Struck By Lightning

Struck By Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal by Chris Colfer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I was disappointed with this book. First of all, I listened to it on audio cd, and I believe the author's decision to read the book himself was a mistake. The text was read too fast and poorly enunciated, which had the effect of pouring water on an already tepid text. The hero, Carson, being presented as a jaded 18-year-old going on 37 felt like a tired sit-com trope. The way his grand realizations about how wrongly he's been living his life and looking at the world are summed up in a line or two and then quickly forgotten is also confusing. It felt like the whole point of the book was just glossed over as a passing thought. And in places, the story just doesn't ring true on an emotional level. At one point, one character relates a story about how she answered a question to her second grade class about what she wanted to be when she grew up as "a ballerina," and the whole class laughed at her. Huh? Why would they do that? Second graders typically want to be basketball stars, president, firemen, movie stars and yes, ballerinas. It's hardly likely they would laugh at THAT.
I did like the plot, and the story held my interest to the end. I just wish the author could have been more clear about whether the story was a tragedy or a richly deserved comeupance.



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