THE GOLDFINCH

By: Donna Tartt

Plot: About a boy, Theo, who unintentionally(?) steals a priceless work of art from a museum after there was a terrorist attack. He and his mom were in the museum at the time, and the story follows him for the next several years.

My Thoughts: Ugh, this book. What do I think about this book? I guess it depends on where I was at in this massive book that determines whether I was enjoying it or not. At the beginning I was enjoying it. I really liked when Theo was living at his friend's house. I liked his friend and I actually really liked his friend's mom too. Unfortunately this didn't last long.

Once his dad comes back, everything goes downhill. And as soon as Theo meets Boris, I started to dislike it more and more. Because I freaking hate Boris. As soon as he came into the picture the book just sucked, basically. Reading about two loser teenage boys getting drunk/high/stoned/whatever everyday is just so not appealing to me whatsoever and basically felt like a chore to keep reading about it.

Finally, when the book was getting too boring to even keep reading, it jumped a few years into the future and that's the only reason I kept going. Problem was, now I just really don't even like Theo. I didn't care anymore. The fact that he still even has this painting, just shows what kind of a person he is. Except, shocker, his "best friend" stole the painting. Of course this psycho took his painting and of course Theo is too stupid to realize it.

Then the whole fiasco of getting the painting back and oh my heck I DON'T CARE and even writing about it is making me angry. I hate everyone in this book and I'm so done with it. It felt like a chore to even write about this book. So disappointing because there were points I was enjoying the book, but that didn't last long.

Favorite Quotes: "You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life."

Rating: 2/5 I was like really happy when the book was finally over.

MARKED

By: P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Plot: I'm not sure that there was one. Something about a girl, a mark, a school and vampires. That's about it.

My Thoughts: Full disclosure: I didn't finish this book. Because this book is the worst. The story was so slow moving. Nothing in the plot was ever explained or developed.  Almost halfway through the novel she's still on the first day of school! There were so many inconsistencies and just terrible writing. Also, why spell vampire, vampyre? That's just annoying. Spelling it that way doesn't make you edgy or cool or any different from the million other authors writing about the exact same thing.

I don't understand why some authors think that to sound like a teenager they have to make the characters so stupid! It's insulting to teenagers really. Apart from that, they also made the main character shallow, selfish, judgmental, mean, and just a stereotypical bratty girl. I found nothing to like about her at all. There was nothing new or original about her or any of the other characters for that matter. The only way they knew how to make one girl sound southern was to have her say "y'all" ALL. THE. TIME.

[More ranting about the main character.] She was so full of herself! Talking about her perfect skin, hair, and clothes.  Yeah like a typical teenage girl is going to be able to relate to that. I've never heard so many brand names mentioned in a book before. I don't care! Clearly the authors are not capable of writing good descriptions so they have to just drop a bunch of brand names to make the character sound cool. And really it just made the main character sound so superficial.

I can't think of a single thing I liked about this book. It was just terrible. I will never read anything by these "authors" ever again.

Rating: Negative a million stars.