Saturday, 8 August 2015

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Review:


After first buying this only a couple of months ago now, I was initially planning on waiting a while longer and getting through some older books before I read this.  But after being in a reading slump for far too long, with every book taking me a couple of weeks before I either gave up or finally finished it, I was in desperate need for a book which I both wanted to read and one which wouldn’t seem like too much of a struggle to get through.  And after a long hard look at my bookshelves, I decided that this would be the one to revive my urge to read – something I am pretty sure it did.

One of the first things that I found worked well was the four-way split POV.  I liked how we saw the world through more than one set of eyes, as well as how different each character was, with everyone having different personalities and roles to play in the story.  I also enjoyed watching as they all evolved and grew as people as the book went on.  My only problem with the split POV was that sometimes I found it confusing as to who was speaking, especially when they had scenes together or it went over an event that had already been told from another’s perspective.
               


Staying on the topic of characters, I also liked how all their stories slowly began to interlock, with them all having an impact on the other three’s lives.  I really enjoyed watching as the four grew together and slowly but surely began to interweave themselves into one or two plots instead of four completely separate ones.

One thing that I think really helped me get through the book was the writing style, which, despite not being particularly unusual or unique, I found to be more interesting than most, something which really kept me reading.  The different sections of the book also helped to make the book more manageable, as instead of being one 370 page book, the way it was split up made it more like ten, 40 pages sections; something which I found alot less daunting almost.

As for the story, all in all I enjoyed most of the plots and subplots, with all them nearly always incorporating more than one of the four main characters into each.  However, I did find the story slow to start, likely down to the four different characters who all needed to be introduced and whose stories needed to be set up before everything could really begin.  Due to this, I would definitely say that I preferred the later half of the book to the first, as by this time everyone was well in pursuit of their goals and they well all beginning to develop as characters.

In addition, this may be an explanation as to why I loved the ending/ last section of the book.  I really liked how everything ended on a huge cliff-hanger, as it allowed the individual reader to truly decide the character’s fate, rather than the author already setting that in stone.

Favourite:

Scene(s): Protest outside the air base
Character(s): Anita
Quote(s):  “The best books, they don’t talk about things you never through about before.  They talk about things you‘d always thought about, but that you didn’t think anyone else had thought about.  You read them, and suddenly, you’re a little bit less alone in the world.”
“Who’s dumber? The guy who does his own thing or the girl who does someone else’s thing?”
“You didn’t win the game of life by losing the least…. Real winning was having the most to lose, even if it meant you might lose it all.  Even if it meant you would lose it all, sooner or later.”

Relate a:

Song(s):  The Kids Aren’t Alright – Fall Out Boy
The Fall – Imagine Dragons
Other Book(s):  Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky

Rating:


4/5

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