Granted, I read the first disenchanting novel at a young age. I might not have been able to make such a valid judgement then, but I think I was old enough to know what I liked and didn't like. But the decision I made about the novel I read this past Summer is totally legitimate. I'm confident even if I tried to read it again, I'd hate it. Maybe I should reread the first novel to see if I still don't like it.
The Poison Apples by Lily Archer:
I first read The Poison Apples in eighth grade. I bought it along with The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Aimee Friedman (which I loved) at Barnes&Noble. I don't remember much about the plot, characters or actual details of story (expect some here and there), but it's basically about these four girls (I think) who meet at boarding school and they bond over the common fact that they all have stepmother who they hate. And they give each other ideas about to sabotage their "evil"stepmothers. It's like Cinderella gone rogue. I also remember being disappointed at the end and mostly towards the end. I didn't like the characters and the reasons why they hated their stepmothers were so stupid. I didn't think their stepmothers really did anything that bad; the means didn't justify the ends. Nothing was plausible in my opinion. Maybe I need to read it again to be absolutely sure, but I've already made up my mind and there's no chance in changing it. I do NOT recommend The Poison Apples by Lily Archer. If you've read it, did you like it? Or loathe it? (Like me.) Why?
The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald:
I read The Beautiful and Damned because the season four finale of Gossip Girl mentioned it and I love everything and anything endorsed by the Gossip Girl series (mostly). It started out really, really interesting and then by maybe the third part I was just so uninterested, but I couldn't not finish it. I guess I just got tired of the characters and their way of life. I was also a bit confused about how Gloria came to be... I mean, if you read it you'll know, but it's hard for me to explain.. I just remember Gloria complaining about life and being rich and Anthony and blah, blah, blah. At the beginning Anthony kind of had to chase her and every girl wants to chased by a man, I mean c'mon! But then he got her and she turned out to be a complete Bitch. Then all their friends fizzled away. I was disappointed about that because I liked Muriel and Maury. I honestly don't even remember how The Beautiful and Damned ended. I just remember finishing it on the line to get into the McQueen Exhibit at The Met last Summer. On that day, *sidenote*, I vowed never to stand on another line again, let alone for six hours. I don't need to reread this book to know my first impression of it was solid. Although I didn't like it, by the end I found a lot of quotes from it funny and witty. My favorite quote has to be: I think marriage is an error of youth.- Maury Noble. I have another post (one I wrote the day after finishing it) here. I just reread it and the first thing I thought was, What was I thinking?! I guess I've managed to make my opinion more subjective over time. I can't tell which post is more honest, this one or that one.. You decide! However, I do recommend The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I do like F. Scott Fitzgerald as an author and I will be reading more of his novels. You should too.
Looking for Alaska by John Green:
Looking for Alaska also wasn't really my cup of tea. I didn't like the way it ended or Alaska as a character. I wanted it to go completely different way than it did and I mostly didn't like how Miles treated Lara after what she did for/to him. What. the. hell.
Luckily, none of these mishaps put me off reading for good. I take every book I don't like as a challenge to read even more books that I do like. And so far for the three novels I didn't enjoy reading there's been about five novels I did enjoy reading, most of which I fell in love with.
