Girl is a retelling of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, set in a stodgy New Hampshire boarding school, The New Girl, whose name you won't find out until the very end ala Rebecca, is given a surprise by her parents and sent to school for her Senior year.
Although that part of the plot was a bit far fetched, you just have to go with it, Used to the warmth of the Florida coast, New Hampshire is the rude awakening you would expect, but when the New Girl meets her roommate things start to get creepy.
The New Girl is taking Becca's place at the school and is assigned to sleep in her old room with her very traumatized roommate.
Throw in a handsome and "off limits" love interest, Max, and this modern day Gothic has many of the elements that made the original so good.
The details about the missing student, Becca, are revealed through flashbacks and alternating view points and I liked the extra insight that it gave the reader.
It allows you to get to know Max and Becca more than it would if it were only told from on perspective.
The isolated world of Manderly no cell phones or facebook is juxtaposed by the very modern mean girls who are there to remind everyone that Becca cannot be replaced.
The New Girl tries to adjust, make friends and make the best of her senior year while fighting the memory of Becca.
Although she wasn't always strong, she did eventually stand up for herself, which I liked reading, There was definite growth in her character the New Girl and the end of the book was much different that the New Girl at the beginning.
Overall, this story was everything a Gothic novel should be creepy, romantic, emotional and mysterious, I think fans of Rebecca will enjoy this modern day retelling and those who haven't will be interested to read more books in this genre.
So, I haven't read a Teen Harlequin book, since I was a teenager too many years to mention here!, so I picked up this book based on the fact that it is a retelling of Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier and retellings intrigue me although, I have to admit that I never read DuMaurier's classic Gothic story.
I would have loved this book as a teen, but as an adult, I found the writing a bit uneven especially with the odd shifts in point of view at the end.
However, I also found myself engaged with the setting, the plot, and the characters enough that I really wanted to find out what happened at the end.
All in all, worth the fun read, but don't over analyze too much, I feel for Becca as I do for Bridget in Here Lies Bridget, Theres nothing more to them her other than the fact that shes a horrible person, And it was never more evident that when she was with Max, All her plotting and manipulating, showed just how little she regard she had for others, Add the fact that there was little remorse fro her in what she was doing, And while she showed strength and purpose, her actions simply went beyond the line of what I could stomach, My point That shes a bad, bad girl had been hammered into me, so I saw no other thing in her.
. . heck, I couldnt even feel sorry for her when the situation called for it,
As to the New Girl it was different that her name was only revealed later better even was that I only really noticed after her name had been called out.
Such a fact simply points to how quickly I became engaged in their stories and how easily their two storylines meshed.
Back to New Girl and what if felt for her: in a situation thats less than ideal, I was surprised to see that she could be strong.
Yes, there were drops into self pity nobody likes me, but overall, she had a spine and used it,
Then theres Dana who Holy crap, . . was simply the most interesting out of all of them, I didnt know what drove her, I could not put my finger on what made her tick but that shed freak out every so often.
. . with no apparent reason, made her stand out, With Becca, it was all about me, myself and I, With New Girl, it was all Im new or Nobody likes me or I dont want to be her.
. . but with Dana, I simply didnt know what was what until the very end of course,
Now whats there to say about the love interests Both are pivotal in linking Becca to New Girl and vise versa.
But what read off to me was how vastly different they came across with Becca then later with the New Girl.
And OK where one was suave and cool, the others laid back and approachable but beyond those things Theres not much to add really.
But like I said, the writing kept me rooted because it flowed, I was never bored. Outraged, yes. Pissed off, certainly. Bored Never. Because New Girl was intriguing and mysterious and kept me guessing sure there were some iffy bits and icky bits as well, but otherwise, I am relieved to have read this especially given the string of really bad books Ive read of late.
And if retellings were written to make one want to read the originals, NEW GIRL has done its job for me at least.
./
THANKS NETGALLEY!
I can't think of a single reason to like this book and I'm surprised I finished it.
The characters were flat and vapid I found myself loathing every single one of them, The most interesting character, Dana, was so incredibly unstable, she was annoying and whiny, The new girl, whose name we don't learn until the very end of the book, felt so inconsequential that I actually don't remember her name now.
I like strong characters, or at least characters who grow through a novel, but the new girl just complained a lot that people at Manderley didn't like her.
Grow some backbone! The other interesting character, besides Dana, was Becca, whom the new girl replaced because she had gone missing.
But she was only interesting because of her circumstance and the horrifying way she conducted herself around others we do get to find out why later.
There is a love triangle in this, so if you hate them, don't read it, Personally, I don't mind them at all, but in New Girl, I felt that it was weak, and when there was conflict, it was put there to keep things interesting.
The plot point for Rebecca would have been alright, except that it dragged out and if you've ever read the book that New Girl is retelling, incidentally titled Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, then you can kind of guess how New Girl is going to end.
Ergo, no surprises here, folks, Bummer.
No author can really avoid popculture references in their books, and I love them when they are done right because it helps the reader identify with the book.
But the one big one in New Girl that really stood out to me was "Paint me like one of your French girls" from the movie, Titanic.
The line should be "I want you to draw me like one of your French girls, " Yes, it's a nitpicky detail, but part of a New Girl's value is in the details, right In Titanic, Jack was too poor to have any paints, therefore he used charcoal and paper.
So this really bothered me,
I also had a really big problem with the filler in this story: teens were drinking and carrying on all the time on school property.
I mean, ALL. THE. TIME. There was tons of language about sex, blow jobs and getting drunk, I felt like it glorified this lifestyle, Hey, I'm no prude, but come on now, If you are going to include something like this in your story, at least trump it with a message for the kids reading your book.
That didn't happen here. I get it, this isn't the bible and for god's sake, it's just a book, right But what was the takeaway from all that I couldn't figure it out.
I think if the author had spent time fleshing out the characters and staying true to her genre this is a young adult, after all, it could have gone a lot differently.
I really liked the synopsis, which is why I asked to review the book, But overall, I didn't like it and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I did, however, love the quote below.
This review was updated to reflect my notes on/, Welcome to Manderley Academy
I hadn't wanted to go, but my parents were so excited, . . So here I am, the new girl at Manderley, a true fish out of water, But mine's not the name on everyone's lips, Oh, no.
It's Becca Normandy they can't stop talking about, Perfect, beautiful Becca. She went missing at the end of last year, leaving a spot open at Manderley the spot that I got.
And everyone acts like it's my fault that infallible, beloved Becca is gone and has been replaced by not perfect, completely fallible, unknown Me.
Then, there's the name on my lips Max Holloway, Becca's ex. The one boy I should avoid, but can't, Thing is, it seems like he wants me, too, But the memory of Becca is always between us, And as much as I'm starting to like it at Manderley, I can't help but think she's out there, somewhere, watching me take her place.
Waiting to take it back, Hlavná hrdinka A ktorá
Príbeh sa delí na dve dejové línie, ktoré sa striedajú, Začíname pohľadom do súčasnosti, Tá nová“ prichádza do Manderlyovej akadémie bez veľkého nadšenia a netuší čo má očakávať.
No taký posledný rok, aký má pred sebou, rozhodne nečakala, Tieto úseky sú písané v prvej osobe,
Druhá dejová línia je spred roka, keď na tú istú akadémiu prvý krát prichádza Becca Normandyová.
Dievča, o ktorom od začiatku vieme, že zmizlo a nikto skutočne nevie, čo sa s ňou stalo.
Pohľady do minulosti sú rozprávané v tretej osobe,
Čakali by ste, že hlavnou hrdinkou bude tá, ktorej príbeh je rozprávaný v prvej osobe, No ja si tým nie som taká istá, Vzhľadom na to, že sa celá celučičká kniha točí okolo Beccy, tak by som označila za hlavnú postavu ju.
To by však nebolo fér, takže môj konečný verdikt je, že sa tu nachádzajú dve takmer rovnocenné hlavné hrdinky.
She looked like a movie star, but partied like a rockstar, “ Page
Vyzerala ako filmová hviezda, ale na párty sa správala ako tá rocková, “ Str.
Vyšší level milostného trojuholníka, . .
alebo milostný štvorec. V takmer každej YA knihe, kde sa nachádza aspoň trochu romantiky, narazíme na milostný trojuholník, Tu to autorka potiahla ešte ďalej a predstavila nám rovno milostný štvorec, Ak nie aj väčší nuholník,
Na jednej strane Becca, arogantná povýšenecká mrcha môže sa to zdať trochu prehnané, no verte mi, slovo mrcha Beccu naozaj dokonale vystihuje, ktorá je zvyknutá manipulovať ľuďmi naokolo, aby dostala čo chce a aby vyzerala dokonalo.
Aby ju každý uctieval, A neváha sa zahrávať s dvoma chlapcami a tým, nie úplne vedome zničiť ich priateľstvo.
Oproti Becce stojí tá, čo zaplnila miesto, ktoré sa uvoľnilo po jej zmiznutí“, Nechce vytvárať žiadne problémy, len v pokoji zmaturovať a znovu sa vrátiť k rodine a priateľom.
No číro náhodná podoba s Beccou a zjavná fascinácia oboch chlapcov pôvodného trojuholníka jej prinášajú množstvo problémov, ktorým musí čeliť.
She wanted him to spread around hiw fantastically talented she was at, . . stuff. “ Page
Chcela aby sa rozširoval, aká úžasne talentovaná bola v, . . v istých veciach. “ Str.
Psycho, . .
Na začiatku knihy som mala pocit, že väčšina postáv bude tak trochu psycho, Počínajúc Danou, spolubývajúcou oboch dievčat, ktorá bola viac než čudná a skrývala pár tajomstiev, cez Beccu, ktorá bola psychošibnutá manipulátorka, až po celkovú psycho atmosféru, ktorú vo mne kniha vyvolala.
It seemed suddenly to be a horrible idea, sleeping in the school you go to, Everyone was everywhere, every second of every day, And in high schol, thats pretty much the fastest way to lose your sanity, “ Page
Zrazu to vyzeralo ako príšerný nápad, spať v škole, do ktorej chodíš, Každý bol všade, každú sekundu každého dňa, A na strednej je to viac menej tá najrýchlejšia cesta ako prísť o rozum, “ Str.
Obľúbila som si, . .
Maxa aj Johnnyho. Po pravde, ak by som si mala vybrať, nevedela by som, Obaja mali v sebe niečo špecifické, čo sa mi na nich páčilo a priťahovalo ma to k nim.
Blake. Síce nedostala veľa priestoru, no za spôsob, akým stála pri tej novej“ si zaslúži veľké plus.
tému, príbeh, spracovanie, aj autorkin štýl písania, To ako úžasne opísala postavy aj situácie ma nútil stále čítať ďalej, Postavy boli realistické, chybujúce, nedokonalé a ich správanie zodpovedalo veku a postaveniu, Ja som sa dokázala takmer úplne stotožniť s hlavnou hrdinkou
tou novou“, nie Beccou, lebo mi prišlo, že máme rovnakú povahu a prístup k riešeniu problémov.
Síce by som asi nespravila úplne všetko ako ona, no bola mi veľmi blízka, A veľké plus má za to, že na internátnu školu chcela ísť po prečítaní Harryho Pottera!
.
. . to, že autorka podsúvala informácie, o ktorých som si až do ich odhalenia nebola istá, na koľko sú naozaj pravdivé a čo je iba výmysel.
I didnt know why I believed him, but I did, Maybe that made me the dumb girl in the horror movie who willingly takes the hand of her killer, but I did.
“ Page
Nevedela som prečo, ale verila som mu, Možno to zo mňa robilo tú hlupaňu v hororovom filme, ktorá dobrovoľne vezme za ruku svojho vraha, no verila som mu.
“ Str.
Na záver zopár slov a jedna pikoška
Neviem či sa mi dostatočne podarilo vyjadriť moje silné pocity voči tejto unikátnej knihe.
No rozhodne ju odporúčam všetkými desiatimi, Ja sama sa z nej budem ešte chvíľu spamätávať A nakoniec som neodolala a aj som si ju na BD predobjednala.
. . Za, No nekúp to!
Môj názor na obálku nájdete tu, A viete čo Hodí sa k príbehu!
A ešte sľúbená pikoška! Asi ste si všimli, že som jednu z hlavných hrdiniek volala vždy len tá nová“ prípadne inou obmenou.
To preto, lebo jej meno je na celýchdačo stranách spomenuté jediný raz a ja to pekne ukryté, takže ak vás zaujíma, ako sa v skutočnosti volá, budete si to musieť sami prečítať.
If Id been a cartoon, my eyes would have popped out of my head and Id have done a double take.
“ Page
Ak by som bola animovaná postavička, tak by som sa najprv poobzerala, či myslí mňa a potom by mi skoro oči z jamôk vypadli.
“ Str.
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Find New Girl Constructed By Paige Harbison Offered In Volume
Paige Harbison