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Tom Leveen

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20+ verk 593 medlemmar 52 recensioner

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Inkluderar namnet: Tom Leveen

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Violent Ends (2015) — Bidragsgivare — 247 exemplar

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I've spent over 30 years since Way of the Clans wondering what an Elemental trial of position would be like.
Now I know!
Thanks Tom!
 
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Kavinay | Jan 30, 2024 |
When I first read the synopsis for this book I was intrigued because it sounded very much like the movies Crash and The Air I Breathe (and to a lesser extent the tv show Lost). When someone tells a story its obviously biased according to their background, their prejudices, their experiences. I find it fascinating to read the varied accounts, eye witness statements, about the same event. Details change, focus shifts and you get a much better idea of what could have happened by taking the viewpoints of eleven different people into account.

Sometimes this worked really well for the book. As we travel chapter to chapter, each one dedicated to a different person of the eleven who was integral to the 'main event' (so to speak), little details fall into place. We know why Beckett is so withdrawn and uncommunicative (her 'story' is first), but we don't know why Antho (Anthony) suddenly began acting so erratically during the school year. We have Beckett's guess, but its vague at best because she had so many other worries. Equally we know why Morrigan seeks out Ryan at the party, but we don't find out until Ryan's chapter why he reacted the way he did. Little pieces that add up to a whole.

Unfortunately there were some chapters that left me feeling less enthused. I wouldn't say I was bored, but a couple chapters felt like Leveen wanted to get all his backstory about a character out there no matter what. For the most part the chapters ran at concurrent times (with some events intersecting others) or directly led into each other. This was a double-edge sword as Leveen would then have to backtrack in each chapter to give backstory that was relevant to that particular character, but to the overall story held little weight and thus distracted from the plot. A tighter focus in each individual chapter would have helped greatly, reducing the extraneous information considerably.

This was a somewhat different kind of novel for me to read. Not only in its format, but also because I don't tend towards the young adult genre fiction category too often. Actually I don't tend towards genre fiction in general. However, despite the kinks that needed ironing in the narrative the book did not disappoint in its initial premise; the story of how one party can be seen (and mean) such different things to eleven people.
… (mer)
 
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lexilewords | 10 andra recensioner | Dec 28, 2023 |
I decided to read this book well before I knew that it was going to be coming out right as another horrific school shooting took place in America. It seems like that might be the best time to read a book like this because it gives you insight into the issue. But honestly?? It felt emotionally harder to read this book as my mind kept drifting towards real-life events, and I just felt sad and empty.

Real-life situations aside, the book itself was good. I'm a big Tom Leveen fan, having read and loved [b:Party|6251198|Party|Tom Leveen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320459345s/6251198.jpg|6434073] and [b:Zero|10869590|Zero|Tom Leveen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1333577993s/10869590.jpg|15784841], so I was really hyped to see he had a new book coming out. He's definitely a fan of the multiple perspectives, and I think this time he went a tad too far. I had trouble keeping them straight and I didn't think the voices sounded all that different from each other. Or different enough anyway. A lot of the teens in this book were younger (9th grade), and I did appreciate that they came off as young.

There were a lot of issues in this book, but unlike the too many perspectives, this made the book stronger. One of the characters is a cutter, one has a mom that is an addict, and one has parents that just don't "get" him. There's a suicide attempt, drug use, bullying, naked pictures, and sports & school pressures. It all kind of made for a pressure cooker that leads to a horrifying event.

The hardest part: You guys, we read from the school shooter's perspective during this book and it is HARD. You get to know him and his thoughts and feelings, and you're probably not going to hate him. I wouldn't say this book sympathizes with the shooter, but I would say that it makes it clear that it's all complicated. People who do bad things aren't always bad through and through, and some of them are people that are in a lot of pain. But being that this book came out so close to a major incident, it was hard for me to find myself having positive feelings of any sort towards someone who hurts innocent people.

My favorite parts: I loved Cadence and her ability to be positive and want to help people. I loved the friendship she forged with 2 troubled boys-- and they were better for it. I loved her ability to flit from group to group and brush it off when people made her feel unwanted. She was a shining star in this book. I also really liked the play aspect and wish that they actually got to put on Hamlet. It was cool to see how something like an after-school activity can be the thing to help someone who might be feeling lost.

OVERALL: This was a tough one. It's timely, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe it's different for everybody. I love Tom Leveen's ability to tell a story through multiple people, but I was wishing there were fewer characters in this book. I did like reading about all the different backgrounds and issues each character was going through though. I cautiously recommend, but be mentally ready for this before you dive in.

My Blog:

Pink Polka Dot Books
… (mer)
 
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Michelle_PPDB | Mar 18, 2023 |
Amanda AKA Zero's summer is off to an awesome start. Her scholarship to art school (and ticket out of Arizona) didn't come through, her best/only friend Jenn and her are going through a.....thing, and her home life sucks.

After meeting and falling for a drummer in a punk band, Zero decides to take more control over her life and her future in art. She suffers from extremely low self-esteem and it doesn't help that her dad has a drinking problem which has turned her house into a war-zone. As Mike's band begins to take off Zero has some tough decisions to make about her relationship, stuff going on at home, her friendship with Jenn, and her art.


My Thoughts:
This is the second book I've read by Tom Leveen (the first being [b:Party|6251198|Party|Tom Leveen|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320459345s/6251198.jpg|6434073] , which I LOVED), and I am officially digging this author. He knows how to write characters. I really liked how he was able to capture the voice of Amanda, a self-esteem deprived art girl, and pull it off! I mean men don't usually get how girls think, especially teenage girls. I'm not sure I even get what goes on in their heads and I was one once. Mr. Leveen did a super-job writing this girl in a way that was so believable.

This is not a action-packed book. It's more about that awkward time in your life when you get your first boyfriend and don't exactly know what you're doing. Except Amanda was older, so she wasn't immature about it, she was just figuring things out. I really liked how she embraced the whole "Zero" nickname. It was her ironic way of joining in on what people were saying about her in high school... but then you just knew she was destined to shed it at some point. No one should be a "Zero" for the rest of their life. Especially not someone with so much talent.

I must say I was a little jealous of these teenage kids. Mike and Amanda were both very talented and both knew what they were good at and what they wanted to do with their lives. Or at least what they wanted to try doing. I'm in my 30's and sad to say I still don't know what I'm really all that good at. I don't want to be ordinary (does anybody?). But these two were anything but ordinary. Amanda had so much talent, she just needed to find a way to believe in herself more and show that true emotion in her work. That was cool to read about.

The whole thing that goes on with Amanda and Jenn was a little weird/off-the-wall for me. I wasn't expecting the issue that they were having to be what it was... and I'm still not convinced things could ever be the same with them. But I was glad that they were trying. I don't want to tell you what the issue was, it was a little disturbing.

So now the relationship: LOVED IT!!! No insta-love!! This was a boy and a girl meeting each other and a real build to being together. And the ending!!! LOVED IT!! So not a fantasy fairy-tale, just real freaking life!!!

OVERALL: I'm hooked on Tom Leveen's writing. Party was amazing, and this one wasn't far behind it. It's not as goth or punk as the cover makes it seem. It's just great characters who happen to love art and music. If you want to read a book about a girl finding herself amid rough circumstances, this one's for you!

My Blog:



… (mer)
 
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Michelle_PPDB | 10 andra recensioner | Mar 18, 2023 |

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Statistik

Verk
20
Även av
1
Medlemmar
593
Popularitet
#42,349
Betyg
½ 3.6
Recensioner
52
ISBN
52
Språk
1

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