julie42's Full Review: V. C. Andrews - The Wildflowers
Misty, by V.C. Andrews
Oh my. Where to begin? I started this novel with the enthusiasm I have when I begin any V.C. Andrews novel. It faded quite quickly. I guess I’m the same type of person who is a die-hard Soap Opera fan. Even if I don’t like the material, I still watch the show. The main thing I hate about this series is this:
The ENTIRE book is in first person. You have to think to yourself, how much can a fifteen year old have to say? Well, apparently this one can speak for 150 pages, in a very commodious diction. (Big Words.) I was incredibly surprised at the language that this girl is supposed to be talking in. I didn’t realize it until now, but most of V.C. Andrews novels are like that, little girls, big words. This character, Misty, is supposed to be a troubled child. She wears “end teen-age labour” tee-shirts to irriate her mother, she runs away with a boy on a motorcycle. The words used in this book by her were certainly not the kind I’d assume would come out of a mouth of a character meant to act rebellious.
Reading in first person got very tiring after awhile. At first, I kept thinking that soon it would go off and she would reminisce. Lots of books do that. A person starts talking,a nd it fades into the book, or movie. Unfortunately, I flipped to the middle of the book. Nope, still in First Person. Misty was having conversations with herself. This NOT from the book, but read it out loud, and listen to how it sounds:
“I said to him ‘that’s not how things should be. You should do it my way’ He disagreed. ‘No, let’s do it how I want to.’ ‘You are not listening to me!’ ‘Yes I am!’ ‘I never believed he was interested in what I had to say’”
It got to the point where she was having arugments with herself. I know that she was retelling arguments between her and her family, or her divorcing parents, but it was hard to read. And then suddenly she would be talking to the support group again. It was very hard to believe that a 15 year old girl was sitting in a pyschiatrists office having these conversations. (She’s not mentally unstable. Just talking to a support group, each girl gets her own novel in this series.) I wondered if she would alter her pitch to differentiate who was speaking, or if she even moved from side to side to look at herself.
I won’t dwell on it, it just wasn’t realistic. Thankfully this series is a set of short books. Do I recommend it? Well, it kept my attention. There was a somewhat interesting plot. Her parents are in the middle of a brutal divorce, and she meets a guy. Sure, it’s a captivating book... it just made me think too much. I prefer books that I don’t even realize I’m reading. Similarily, I like to watch movies where I don’t have to think about how bad the acting is, or how many holes there in the plot.
Go ahead and read the book for yourself. It wasn’t a complete waste of time, it just really should have been written in a different style.
The four novels of the Wildflowers series, Misty, Star, Jade , and Cat , are now available in one volume. Four young women deal with the heartbreaking...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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