College Students! discussion

We are going to have one thread for each book as now Goodreads has made a spoiler tag that you can use to put before anything that is a spoiler. Use your discretion as to what would be a pretty big spoiler and label it. Please put up to what page the spoiler is for.

To create the tag simply do this:

< spoiler> Blah blah blah spoilery stuff < /spoiler>


*Take out the spaces in both of the spoiler tag.

It will look like this:


(view spoiler)[This is a spoiler. Spoilers should be labeled so you don't ruin books for others. (hide spoiler)]

Discuss away...

I started this Sunday and so far am enjoying it. It is so different from the HP books, and I bet there are going to be a lot of disappointed people out there.
I don't think this would be considered a spoiler, but more a advisory warning. This is DEFINITELY NOT A CHILDREN'S BOOK!

Tami, I started reading this one last night. I agree--DEFINITELY NOT A CHILDREN'S BOOK! Personally, I am really enjoying it so far. It's very different from her other stuff, but I think she's doing a good job of weaving together a narrative. I'm enjoying seeing how all of the characters interact with each other.

J.K. is a great storyteller. I have heard criticism for the language and vulgarity, but it is an adult book, and I find that the story line comes across very realistic. Not forced or fake like so many others.

I hate that I am as busy as I have been this last few days. I haven't had much time to read and this is a book that I don't want to put down, cause I really want to know what happens next. This will definitely be a reread in the future.

I agree. I'm making as much time as I can. Fortunately, I'm going to my grandparents' for two nights, which means quite a bit of reading! But I'll definitely finish during the Readathon on October 13.

I'm only about 70ishpages into the book, I've had no time to read! It's interesting so far, very different, but still good. From what I've seen others say, it takes a bit to get into it, so I'm thinking it'll get even better.

It does Kimberly. The very start I kept thinking, how many more people is she going to put into this story. I was getting them confused. Now I have a hard time putting it down. Been late to work the last 2 days! :) I am on page 340.

Tami, I'm glad to hear you finally got the people straight or at least became OK with not having them straight. I'm struggling with that at this point (roughly 70 pages in). I'm really excited to see what happens.

Basically there are 8 different families, and while there aren't than many in one particular family, that is still a lot of names.

I finished Friday and LOVED IT, but not quite as much as Harry.

I have several criteria for great books, but the two most important are 1: do I want to know what happens next, and 2: how long does the story stay in my head after I finish reading it.

I still think about the characters and how they handled certain things, and yes there were times I would just like to reach into the book and slap Fats someone upside the head, but what a great book.

I mostly loved how JK portrayed a small town that is supposedly perfect and how that really means people were just hiding their bad stuff.

I hope that doesn't spoil it for anyone, I don't think any of this would be considered spoilers, but let me know what you think, and I can hide some of it.

Just finished the book tonight. I liked it, but doubt that I would ever read it again and compared to how Tami rates her books, I see a great book as something that not only stays with me, but one that I would want to read again.

I did like the political underhandedness from the characters, both publicly and secretly. I think that was the only thing that kept me in it. Especially when, (view spoiler)[ Andrew starts the secret postings to take down any political ambition of his father and how then the other children of equally political ambitious family members seek to undermine them afterwards. (hide spoiler)]

I'm not sure if its that it seems to drag on some of the smaller things before hitting the major plot points that made me struggle to finish or if it was just the writing style of the author.

Because yes, I'll admit that I really never got into Harry Potter as much as some others of my generation, but that could have been due to having already fallen for Little Women, Lord of the Rings and Dune by the time that J.K. Rowling's series seemed to really hit big.

Overall, it was an alright book, but just not one that I could see reading again.

I can't believe jk rowling started writing this genre of books but I guess that's what happens when you're a billionaire I personally think she should stick to fantasy but that's my opinion

I'm halfway through and I'm really struggling to finish this book. I was really lookíng forward to reading this book when I heard that J K Rowling released a new book, but I must admit that I'm a bit disappointed by it. Somehow I expected something else. Maybe it's just because I really love Harry Potter and this book is nothing like it

Anni - I'm totally with you. I actually picked up this book the day it came out. It was a coincidence, I happened to be headed to Barnes and Noble so I decided to be a fan girl and pick it up then. I started it just minutes later over a solitary lunch outing... and I'm still reading it. I'm about halfway, maybe a little more, mostly because I'm forcing myself to read it. I don't know, it's not that I don't like it, I generally enjoy what I read, but I'm finding it just so... non-interesting.

Also, okay, maybe I'm just crazy and maybe this is the writer in me, but Rowlings perspective changes are driving me NUTS. Does anyone else see this?! One minute you're in Fats' head, the next it's Mary's, the next it's Howard's, it's impossible to keep track. I keep having to re-read paragraphs becuase I forget whose head I'm in, or I'm really confused how as I reader I can know that information and then I realize it's because the perspective switched. I guess it's a stylistic choice but that's kind of writing 101 - stick to one head until you make a clear distinction that you're switching. I personally find it a bit of a cop-out. It's easy to write a story if you know all of the information all the time and you can just TELL the reader what a character is thinking or feeling instead of showing it through their actions or facial expressions. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I woder how and why the book is written that way.

Am I crazy or did others notice this?

Ashley, I've noticed it. I like when she does a break to show that we're switching perspectives, but when she just starts a new paragraph, it drives me crazy.

I too am having a problem with it. I feel like the story is too much of a class commentary. I'm only about 200 pages in. I'm going to force myself to finish because I bought the book, but I'm not a huge fan. I don't think it's *bad*; I just don't like the story.

When I do pick it up, I make a lot of progress really quickly because it's an easy book. But I usually have to talk myself into picking it up.

Note: I am divorcing her from Harry Potter and allowing her to be different. My main issues stem from issues I would have with any book by any author. Kudos to her for writing something completely different from Harry.

miniseries coming

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