Apple and Rain (Sarah Crossan) BOOK REVIEW

17:00 Unknown 2 Comments

Ahoy!

A Goodreads friend of mine, Jaden, recommended this book to me and almost immediately, I went and requested it from the library! 

To be honest, I was quite dissapointed with the story, I think this was heightened by the fact that someone had obviously enjoyed it so much that they thought I would enjoy it. I don't know, I feel like I let them down.



In a Nutshell:
After 11 years away, 13 year old Apple's mother turns up, bringing with her a whole new world (*starts singing*), trouble, fun and something more...

The Actual Review:

Towards the middle of the book, I came up with this:
Poor 
Piece of
Lousy
English literature

And

Really
Astonishingly, 
Incontestably
Not as good as it could be.

I'll stick to the second half of this because as I was reading it it seemed that Crossan had spent so much time trying to narrate like a 13 year old would, that she forgot to tell a story. The best part of the narration is the poetry and imagery. 

The characters were nothing more than Okay. I didn't care when Rain was introduced, whereas if it had been written differently I probably would have. Nana, Donna and Mr Gaydon too, were moderately very stereotypical. 

The plot was good although at times unbelievable. No school is that careless to let a student go without being told by the legal guardian. But Del being introduced, Rain's disappearance and the whole Donna/Pilar malarkey intrigued me. 

If you enjoy or as a child enjoyed Jacqueline Wilson stories, then this might be the story for you (although, even though I loved Jacqueline Wilson, I didn't particularly enjoy this) as it deals with very similar themes.

Rating:
⭐️⭐️.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm not usually one to go for decimalised rating, but I don't think it was as bad as 2 stars nor as good as 3.

In Conclusion:
⚫️ The narration is poor
⚫️ There wasn't enough character development, I felt like she introduced characters with a name and just expected us to know their character and personality.
⚫️ The plot is good
⚫️ At times, it is unbelievable 

//////////Quote of the post///////////

"Poetry can teach us about ourselves. It can comfort us when we are in despair. I can bring joy. But not only that... It can open us up. It can make our worlds bigger and brighter and clearer, it can transform us" - Sarah Crossan, Apple and Rain

2 comments:

  1. Aww thats disappointing!!! Next Time you can give examples of exactly why it didnt work for you!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the suggestion, Tori! Feedback always means a lot to me!

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