Arlaina Tibensky

It wasn't very far into this book when I realized that I didn't really like it. I kept trying to convince myself to just enjoy the story or, at least, not to get too down on it so quickly. I was hoping that it would redeem itself somehow, but I don't think that it ever really did.

The narrator, a fifteen year old girl nicknamed Keek, is stuck at her grandmother's house during the summer with a case of chicken pox because her parents didn't get her vaccinated for that or any other communicable disease. As the story goes on, the reader finds out that her mom is off in California with Keek's aunt because the aunt has just given birth to Keek's baby cousin three months prematurely. You also find out that Keek's parents are getting divorced, which Keek is convinced is her father's fault because he had sex with Keek's twenty-three-year-old best friend. By the time I was fifty pages in, I was not only convinced that the character was a whiny, selfish, slut-shaming, Sylvia Plath-obsessed brat. It felt like her pseudo-rebellion of dyeing her hair pink and black and her obsessive love of Sylvia Plath fed into her own feeling that her life was worse than any other person in the universe, I was also convinced that her mother was immature and a bad parent, not just for leaving her extremely sick daughter, but for going to California, where she would be spending time around a premature baby that is fighting for its life and might accidentally expose it to an infectious disease. I was also judging both of her parents for letting her hang out with a twenty-three year old--an eight year age difference when you're fifteen is kind of a big deal.

Keek was not only shameless in her bashing of anyone who might have even the slightest sexual inclinations (except herself), she was also pretentious and seemed to be unaware of anything outside of her little world. I know that there are fifteen year olds out there who are like this, but that doesn't mean I like reading about a character who is anything like those teenagers. She is obviously very, very immature, which kind of makes me wonder why a twenty-three year old would even want to hang out with her.

The story had no real plot. The characters were all very shallow. It seems more like it's a Mary Sue-ish fanfiction of The Bell Jar than anything else. If I ever hear or see the words "sofa" and "king" next to one another again, I just might scream. I wish that I hadn't read this book because I think I could have found a much better use for my time. The only thing that could possibly redeem this story is if the author came out and said that it is really a satire on how some people in suburban settings are just completely out of touch with reality and how they raise their children to be just like them.… (mer)

From "Best Kept YA Secrets 2011" www.jenryland.blogspot.com Dec 13, 2011

Sylvia Plath. Chicken Pox. An old-fashioned typewriter.

This sounds like a party game: pick three things out of a hat and make them into a story. But it works. Keek is quarantined at her grandmother's house with a case of the chicken pox and this mysterious device called a typewriter. She's pissed at her boyfriend. Her parents are splitting up. And she's obsessed with Sylvia Plath. This book is clever, poignant and funny. Keek has a strong, hilarious voice. If you haven't read this book, why not?
… (mer)

I very much enjoyed AND THEN THINGS FALL APART. The entire story is told primarily from a sickbed, as the main character, Keek, has been struck by a late case of the chicken pox. Keek's parents are getting divorced, her mom is across the country, and her boyfriend is AWOL. All Keek has to distract her from the itching and other unfortunate side effects is her grandmother, well-loved copy of Sylvia Plath's THE BELL JAR, and an ancient typewriter.

For me, it was Keek's voice that made the novel. She's jaded, sarcastic, generally disillusioned... and who can blame her? It's no surprise that she identifies so closely with THE BELL JAR, even though she fully admits that sometimes she has no clue what Plath is talking about.

I loved the visual the author evoked of Keek sitting in a bed, covered in itchy bumps and perhaps a bit smelly, with a huge typewriter sitting atop her lap. Or maybe beside her... though I more frequently pictured it perched on her legs as she sat Indian-style. She sits in this room, on this bed, with a typewriter and types through her problems. It's like extreme journaling.

Though Keek's grandmother only pops up in the story here and there, I can't seem to forget about her. She's nothing like the grandmother that we might stereotypically imagine... she's a bit harder, a bit more mysterious. I like that though... Keek's grandmother would sometimes show Keek a bit of her history that I think we often forget grandmothers have... It made me look at my own grandmother in a slightly different light.

I'm curious to see what Arlaina Tibensky will offer readers next... Keek's personality stands out for me above the other main characters of other recent reads and I'm wondering if her next MC will follow suit.… (mer)