Before I cracked the spine on this book, I was sure there was no way to tell this story without getting maudlin and sentimental. I'm thrilled to have...moreBefore I cracked the spine on this book, I was sure there was no way to tell this story without getting maudlin and sentimental. I'm thrilled to have been proven wrong. Liz Murray grew up in New York in the 80's, the younger daughter of two parents with serious coke addictions. The girls are faced with neglect, abuse, violence, poverty, and HIV. As Liz enters early adolescence, her living situation becomes intolerable, and, with the child welfare system bent on punishing her - rather than the adults around her - for her constant absence from school - becomes homeless.
Here are there, adults clearly reach out to her, do things for her or say things for her that helped her become who she is. And she has some incredible friends as well, without whom she literally would not have survived. Yet her own resiliency is astounding, and after being homeless for several years, she manages to enroll in high school, completing 4 years of coursework in 2 years - still homeless. She describes her motivations for the choices she made in ways that are both understandable and miraculous. It's hard to believe a girl who can survive what she survived and THRIVE is not bullet-proof and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Despite this, she's incredibly humble and grateful to her support system. When I finished the book I wanted to pick up the phone and call her.
It's worth noting that at least one movie has been made about her story, but it's difficult for me to believe that anyone could tell her story as compellingly as she did. I couldn't put the book down.
I received this book as a First Reads from Goodreads.(less)
I received this book as a First Read from Goodreads.
I couldn't wait to be finished with this book. Start to finish, I was distracted by the writing it...moreI received this book as a First Read from Goodreads.
I couldn't wait to be finished with this book. Start to finish, I was distracted by the writing itself. Though it was not poorly-constructed, many of her most interesting phrases and sentences read as if she had come up with them before writing the book and then looked eagerly for places where she could include them.
The characters were not terribly relatable. Though their lives are very different from my own, that should not have been enough to make them such a mystery. Yet I couldn't understand half the decisions they made and didn't particularly like any of them.
The subject matter - a teenager's poor judgment call magnified a thousandfold by technology - had the potential to be very interesting, but by the end I just didn't care. It was poorly constructed and hard to follow.
The final chapter, rather than tying up loose ends or even leaving me with questions to ponder, just made me roll my eyes. I was thrilled it was over.(less)
I really wanted to like this book. it's a fictional accounting of the lives of 6 characters in the immediate aftermath of Bobby Kennedy's murder, whic...moreI really wanted to like this book. it's a fictional accounting of the lives of 6 characters in the immediate aftermath of Bobby Kennedy's murder, which changed each of their lives in a small but not insignificant way. the writing is smooth and the characters are relatable, but I kept waiting for the story to begin. after about 100 pages I lost interest. This was a first-reads book won fromGoodreads and due out in October.(less)
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