Sunday, April 21, 2013

Paula Reviews Touching The Surface by Kimberly Sabatini

Book: Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini
Published: 2012, Simon Pulse
How I got it: received a copy for review from the publisher
My rating: 2/3 stars

Okay so I want to qualify this review with a warning that I hardly ever read Young Adult fiction so I am probably not the best person to review this book. Everything I say should be taken with a giant grain of salt. Also I am going to keep the review short and sweet.

I asked to review the book because the concept behind it sounded really intriguing. The idea behind the novel was that when you die you arrive at Obmil (limbo) and have to stay there until you figure out who you were in your past life and can grow and move on to whatever is next (be it heaven, hell, round 2 of life). I really like stories that present ideas of the afterlife so I was excited to see what this book had to offer. 

Pros of the book: 
-I liked the world that was created and the idea that the souls and people you know will always be connected to you. 

Cons of the book: 
- I found the characters really flat. This book deals with a lot of heavy ideas and I felt no connection to any character or reason to care about any of them. At the end of the book I didn't feel like I knew any of the characters and any aspect of their personality felt like an afterthought. 
-The love triangle was really frustrating. It felt like Elliot (main character) would change her mind on who she liked every other page and depending on what mood she was in. So when she finally "realized" who she loved at the end it was not believable.
-The writing was pretty choppy and hard to follow. And what almost made me put the book down was that "OMG" was actually used in a sentence.



7 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review. I'm interested in learning more about the world that's created in this book, but I tend to think that the love triangle is the scourge of the young adult novel. Sadly it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

    I do have to say, the cover is beautiful. I love the colors.

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  2. Uuugh, someone actually wrote "OMG" on a BOOK? Certainly not gonna read this one.

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  3. Wow. Thank you for sharing your honest opinion about this book! Now I'm really not sure if I want to read it or not. I mean, I really love the idea of the book.. Books about the life after death always catch my attention.. But I really don't want to read a book about another love triangle!! They can be so frustrating. Especially when they resolve in an unbelievable way.
    Great review (:


    Sapir @ Diary of a Wimpy Teen Girl

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  4. That's too bad. It sounds like an interesting concept but one that wouldn't work if you don't feel a connection to the characters.

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  5. The actual idea behind this book sounds really awesome! Thanks for the review.

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  6. There is a well known Japanese movie "After Life" that sounds thematically rather similar. It was good enough to make it into the art houses about a decade ago.

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  7. I almost always find love triangles incredibly frustrating. There are a few instances that work but not many. Will probably steer clear of this book. It doesn't sound like my kind of read.

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