Michelle Hodkin
Kindle Edition | Pages: 456 pages Rating: 4.06 | 146875 Users | 15718 Reviews
Identify Books In Favor Of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)
| Original Title: | The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer ASIN B004IK988I |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Mara Dyer #1 |
| Characters: | Mara Dyer, Noah Shaw |
| Setting: | Miami, Florida(United States) |
Narration Toward Books The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)
Warning: this review contains flashing gifs and foul language.
I've spent two years avoiding this book. I remember in 2011 when I stumbled across that exciting GR description and pretty - if slightly creepy and discomfiting - cover, but my initial curiosity was quickly dampened by the reviews from my trusted goodreads friends. And for nearly two years, I have listened. My intentions were to never give this book/series another thought, until I recently came across this interesting page: 15 Young Adult Books Every Adult Should Read. And I noticed authors like Laurie Halse Anderson on the list. That's when something inside me rose up to meet the promise of a challenge - plus, who knows, sometimes my favourite books of all time have been those I'd taken a chance on against the odds.
But this book was just bad. The exciting premise is wasted on a novel that eats at the same lunch table as Twilight, Hush, Hush and Fallen. The mysterious paranormal aspect opens up many avenues for the author to have explored and yet she chooses instead to pick the dullest one - a cliched romance. And damn if this book isn't one huge glowing neon cliche. One where a boring heroine with a severe lack of personality meets a ridiculously good-looking, sexy, British bad boy - who could have anyone he wants - and he somehow finds himself madly in love with her. Why? Well, that remains the biggest mystery of all.
Two words come to mind when I think back over this book: wish fulfillment. But yes, the other two words spring to mind a lot too. This novel is a very fine example of a certain brand of book that contains mediocre-at-best writing, unbelievably hot male love interests and is an empty, easy sell for young teen girls. Noah really is quite laughably perfect (if you like controlling jerks, but I'll get to that in a second) with his perfect face, hair, body, smile (etc.), his massive fortune, his intelligence which includes knowledge of six languages and large quotes from various classic novels. He is so flawless, I felt like he'd just rolled off the factory production line, spritzed, polished and raring to go.
Ah yes, and about that controlling thing I mentioned. There's really no need to explain it in detail, I'll just pull up some quotes for you:
Noah placed his forefinger above my upper lip and his thumb below my bottom lip, and applied the slightest pressure, cutting me off. "Shut up," he said quietly.
What is Mara's response to his rudeness? I nodded feebly. o_O You nodded... feebly? What is wrong with you? I can't understand why you aren't all like:
Then: The waiter appeared then, and Noah plucked the menu from my hands and handed it over, rushing off our order in Spanish. The waiter departed for the kitchen.
I shot him a dark look. "I hadn't decided yet."
"Trust me."
This also happens in Fifty Shades of Grey, Christian orders for Ana without even asking what she'd like or if she's vegetarian or has any allergies. For one thing, it's flawed. But beyond that it's just goddamn rude. What exactly is sexy about a guy not giving a damn what you want? When you look past the pretty description we are given of Noah's perfection, I find him incredibly unattractive, pretentious and annoying. If I wasn't British myself, I think this book would give me a really bad opinion of British people; almost as bad as Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap remake when she tells her American twin "I have claaasss and you don't." *shudders*
This quote - "Because I'm European, and therefore more cultured than you" - might have been funny as an isolated incident but Noah's repetition of similar declarations of cultural superiority (with books, music, etc.) just made me think...
I also think Mara is in desperate need of a new girlfriend because the girls in this book are ALL her enemies. Even her two friends at the beginning get separated into best friend and evil girl who's trying to steal best friend away. The word "slut" naturally appears several times in this novel and usually when the characters are talking about mean girl Anna who immediately decided to make Mara's life hell because Noah showed some interest in her. This beautiful quote sums up Anna's characterisation:
"The list of what you're missing, Anna, is longer than the South Beach Free Clinic's walk-in list," Jamie said, and I was surprised to hear his voice. "Though I'm sure your hookup resume includes the same names."
Cue group laughter as good triumphs over the evil slut who doesn't deserve feelings. This always amazes me in these kind of books - that we're supposed to be sympathetic towards the MC and believe she is the victim and much more interesting because of her lack of sluttiness. I don't think I'll ever understand why that stuff matters.
I've been picking out all these quotes throughout this review but I've saved the best for last. If I had been drinking whilst reading this bit, I would have sprayed the contents of my mouth everywhere. I just... can't. This is in response to Mara finding out about how Noah slept with a girl who was in love with him just to prove a point to the girl's brother:
I should haul back and smack him, strike a blow for feminism or something or at the very least, get out of the car. But then his thumb traced my skin and without quite realizing it, I leaned toward him and rested my forehead against his.
... to hell with feminism! Hot jerk is touching my face!!
Mention Epithetical Books The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)
| Title | : | The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1) |
| Author | : | Michelle Hodkin |
| Book Format | : | Kindle Edition |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 456 pages |
| Published | : | September 27th 2011 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Young Adult. Childrens. Middle Grade. Young Adult Fantasy |
Rating Epithetical Books The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)
Ratings: 4.06 From 146875 Users | 15718 ReviewsCommentary Epithetical Books The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)
oh, hey there, noah shaw. welcome to my harem of book boyfriends. ;)also, you know how they say good althetes sacrifice their bodies for their sport? well, good authors will sacrifice their minds. and michelle, sis. im worried about you. because this is beyond psychotic. lol. ↠ 4.5 starsI truly have no idea where to even start. I'm sure if I just said 'Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow' over and over again that it would get my point across just fine, but that might be a little repetitive and inarticulate. I'm going to try to get my very gushing thoughts in order for you guys.When I opened the pages of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer I had no idea what to expect. The synopsis really doesn't give you much, and I like it that way. The vague synopsis, the eerie cover, and the fantastic
But without my big mouth, no one would know that a seventeen-year-old who likes Death Cub for Cutie was responsible for the murders. No one would know that somewhere out there is a B student with a body count. And it's important that you know, so you're not next. This book messed with my sanity. It teased it, played with it and then tossed it aside and left me trying to gather my wits, something that felt like catching feathers in a tornado. Impossible.I was very hesitant to start this book.
Emily May wrote: "Skyla (Skoyklha) Happy Go Lucky and Lost in Books wrote: "Did you use a Misfits Robert Sheenan gif? Love it!"I love him! I stopped
Replace "with you and Jade i guess?" to "with The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer?" and the reply can stay the same.Yes. I went there.Warning (Yes I am actually aware of how juvenile that was.)There will be no love for Mara Dyer here. If you have a problem with that, I suggest you go read another review. The funniest part is that whenever I make a warning like this it ends up getting ignored and I'm trolled anyway, but hey, it was worth a shot, right?Right?Also, because I can't be fucked to
After feeling this was a 3 Star read (based on content) that I had a 5 Star time reading, I decided to meet in the middle with a 4 Star Rating. 😂 Just go with it. All you Mara Dyer haters out there, I get it, there are all the same issues here that people had with Twilight and all the other hyped teen paranormal books of the era. I found them too, but I was prepared going in; I didnt pick this up until after everyone else had already read it so I knew that these books set feminism back about 100
1.5 stars Welcome to yet another teen romance masquerading as a paranormal novel. If youre like me, youve been salivating to read this book for months because of the breathtaking coverand of course, the premise of a girl waking up in a hospital with no memory of how her friends were killed is pretty intriguing. Im sorry to say, however, that the maddening phenomenon Im calling cover fraud strikes again, since this is another book whose interior does not live up to its beautiful cover art.Mara
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