Author: Nancy Runstedler
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Release Date: July 27, 2013
Source: Dundurn via NetGalley
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Maggie's life has been anything but easy lately. So when her best friend Gillian discovers a Ouija board in the attic, it's a welcome relief. While they'd rather be at the mall than babysitting Maggie's brother Cole, the girls figure it will be a fun way to spend a Saturday — asking questions about boys and other teenage dilemmas. After all, it's just a game. Or is it?Review by Nara
Thinking nothing could possibly go wrong, the kids dive in, eager to test the new game, but discover the board will change their lives in ways they couldn't have imagined. The trio ends up with more than they bargained for and are thrust into a whirlwind journey. One from which they might never return, if they aren't careful.
This is going to be a pretty short review, because the book was really short as well, being only 150 pages or so (also because I actually don't have much to say about the book). Beautiful Goodbye made a very quick read with practically no character development and a rather superficial, cliched plotline. The beginning of the novel was a bit weird- casually finding a Ouija board and asking it questions. But that level of weirdness was acceptable. As the novel progressed, so did the weirdness- the middle was really, really weird. In fact, the entire novel was just a bundle of strange.
The three characters are sent into the past by the Ouija board, which I was okay with, but then when they arrived in the past, they seemed to adjust a bit too smoothly. Why didn't anyone question, or even pick up, that they speak differently? Surely the language in the 1900s would have been different to the way people speak today. Also, they gave the excuse that their aunt was staying with them in the inn- WHY ISN'T ANYONE QUESTIONING WHERE THE AUNT IS?!
I would recommend this novel only if you want a quick read with not much depth to it.
It was okay
Ratings
Overall: 6/10
Plot: 2/5
Writing: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
Cover: 2/5
As soon as I read the plot, I immediately thought of the movie Jumanji. It has a similar story and plot line. Thanks for the review. It is definitely hard to write a well developed book in such a short span of time (150 pages is not a lot). It sounds like it could have had some potential, but by your review, it doesn't seem like it. Good review.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen that movie! And yeah, you're right, the book had some potential, but was somewhat poorly executed.
DeleteOh, gosh. This sounds like a dreadful read. I would definitely not have finished the book. And that's saying something since I have this annoying habit of finishing every book I start. There are one too many coincidences that you mentioned. Thanks for the heads up! I'm passing on this one...
ReplyDeleteAna @ Characterized Book Reviews
I suppose you might have finished it as it's quite short. But yeah, probably not worth reading.
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