Wither (The Chemical Garden, #1) in Addicted to YA

Feb 25, 2012 Renuka rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, science-fiction, dystopia, romance, e-book, cliff-hangers, owned, reviewed

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. So while my power was out I read two books which was highly satisfying. I’ll start with Wither by Lauren DeStefano.

The Plot: So an interesting idea, humans think we have our entire lives ahead of us. Plenty of time to make and fix mistakes. But what if we didn’t? What if our population was decimated because all females died at 20 and all males at 25? What lengths would the human race go to, to keep ourselves afloat? Turns out we’re not very good at figuring out what to do, and have turned into So while my power was out I read two books which was highly satisfying. I’ll start with Wither by Lauren DeStefano.

The Plot: So an interesting idea, humans think we have our entire lives ahead of us. Plenty of time to make and fix mistakes. But what if we didn’t? What if our population was decimated because all females died at 20 and all males at 25? What lengths would the human race go to, to keep ourselves afloat? Turns out we’re not very good at figuring out what to do, and have turned into a race that kidnaps girls and sells them into polygamous, forced marriages. Very creepy. Enter our heroine, Rhine Ellery.

The Characters:

Rhine: Rhine is supposed to be the girl we root for and want to see free. We see her fall in love with a servant, Gabriel, and also begin to care for her husband. (I’ll get to that in a second). She is brave I suppose, and she really cares for her twin brother, and her sister wives. Thing is, she just wasn’t…right? I don’t know, she didn’t strike me, and at times she bothered me. I hate wishy-washy love triangles and even though this was a kind of bizarre situation. At times she irked me. I liked her well enough, but I didn’t love her. In fact, I didn’t love any of them.

Linden: Ohhhkaayy. At first I wanted to hate Linden as much as the other girls, but it became apparent he was innocent, naive, sad, and slightly foppish. At times I just wanted to shake him and say, “Can’t you see what your father is doing to all your wives, your household, even your children?? He’s a CREEP. Get a hold of yourself and take freaking CHARGE of your own house!!” But, uh, no.

Gabriel: I just feel like we didn’t get to know him. It’s obvious Rhine and him are “in love” but at the same time they DON’T KNOW each other. Understandable really because they are trying to figure out their feeling about each other while one is married and the other works for her. But still.

Jenna and Cecily: I really loved this part of the book. The relationship between the sister wives. Again polygamy in a young-adult novel = slightly creepy, but they were almost like real sisters, standing up for each other, talking, comforting each other. Jenna was easy to like, a damaged prostitute, beautiful, and mourning her dead sisters. Always reading romance novels. And Cecily, a brat, but lively, full of laughter, optimistic, and a genius on the piano. The way Vaughn begins to destroy their souls horrified and angered me. My favorite part had to be though when all three girls conspire to get more freedom and completely overwhelm Linden with attention as a team. Yes.

Finally, Housemaster Vaughn: The epitome of evil and psychotic tendencies. He was so twisted and I hated him so much it was unbelievable. His unclear motives made him incredibly dangerous, and he was just so warped. Gods, when the story of Linden’s baby with Rose came out I wanted to charge him down with a lawnmower.

The Romance: Bizarreness. Seriously. So yes Rhine is forced into marriage and she originally hates him. But eventually she starts caring for him when she learns how manipulated he is? And then she says she loves him? Bleh. I thought she liked Gabriel? Oh wait, that’s right she doesn’t know him. But she’s going to run away with him? Weirdness abounds. It’s a kind of messed up love triangle.

Overview: A good book but with lots of open ends left. Plus I want Vaughn dead. And a cure to be found . Definitely to read if you’re a fan of dystopia and disturbing, haunting tales. Oh and another reason to read it is Rhine’s wardrobe. It is to die for.
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Jul 23, 2013 Kim rated it liked it

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, series, science-fiction, ya-botm-challenge-2013, young-adult

I am honestly torn between a 2 and a 3 for this book. I just don't know how I feel. Here's what I do know.
We start Wither through the eyes of 16yo Rhine who is kidnapped and picked to be a polygamist bride. This grabs me, something new I haven't read before.

But all the background stuff is really distracting. I don't see the reasoning behind it. If all these people are dying so very young and they want to keep repopulating the world, wouldn't the girls have all the power? Why are they being turn I am honestly torn between a 2 and a 3 for this book. I just don't know how I feel. Here's what I do know.
We start Wither through the eyes of 16yo Rhine who is kidnapped and picked to be a polygamist bride. This grabs me, something new I haven't read before.

But all the background stuff is really distracting. I don't see the reasoning behind it. If all these people are dying so very young and they want to keep repopulating the world, wouldn't the girls have all the power? Why are they being turned out as prostitutes and murdered when every birth is so important? Only North America is left, and yet people are bombing hospitals and science labs? Is this really how Americans are going to act when the rest of the world is gone? If so, ship me to another continent. And all these "old generation" people. They are ok with teen pregnancies and all these orphans? They watched their kids die and all these poor grandkids are running around to fend for themselves? The science in this science fiction book doesn't really work. If it's a world created by the author's imagination, that's one thing. But I have a hard time believing all the contradicting scientific aspects of the current world we live in and the supposed ice caps melting and annihilation of complete continents but still using a card catalog in a library and snow storms in florida?
Plot wise the book was decent. I really had a hard time connecting with the protag. I feel like she was supposed to be written as such a sensitive person but the way she talks about the orphans doesn't show much sensitivity. I liked Jenna and Gabriel much better than the other characters. What really struck me is when she finds that Linden doesn't know the truth about the circumstances (can someone really be that naive?) she doesn't find it necessary to tell him. I felt like a lot was written just to feed the plot without actually making sense or flowing with the characters or other events. The evil in this book disgusted me and yet I can't understand why he was even there? If he's the only evil one in that mansion full of how many people, why in the world did they not just tie up the old man and do what they wanted? The baby stuff of it all made me sad. Considering my current state of pregnancy, probably not the best pick for right now.
I just don't know. The plot fueled me, I think DeStefano is a great story teller, but the background of it all was so distracting. I think if the rest made sense I would have loved this story. I liked how the ending was more upbeat than the majority of the depressing book; however I want to know more about what happens to the others. Perhaps we find out more in the next book. I will probably continue but with caution and focus only on the plot. ...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Courtney rated it liked it

Shelves: teens, 2013-a-z-titles, audio

I enjoyed it. I like the idea of a virus that kills all the girls at age 20 and the boys at age 25. In an attempt to wipe out disease, genetic tampering left one generous healthy and long-lived, yet the following generation with a ticking clock. It makes you not want to waste a single minute. I wanted to smack Linden for being so absolutely ignorant about the world around him and the bubble his father has him living in. How can he be so blind? Also, how come nobody (including Rhine) has dared to ...more

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