Ruined by Paula Morris
Aug. 15th, 2010 12:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreHalf of this book is largely entertaining, though the elements are better than the actual book. Then it hits the halfway mark, and it’s all downhill.
Rebecca lives in New York with her father but is sent to live in New Orleans with an aunt a few times removed when her father has to go to China on an extended business trip. There, she learns her new school has its own class system based on ancient Rome (no, I don’t really understand how that came about myself). She develops a habit of eavesdropping on the most elite clique in the graveyard, and finds a new BFF in the form of Lissette, a young black woman who died in 1853. It’s not precisely good and never manages the spooky atmosphere it’s going for, but it’s entertaining, and parts of it read like someone was very fond of The Secret Circle at some point..
Then the second half came along and we learned about the curse surrounding Lissette’s death, and the focus shifted drastically away from Lissette and Rebecca’s friendship with Lissette to Rebecca moping again and worrying about the token love interest, and then it turned epically faily.
We learn that the curse is that Lissette's mother was the mistress of the ancestor of Helena Bowman, the antagonist who notably is never developed beyond being mean, racist, and classist. When Lissette is murdered by Bowman’s wife, her mother places a curse on the family that no daughter of the family will live to be 17. Rebecca’s father is actually an estranged member of the Bowman family, and so either she or Helena will die next. Except that the next girl to die is supposed to be the last girl to die, and Rebecca’s father and aunt decide that things are actually totally OK because Helena is older and so will die first. Rebecca is ok with this too.
Forget actively breaking the curse! Forget making amends to Lissette and her mother! For reasons that are never really explained, everything will be ok as soon the mean girl conveniently dies! Oh, and the Bowmans (the other Bowmans) are evil for having the same idea (sacrifice Rebecca to save Helena).
So faily guys! Like, I’m totally fine with “not really good, but fun” but this, like, lures you in with possibility then laughs at you as it stomps on it.
Also, there’s this really weird scene early on where Rebecca pretends her grandmother was Hispanic so that some students she suspects are racist won’t want to talk to her. Barring the total ignorance regarding how racism works (especially among teens), this seems to be Morris’s “racism is bad!” moment, and the main plot does attempt to address racism to a degree (not very well, but I do believe there was an attempt). But seriously, what? Like, I can see what Morris was going for, but I can’t begin to see how she came up with that.
I think I’ll just read an L.J. Smith series now.
Rebecca lives in New York with her father but is sent to live in New Orleans with an aunt a few times removed when her father has to go to China on an extended business trip. There, she learns her new school has its own class system based on ancient Rome (no, I don’t really understand how that came about myself). She develops a habit of eavesdropping on the most elite clique in the graveyard, and finds a new BFF in the form of Lissette, a young black woman who died in 1853. It’s not precisely good and never manages the spooky atmosphere it’s going for, but it’s entertaining, and parts of it read like someone was very fond of The Secret Circle at some point..
Then the second half came along and we learned about the curse surrounding Lissette’s death, and the focus shifted drastically away from Lissette and Rebecca’s friendship with Lissette to Rebecca moping again and worrying about the token love interest, and then it turned epically faily.
We learn that the curse is that Lissette's mother was the mistress of the ancestor of Helena Bowman, the antagonist who notably is never developed beyond being mean, racist, and classist. When Lissette is murdered by Bowman’s wife, her mother places a curse on the family that no daughter of the family will live to be 17. Rebecca’s father is actually an estranged member of the Bowman family, and so either she or Helena will die next. Except that the next girl to die is supposed to be the last girl to die, and Rebecca’s father and aunt decide that things are actually totally OK because Helena is older and so will die first. Rebecca is ok with this too.
Forget actively breaking the curse! Forget making amends to Lissette and her mother! For reasons that are never really explained, everything will be ok as soon the mean girl conveniently dies! Oh, and the Bowmans (the other Bowmans) are evil for having the same idea (sacrifice Rebecca to save Helena).
So faily guys! Like, I’m totally fine with “not really good, but fun” but this, like, lures you in with possibility then laughs at you as it stomps on it.
Also, there’s this really weird scene early on where Rebecca pretends her grandmother was Hispanic so that some students she suspects are racist won’t want to talk to her. Barring the total ignorance regarding how racism works (especially among teens), this seems to be Morris’s “racism is bad!” moment, and the main plot does attempt to address racism to a degree (not very well, but I do believe there was an attempt). But seriously, what? Like, I can see what Morris was going for, but I can’t begin to see how she came up with that.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-15 08:55 pm (UTC)