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What Members Thought
I almost missed out on this book and am SO GLAD I didn’t. It’s been on my tbr for a long time. I believe it first got there from a podcast rec - either Books on the Nightstand or Bookriot. Then it sat and sat and sat. Then I saw a recommendation on Bookstagram which bumped it back up my list.
But something about it made me think it wasn’t for me. The title? The cover? The description? I’m not sure but for whatever reason, I kept pushing it to “later”. I had the audiobook from the library and it’s ...more
But something about it made me think it wasn’t for me. The title? The cover? The description? I’m not sure but for whatever reason, I kept pushing it to “later”. I had the audiobook from the library and it’s ...more
Loved it. Loved it so much.
I mean, there were rough parts, emotionally demanding parts. I cried, I guffawed ("Crackers Barrel!" Lol--shout out to my west wing comrades...cause it's the plural of Cracker Barrel...like, attorneys general...nvm).
If I were a less sleep-deprived person AND I'd started this on a weekend night, I would not have been able to put it down.
Lydia, Travis, Dill--I would have been your friend in high school, if you'd have had me.
This book had me thinking about how much damag ...more
I mean, there were rough parts, emotionally demanding parts. I cried, I guffawed ("Crackers Barrel!" Lol--shout out to my west wing comrades...cause it's the plural of Cracker Barrel...like, attorneys general...nvm).
If I were a less sleep-deprived person AND I'd started this on a weekend night, I would not have been able to put it down.
Lydia, Travis, Dill--I would have been your friend in high school, if you'd have had me.
This book had me thinking about how much damag ...more
Wow, so this book I just bought the other day (Friday? whenever it was on sale) turned out to be my favorite book of the year.
It was just so real and painful in ways that I'm so familiar with. The story takes place in a fictional town in Tennessee, not too far from where I live. A group of three friends that go to high school together in a nowheresville town are growing up and trying to figure out what to do with their lives, and you know, trying to see if they can escape. Because this kind of ...more
It was just so real and painful in ways that I'm so familiar with. The story takes place in a fictional town in Tennessee, not too far from where I live. A group of three friends that go to high school together in a nowheresville town are growing up and trying to figure out what to do with their lives, and you know, trying to see if they can escape. Because this kind of ...more
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Wahhhhhhh I full-on sobbed at this
So good! So sad!
I was originally drawn to this for the snake-handler dad, since that is an odd interest of mine...there's actually not that much of that in here but it does have a lot of Dolly Parton, which is another big appeal factor for me. Anyway I just loved these kids and their small town struggles and dreams and, and, wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ...more
So good! So sad!
I was originally drawn to this for the snake-handler dad, since that is an odd interest of mine...there's actually not that much of that in here but it does have a lot of Dolly Parton, which is another big appeal factor for me. Anyway I just loved these kids and their small town struggles and dreams and, and, wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ...more
This is one of those books that could have been so much better if the author made different choices at the halfway point.
Although it's young adult, the writing and deep attention to character details -- including flaws -- make it "read" more like literary fiction featuring teenagers. And that was what made the book so compelling to me. I found the characters to be compelling, believable, and relatable. The small-town setting felt "real," neither romaticized or dismissed. Dill's relationship with ...more
Although it's young adult, the writing and deep attention to character details -- including flaws -- make it "read" more like literary fiction featuring teenagers. And that was what made the book so compelling to me. I found the characters to be compelling, believable, and relatable. The small-town setting felt "real," neither romaticized or dismissed. Dill's relationship with ...more
This book just gutted me. In addition to all the things in this book that I love-- especially a strong sense of place and creepy religion-- this book had an emotional complexity I wasn't quite ready for. I plowed through this book in a single sitting on my day off and wept about 75% of the way through. There's a depth of emotion here that's incredible and YA tropes that don't feel cliched in Zentner's hands.
...more
May 30, 2017
Melle
rated it
it was ok
Shelves:
fiction,
dakota-county-library-book,
tragedy,
teen,
high-school,
religion,
abuse,
friendship,
contemporary,
copyright-2016
This is going to light the fires of some readers, and people are going to rave about it the way they raved about John Green's Paper Towns and it's sort of like Faulker's School of Modern Southern Gothic Lite for Youths, but, for me personally as a reader, some of the individual elements turned me off to the book as a whole. The character of Lydia felt like a manic pixie dream girl. Travis felt like a literary third wheel. Dill was a really introspective and well-rounded character, but he wasn't
...more
And THAT is how you write a book about faith that even an atheist can enjoy.
Dec 27, 2015
eb
marked it as to-read
Mar 05, 2016
Laura
marked it as to-read
Jul 06, 2016
Andronike
marked it as to-read
Nov 02, 2016
Ehrrin
marked it as to-read
Nov 20, 2016
Kirstin
marked it as to-read
Dec 20, 2016
ellen
marked it as to-read
Jan 26, 2017
Samantha Storey
marked it as to-read
Nov 13, 2018
Felicia
marked it as to-read
May 12, 2020
Rick
marked it as to-read
Jan 10, 2022
Lori
marked it as to-read
Jul 05, 2022
Meg
marked it as to-read
