Where as, I usually take forever to read a book this size. I guess it just shows how much I liked it. The book was very well written and the main character was charming. She was very true and the author didn't glamorize anything, nor did she go into detail where she could have. There were a few sensitive topics in the book, so I wouldn't le...more

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Jul 06, 2009 Meri rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-and-childrens

This one is about a woman and her daughter who travel the world, living in a different country every year. Zeeta, who is fifteen, yearns for a "normal" life involving a permanent home. There's also an Ecuadorian boy searching for his birth parents who happens to be precognitive.

The story is fun and it moves pretty well, but Zeeta and her mother are very unbelievable characters and much of the book is devoted to developing them. The "plot" is an afterthought, and an unimaginative one at that. It...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Cory rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Technically this book is flawed. The mom's plot was tied up way too neatly, the magical realism kind of comes out of nowhere, the emotional gains are too easily won. Resau's language is rich as hell, and has an ease about it that keeps me from feeling like she's trying too hard, but the lushness of the language feels out of place in the story. . .it SHOULDN'T, because it's basically a tropical vacation of a book, so the language should fit but. . .I don't know. The language and the content is. ....more

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Feb 07, 2012 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I believe that Laura Resau did a fantastic job with the Spanish incorporation in the book. Many writers can't seem to add another language and get the grammar and the slang correctly, but Resau did a good job. Me encanto!
I can almost picture the Market with the vibrant colors and wonderful articles of clothing and arts and crafts- it's like I actually visited Ecuador (which I intend to do in the future)
I did have a few problems with Zeeta while I was reading (mainly I wanted to hit her because...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Anna Francesca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: listened-to-audiobook, young-adult

After having listened to Red Glass, I was intrigued to find another coming-of-age YA novel by Laura Resau. Heritage, growth, redemption, family, identity-- these are all themes that the book covers. The reader on the audio-version handles the various accents and tonalities expertly. Also, for literature lovers there is an interesting allusion to Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and several quotations by Rumi. Despite a little magical realism, the book makes extreme circumstances seem...more

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Aug 01, 2010 saferia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-fiction

In some ways this is not my typical read; flighty mother, chakras, irresponsible parent... On the other-hand, the story is not centered around the mother, but rather her 15 year-old daughter, Zeeta.

I enjoyed the Rumi wisdom (as he's one of my favorite poets), as well as the realistic potrayal of Zeeta and Wendell.

I appreciated the beautifully described country and city scenes of Ecuador.

I disliked the "stereotypical" smuggling bit. I felt that the story was so steeped in journey, adventure, an...more

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May 25, 2010 Annell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2010, spring-reading-thing-2010

This is a beautiful story of love, family, a magical waterfall and a crystal cave. I can see the bright colors and clothing. I can imagine walking through the market and I can almost taste Mamita Luz's bread. It is a great reminder that families are not just made up of blood relatives and that sometimes what you think you want, is not always what you need.

This is the first book in The Notebook Series, each of which will be set in a different country. The second book is due out in the fall of thi...more

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Mar 05, 2010 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adoption, adventure, abuse, alcohol, art, environment, families, friendship, moving, spirituality, summer, values, writing

This was an under-looked book of 2009! Fifteen-year-old Zeeta's latest move to Equador with Layla, her free-spirited mom, results in adventures that lead to Zeeta's re-evaluation of her goal of a normal suburban life. While Zeeta helps with Wendell's quest to find his birth parents, Layla begins to turn into the responsible, normal mother Zeeta always longed for. Turns out that might not be such a good thing after all. Zeeta is a believable and likable character. I appreciated the treatment of i...more

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May 11, 2010 Pamela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-middle-sch, c-school-friends, c-family-life, a-fic

Fifteen-year-old Zeeta comes to terms with her flighty mother Layla and their itinerant life when, soon after moving to Ecuador, she helps an American teenager Wendell find his birth father in a nearby village.

I enjoyed this book. I read it on our trip to Veyo and Zion, and was very glad that Shawn missed that last exit driving home, so I had another five minutes to finish it up. I liked getting to know Zeeta and seeing how her relationship with Wendell and her mom changed over the course of th...more

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Jan 24, 2010 Gemma rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I imagine that this is what a chick flick book would read like. Nothing goes too deep, and everything's pretty glossed over and sugary and sweet and leaves you in that 'feel good' mood.

I enjoyed this book. Yes, it was cliche (irresponsible artistic mother with daughter who has to look after her). Yes, there were many technical problems (Why Ecuador? How does Layla make money? How can she change so completely upon meeting Jeff, etc.) But you gotta kinda look past it and just accept that it wasn'...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Thomas rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While The Indigo Notebook contained interesting cultural points, it also possessed plenty of underdeveloped plot structures.

The best aspect of this book was its foray into the lives of foreign denizens - the main character, Zeeta, has visited an abundance of countries while traveling with her mother. She can speak seven different languages, not all fluently, but enough to survive as a passing tourist. Through her perspective the reader can garner gratuitous cultural knowledge of the Ecuadorean A...more

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About Laura Resau

I'm the author of the young adult novels The Queen of Water, Red Glass, What the Moon Saw, The Indigo Notebook, The Ruby Notebook , The Jade Notebook, and the middle-grade novel Star in the Forest. I grew up in Maryland, then moved around for ten years (as student, ESL teacher, and anthropologist), making my home in New Orleans; Aix-en-Provence, France; Oaxaca, Mexico; Tucson; and now, Fort Colli...more

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Quotes from The Indigo Notebook

“Power is a tricky thing, mija. It can lift you up high on its wings and up into the sky where you feel invincible. But sometimes you forget the bigger thing that makes you fly. Without God, without love, you fall. You stop being grateful and humble, and you fall." pg. 230” — 10 people liked it

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The Indigo Notebook (Notebook #1)

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