Thursday, October 1, 2009

First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen. Penguin Group-Speak, 1998. Young Adult-Fiction

Someone Like You is one of Sarah Dessen's many novels. It follows Halley and her best friend Scarlett as they battle tragedy, pregnancy, and love together. When Scarlett's boyfriend is killed in a motorcycle crash, Halley becomes the strong friend for both of them. Scarlett later discovers she is carrying his child. Together, they learn about how to live like this while maintaining a normal life. Halley becomes the father figure while struggling with her own relationships.

"Dessen has a perfect ear for the immediate daily details of a middle-class teenager's home, school, job, party scene - the elemental push and pull of family and friends." -Booklist (Found on the back)

Someone Like You shows a detailed look inside high school life. True, not everyone deals with this situation but Dessen makes you feel like you're in the book and in the halls with the characters. Though I haven't read any of her other books, I do know that they all have very much the same feel as this does.
Other books I've read that were similar to this are The Breakup Bible and I'd Tell You that I Love You, but then I'd Have to Kill You. Although both books have much different plots, the writing style is similar. In all three books, the author makes you feel like you know the characters and are a apart of what they're doing.

"For my gift, I had blown up a picture of me and Scarlett, sitting on her front steps together. Scarlett's belly was huge,and she had her hands folded over it, her head on my shoulder. I had it framed and Scarlett immediately hung it over the baby's crib, where she or he would see it every day. 'The three of us,' she said, and I nodded." (251)

Reading this book has really made me want to read more by Sarah Dessen. I loved Someone Like You and would gladly read it again. This book really can help someone struggling in high school. Whether it's because of relationship problems or something else, I think this book can be a comfort.

1 comment:

  1. 1- the author of this review's overall impression of this book is that she really liked it and makes her want to read more books by sarah dessen.
    2- the author of this review noticed that it helps someone who is struggling in high school and that it is really detailed.
    3- i thought the reviewer picked an interesting quote from the story because it shows what good friends they are
    4- i would consider reading this story because it sounded really interesting.

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