The Elite (The Selection, #2) in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jul 03, 2013 Krissy rated it it was ok

Shelves: pgs-300-399, read-before-2015, i-want-to-stab-her-with-a-spork, cover-color-red

Omg. I have never disliked a heroine more than I did America in this book. She annoyed me so much I had to take a break in the middle of reading the book. At this point the only character I like is Aspen. I feel extremely bad for him. I don't even know who to cheer for at this point. They all suck ...more

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Oct 18, 2017 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

I enjoyed The Selection, but found myself often irritated by The Elite. Is it me? Or the book?

Sure, the plot of The Selection was fluff, and the world-building was ridiculous, but I still enjoyed spending time with the characters. But now, everyone is so insipid (except for Celeste, the sole interesting character). America has become a wavering, indecisive, idiotic flibbertigibbet, and I just wanted to smack her.

(By "indecisive," I do not mean her inability to decide between Maxon and Aspen. Th I enjoyed The Selection, but found myself often irritated by The Elite. Is it me? Or the book?

Sure, the plot of The Selection was fluff, and the world-building was ridiculous, but I still enjoyed spending time with the characters. But now, everyone is so insipid (except for Celeste, the sole interesting character). America has become a wavering, indecisive, idiotic flibbertigibbet, and I just wanted to smack her.

(By "indecisive," I do not mean her inability to decide between Maxon and Aspen. That was the one understandable thing in this entirely ludicrous book. ... Well, okay, actually, her inability to decide between them was ALSO super annoying.)

The entire plot seems to be: America moons over Maxon and thinks she might be in love with him and can't bear to part with him, but oh! America moons over Aspen and thinks she still loves him and can't bear to part with him, but oh! America loves Maxon, but oh! Maxon did a mean thing, but hey! why is Maxon daring to spend time with someone else... lather, rinse, repeat. Geez. Could you stare at your navel a little more???

None of this is helped by the inconsistencies in the dystopian world. Society has been so changed that no one knows what Halloween is any more, but when they find out about it and hold a Halloween party, men naturally dress as baseball players and cowboys and swashbuckling pirates?! You have forgotten Halloween, but you know what a cowboy is? Really??

I had really been hoping that the Rebels would play a MUCH larger role in the plot than (view spoiler)

And one more annoying thing: what's with the cover? None of her key dress moments involve a dress that looks like the cover.

A side note - completely unintended by Cass, in sure - this diary entry from Gregory Illyea is a bit disturbing in light of our current US President, Trump (NOTE: none of this seems like a spoiler to me, but the book seemed to treat it as a big REVEAL, even though I already thought all of this was obvious, so... if you are leery of plot-spoilers, maybe just stop reading):

SOMETIMES I ALMOST HAVE TO LAUGH AT HOW SIMPLE THIS HAS BEEN. IF THERE WAS EVER A TEXTBOOK WRITTEN ON THE TOPIC OF OVERTHROWING COUNTRIES, I WOULD BE THE STAR OF IT. ... I CERTAINLY WOULD ENCOURAGE ANY OTHER WOULD-BE LEADERS TO ACQUIRE UNGODLY AMOUNTS OF MONEY BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

A FASCINATION WITH MONEY WOULDN’T BE ENOUGH, HOWEVER. YOU MUST POSSESS IT AND BE IN A POSITION TO LORD IT OVER OTHERS. MY LACK OF BACKGROUND IN POLITICS HASN’T BEEN AN ISSUE IN GAINING ALLEGIANCE. IN FACT, I WOULD SAY AVOIDING THAT SECTOR ALTOGETHER MAY BE ONE OF MY GREATEST STRENGTHS. NO ONE TRUSTS POLITICIANS, AND WHY WOULD THEY? ... I, ON THE OTHER HAND, OFFER THE IDEA OF MORE. NO GUARANTEES, MERELY THAT FAINT GLIMMER OF OPTIMISM THAT CHANGE MIGHT COME. IT DOESN’T EVEN MATTER AT THIS POINT WHAT THE CHANGE MIGHT BE. THEY’RE SO DESPERATE, THEY DON’T CARE. THEY DON’T EVEN THINK TO ASK.

... I CAN DO WHAT I LIKE, AND THERE’S NO ONE LEFT TO STOP ME. SO WHAT’S NEXT?

I FEEL IT’S TIME TO COLLAPSE THE SYSTEM. THIS PITIFUL REPUBLIC IS ALREADY IN SHAMBLES AND BARELY WORKS. THE REAL QUESTION IS, WHO DO I ALIGN MYSELF WITH? HOW DO I MAKE THIS SOMETHING THE PUBLIC BEGS FOR?

I HAVE ONE IDEA. MY DAUGHTER WON’T LIKE IT, BUT I’M NOT REALLY CONCERNED WITH THAT. IT’S ABOUT TIME SHE MADE HERSELF USEFUL.

Yikes! ...more

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Aug 17, 2016 Cindy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016

There were several times when I got so exasperated with American I just had to shut my kindle and walk away. I wanted to yell at her to just shut up. Overall, a good story and I'm looking forward to starting The One soon, but I think I enjoyed The Selection more over this one. Also, just a side note to all YA authors, enough with the freaking love triangles already! ...more

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