Young Adult Book Reading Challenges discussion

Cracked Up to Be
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Cracked Up To Be discussions > Final Thoughts

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message 1: by Kim (new) - rated it 3 stars

Kim (kadykayf) Now that you've finished the book, what are your thoughts about it?


message 2: by Angie, YA lovin mod!! (new) - rated it 4 stars

Angie | 2687 comments Mod
It seems that not too many people are reading this book at all.... I wonder why that is?


message 3: by Trisha (last edited Sep 05, 2012 07:15PM) (new) - rated it 3 stars

Trisha I think it may be that school just started for any moms and teens, so it may be delaying their reading (we have the whole month of September, right?)
Or, some may be having a tough time getting their hands on it.
I know my library had 7 but only had 1 in for me to reserve, so there seem to be quite a few reading it with me.

I really liked the book. I haven't been participating in the other parts of discussion since I knew I'd already read it and didn't want to discuss anything that people hadn't already read about....trying not to spoil the experience :)


*Layali* (layalireads) | 95 comments School just started for me. I don't have as much time as I did over the summer.

I also planned on borrowing it from the library. I'm 2nd in line, but the book was due back in June so I probably won't be receiving it anytime soon. -.-


Deborah I finished it, but don't have much to say. Really wasn't for me. I understood where it was going, and why, but didn't really click with me.


Rebecca (bexlibris) Deborah wrote: "I finished it, but don't have much to say. Really wasn't for me. I understood where it was going, and why, but didn't really click with me."

That's how I felt about the book too- I read it a while ago but I didn't want to read it again.


message 7: by Kim (new) - rated it 3 stars

Kim (kadykayf) Rebecca wrote: "Deborah wrote: "I finished it, but don't have much to say. Really wasn't for me. I understood where it was going, and why, but didn't really click with me."

That's how I felt about the book too- I..."


I would definitely agree with you all. I was not super in to it either. I wonder how many picked it up and didn't finish it.

It's interesting that many had troubles getting the book from their library. I listened to the audiobook through my library's Overdrive and my library does have 4 copies of the book. I wish I could forward it on to those having difficulties getting it.


Jenn | 9 comments I agree with Deborah and others that there was just something that didn't click with me. I liked it well enough, gave it three stars, but I had issues with the ending. I understood the character in a sense, but also didn't. I know that may not make much sense.


message 9: by Grace (last edited Sep 15, 2012 06:07AM) (new) - rated it 3 stars

Grace (gdaminato) | 520 comments I liked it at the beginning but it took me a long time to finish it (considering that it's only 214 pages long) mainly because I was trying to meet deadlines with two different clients. (If you think you'll never have to worry about homework deadlines again after you finish school - think again. Real life has lots of deadlines and there are NO extensions.) I lost my enthusiasm for the book long before it ended. It was OK, it was shorter than many novels written these days and, yet, I found it to be too long and repetitive.

I also felt that some things weren't resolved. Although we find out why Parker was acting out, my mind goes back to this sentence on page 32:
Four years, two suicides, one death, one rape, two pregnancies (one abortion), three overdoses and one missing person...
We find out about most of the events that sentence refers to but my mind sticks on "two pregnancies (one abortion)". What? I kept waiting for the circumstances of these to be mentioned. Who got pregnant? Who had an abortion? Was that a storyline that got dropped somewhere along the line in the editing process? Whatever it was, that sentence set me up to expect an explanation of everything mentioned and pretty much spoiled the book when a COMPLETE explanation didn't materialize.


message 10: by Kim (last edited Sep 19, 2012 09:55AM) (new) - rated it 3 stars

Kim (kadykayf) Grace wrote: "I also felt that some things weren't resolved. Although we find out why Parker was acting out, my mind goes back to this sentence on page 32:
Four years, two suicides, one death, one rape, two pregnancies (one abortion), three overdoses and one missing person...
We find out about most of the events that sentence refers to but my mind sticks on "two pregnancies (one abortion)". What? I kept waiting for the circumstances of these to be mentioned. Who got pregnant? Who had an abortion? Was that a storyline that got dropped somewhere along the line in the editing process? Whatever it was, that sentence set me up to expect an explanation of everything mentioned and pretty much spoiled the book when a COMPLETE explanation didn't materialize.


I'd completely forgotten about that. I sort of thought it was just talking about what happened in her school in general, not just to her group of friends, but in retrospect, it wasn't very clear.


message 11: by Angie, YA lovin mod!! (new) - rated it 4 stars

Angie | 2687 comments Mod
Grace wrote: "I liked it at the beginning but it took me a long time to finish it (considering that it's only 214 pages long) mainly because I was trying to meet deadlines with two different clients. (If you thi..."

That line really intrigued me too. I thought maybe there was going to be more about this line later in the book.


message 12: by Angie, YA lovin mod!! (new) - rated it 4 stars

Angie | 2687 comments Mod
Man this book was hard to get my hands on.. and it sounds like others had a hard time getting it too!!

I really liked this book. Not what I expected at all. I thought it was going to be like other teen books... love triangles and all that. In fact I loved it so much I am going to for sure read This Is Not a Test which is the author's new zombie book. I wonder how that one is.

I find it interesting that a lot of readers in the group didn't really like it. I enjoyed it.. I felt it was different then what I normally read and maybe that is why I like it. A breath of fresh air.

I will say the last few chapters seemed rush. They were really choppy to me. I suppose that what I did like though is that the story wasn't a happily every after for Parker, but there is hope for her. And she seemed to want a better life so I found myself hoping that for her.

I also really thought the supporting characters in this book are really well written. This book is how long triangles should be!!! But I am dying to know (view spoiler)


message 13: by Angie, YA lovin mod!! (new) - rated it 4 stars

Angie | 2687 comments Mod
Grace wrote: "I liked it at the beginning but it took me a long time to finish it (considering that it's only 214 pages long) mainly because I was trying to meet deadlines with two different clients. (If you thi..."

hummm oh well I see now she answer this in the Q&A. Good question to ask her Grace!


Trisha Angie wrote: "I really liked this book. Not what I expected at all. I thought it was going to be like o..."

I really liked it too! I was surprised most others didn't like it.


Tiffanie changing to Storygraph - TifCochran (tifreads) Overall i thought this book was Okay, It was a very fast read ( just a few hours) and i felt alot of the characters were not completely formed. I also felt like a lot of you, there was just things hanging out there that were brought up but not addressed again within the story.


message 16: by Christie (last edited Sep 26, 2012 04:42PM) (new) - rated it 5 stars

Christie | 37 comments I really liked this book i could not put it down once I picked it up.

I think it sheds a different light on high school and what can happen. I like the characters and was able to relate to them and the situations they were in, one way or another. I also liked that the book threw me back into high school and I can see something like this occurring...maybe not the exact situation, but something like it.

This book will stay with me for a long time.


message 17: by Angie, YA lovin mod!! (new) - rated it 4 stars

Angie | 2687 comments Mod
I don't read enough contemporary YA novels so maybe this is another reason I enjoyed this book. I too felt like I was back in high school. I started thinking of events that happened to us there.. especially my experiences in art class!!!


message 18: by Kim (new) - rated it 3 stars

Kim (kadykayf) Christie wrote: "I really liked this book i could not put it down once I picked it up.

I think it sheds a different light on high school and what can happen. I like the characters and was able to relate to them..."


I'm really glad you liked it. I didn't, but then again, it didn't transport me back to high school, so maybe that's part of it. I had a much different experience of high school than most Americans. But, I can definitely agree that it was realistic feeling the whole way.

(Well, except maybe Jake. That part was a little too perfect and took me out of the story a bit).


message 19: by Angie, YA lovin mod!! (new) - rated it 4 stars

Angie | 2687 comments Mod
Yea I agree about Jake... I just can't see someone putting up with someone so rude for so long.


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