October 24, 2014
MY HEART IS BROKEN, BUT MY HEART IS TRUE.
Wowzapants: I have a lot to say. LET’S GET TO IT. (No spoilers.)
Let me start with the question everyone wants to know: is this your new favourite Stephanie Perkins? Unfortunately, not even close. My order is officially Anna, Lola, and then Isla.
Before I get into the meat of this all, please know that I didn't hate it. I really enjoyed most of it. I flew through the entire thing in one day. Stephanie Perkins knows how to write some truly adorable moments. But that wasn't enough. Anna and Lola also had cheesy and wonderful moments. But those moments came mixed together with depth. This didn't.
1) Certain Scenes vs The Entire Plot: My biggest sentiment with this book was that I LOVED a lot of scenes, but didn’t really like the plot overall. Stephanie Perkins kept showing me why I love her in specific moments - like Barcelona, ohmygod - but as a whole this story was badly paced and badly plotted. So I’m left looking back at wonderful snippets - seriously, Barcelona, ohmygod - but not really caring about the plot overall. I never felt that we were moving somewhere, I never felt a legitimate progression of time. Things were happening, I suppose, but never excitingly.
2) The Characters: I didn’t care about the characters. I sincerely didn’t know it was possible to say this about a Stephanie Perkins novel. I mean.. WHAT. WHAT. The whole reason we love Anna and St. Clair and Lola and Cricket is because they feel real. They feel touchable. They feel like people we could meet. Admittedly, Josh wasn’t bad. But Isla? Who was she? I still don’t really know her. Her sisters? Meh! Her supposed “best friend”? He felt like a random side character. And that is tragic, because one of the things I loved about Anna and Lola is that everyone felt important. Everyone felt like an important piece of the puzzle, and even if I didn’t know a character fully because it wasn’t their story (e.g./ Meredith,) they felt dear to me and as though they would have an important story someday -that they weren’t just here as a supporting character to someone else’s story.
3) The Setting: I mean. Cmon. CMON. I’ve said it a thousand times, and I’ll probably end up saying it a thousand more times: In Anna, Paris isn’t just the background, it’s a character. In Lola it wasn’t AS impressive, but the sense of incredible atmosphere was still there! Not here in Isla. We spend time in Paris? Meh. It could have been anywhere. We spend time in NYC? Meh. NYC is a place I’ve personally visited, a place that is wonderful and dirty and grimy and amazing and here it was meh. The only moment I felt the passion of the area was in that Barcelona moment and it was glorious but it was a dying spark of hope.
4) The Themes: Not a single person on this planet is denying that Anna, Lola, and Isla are loves stories. The main theme is love. About the characters better knowing themselves so that ultimately? They can find love. This is not a flaw. This is wonderful. I love seeing love happen. I LOVE IT. And in Anna? I saw love happen. In Lola? I saw love happen. In Isla? I saw an obsessive crush happen and then explode into instalove. I couldn’t support was being preached in this book. That love is about obsessing over others because magically they’ve always loved you back? I’m sorry but no. I kept hoping that Perkins would say “You see all the obsessing that Isla has been doing? It’s been unhealthy and wrong!” but instead it was made okay and even desirable and cute. It wasn’t cute. Also the jealousy. Jealousy is a left thing, folks. You’ll feel it, I’ll feel it, we’ll all feel it. It played big roles in Anna AND Lola but there it was resolved. It was seen as ugly. Here? It was glossed over. It wasn’t resolved. It was left hanging and that made me sad.
5) The Plot Conflict Wasn’t Conflict: It’s tricky to say too much here without spoiling so I’ll keep it short: the main problem here? It wasn’t a problem. I couldn’t root for it to be solved because it wasn’t a problem. The whole time I was just sitting there thinking “HAVE AN EFFING CONVERSATION AND IT’LL BE EFFING SOLVED,” because it wasn’t a problem. It was one person thinking something and then what? The reader was supposed to accept that as a problem? IT WASN’T A PROBLEM. How am I supposed to care about the plot if it’s just drama? *grrrrrrr*
6) Josh: Again, I’ll keep it short because I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but there wasn’t enough Josh. I get it, yeah, yeah, this is Isla’s story, but the whole point is that it isn’t. It’s THEIR story. Anna&Etienne, Lola&Cricket, Isla&Josh. I’ve finished the book and I still don’t get why the heck Josh likes Isla. I’m not saying that out of spite: I seriously don’t remember a reason. With the past couples it was about the couples having to work together, but here it wasn’t at all. That’s sad. I really liked Josh and his part was smushed down to “love interest” instead of “complex character.”
7) My Favourite Scene: My favourite scene of this book was when we got to see the other characters. And that, to me, is the final nail in the coffin. It's a total cop-out, it doesn't even count: how can my favourite scene be the one that doesn't focus on the main characters of this book AT ALL? Obviously it makes sense that I would be attached to the scene because I’ve loved Anna and Lola for so long, but man. Nothing came close to that scene. I literally was wishing that Isla would disappear so I could just revel in the presence of the old characters because they? THEY were magic.
I’m sorry that this wasn’t the review we all wanted. Throughout my reading of the book I was part joy (because like I said I DID find cute stuff in it that made me smile and kept me glued to it) and part dread. I wanted to love it. I’ve been waiting for this book for more than two years. I fought the literal gods to get my hands on an arc. I wanted to love it, but I didn’t. I have to be honest with myself and with you guys. This book wasn’t as good as the other two, and apart from the others it doesn't stand well alone.
MY HEART IS BROKEN, BUT MY HEART IS TRUE.
Wowzapants: I have a lot to say. LET’S GET TO IT. (No spoilers.)
Let me start with the question everyone wants to know: is this your new favourite Stephanie Perkins? Unfortunately, not even close. My order is officially Anna, Lola, and then Isla.
Before I get into the meat of this all, please know that I didn't hate it. I really enjoyed most of it. I flew through the entire thing in one day. Stephanie Perkins knows how to write some truly adorable moments. But that wasn't enough. Anna and Lola also had cheesy and wonderful moments. But those moments came mixed together with depth. This didn't.
1) Certain Scenes vs The Entire Plot: My biggest sentiment with this book was that I LOVED a lot of scenes, but didn’t really like the plot overall. Stephanie Perkins kept showing me why I love her in specific moments - like Barcelona, ohmygod - but as a whole this story was badly paced and badly plotted. So I’m left looking back at wonderful snippets - seriously, Barcelona, ohmygod - but not really caring about the plot overall. I never felt that we were moving somewhere, I never felt a legitimate progression of time. Things were happening, I suppose, but never excitingly.
2) The Characters: I didn’t care about the characters. I sincerely didn’t know it was possible to say this about a Stephanie Perkins novel. I mean.. WHAT. WHAT. The whole reason we love Anna and St. Clair and Lola and Cricket is because they feel real. They feel touchable. They feel like people we could meet. Admittedly, Josh wasn’t bad. But Isla? Who was she? I still don’t really know her. Her sisters? Meh! Her supposed “best friend”? He felt like a random side character. And that is tragic, because one of the things I loved about Anna and Lola is that everyone felt important. Everyone felt like an important piece of the puzzle, and even if I didn’t know a character fully because it wasn’t their story (e.g./ Meredith,) they felt dear to me and as though they would have an important story someday -that they weren’t just here as a supporting character to someone else’s story.
3) The Setting: I mean. Cmon. CMON. I’ve said it a thousand times, and I’ll probably end up saying it a thousand more times: In Anna, Paris isn’t just the background, it’s a character. In Lola it wasn’t AS impressive, but the sense of incredible atmosphere was still there! Not here in Isla. We spend time in Paris? Meh. It could have been anywhere. We spend time in NYC? Meh. NYC is a place I’ve personally visited, a place that is wonderful and dirty and grimy and amazing and here it was meh. The only moment I felt the passion of the area was in that Barcelona moment and it was glorious but it was a dying spark of hope.
4) The Themes: Not a single person on this planet is denying that Anna, Lola, and Isla are loves stories. The main theme is love. About the characters better knowing themselves so that ultimately? They can find love. This is not a flaw. This is wonderful. I love seeing love happen. I LOVE IT. And in Anna? I saw love happen. In Lola? I saw love happen. In Isla? I saw an obsessive crush happen and then explode into instalove. I couldn’t support was being preached in this book. That love is about obsessing over others because magically they’ve always loved you back? I’m sorry but no. I kept hoping that Perkins would say “You see all the obsessing that Isla has been doing? It’s been unhealthy and wrong!” but instead it was made okay and even desirable and cute. It wasn’t cute. Also the jealousy. Jealousy is a left thing, folks. You’ll feel it, I’ll feel it, we’ll all feel it. It played big roles in Anna AND Lola but there it was resolved. It was seen as ugly. Here? It was glossed over. It wasn’t resolved. It was left hanging and that made me sad.
5) The Plot Conflict Wasn’t Conflict: It’s tricky to say too much here without spoiling so I’ll keep it short: the main problem here? It wasn’t a problem. I couldn’t root for it to be solved because it wasn’t a problem. The whole time I was just sitting there thinking “HAVE AN EFFING CONVERSATION AND IT’LL BE EFFING SOLVED,” because it wasn’t a problem. It was one person thinking something and then what? The reader was supposed to accept that as a problem? IT WASN’T A PROBLEM. How am I supposed to care about the plot if it’s just drama? *grrrrrrr*
6) Josh: Again, I’ll keep it short because I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but there wasn’t enough Josh. I get it, yeah, yeah, this is Isla’s story, but the whole point is that it isn’t. It’s THEIR story. Anna&Etienne, Lola&Cricket, Isla&Josh. I’ve finished the book and I still don’t get why the heck Josh likes Isla. I’m not saying that out of spite: I seriously don’t remember a reason. With the past couples it was about the couples having to work together, but here it wasn’t at all. That’s sad. I really liked Josh and his part was smushed down to “love interest” instead of “complex character.”
7) My Favourite Scene: My favourite scene of this book was when we got to see the other characters. And that, to me, is the final nail in the coffin. It's a total cop-out, it doesn't even count: how can my favourite scene be the one that doesn't focus on the main characters of this book AT ALL? Obviously it makes sense that I would be attached to the scene because I’ve loved Anna and Lola for so long, but man. Nothing came close to that scene. I literally was wishing that Isla would disappear so I could just revel in the presence of the old characters because they? THEY were magic.
I’m sorry that this wasn’t the review we all wanted. Throughout my reading of the book I was part joy (because like I said I DID find cute stuff in it that made me smile and kept me glued to it) and part dread. I wanted to love it. I’ve been waiting for this book for more than two years. I fought the literal gods to get my hands on an arc. I wanted to love it, but I didn’t. I have to be honest with myself and with you guys. This book wasn’t as good as the other two, and apart from the others it doesn't stand well alone.
MY HEART IS BROKEN, BUT MY HEART IS TRUE.