A wonderfully thought-provoking and brilliantly told epic tale of tragedy.That's only some of the words that come to my mind when I think about this book. I was hooked on this book right from the start - mainly because of the way the story was told. The two alternating viewpoints were flawless and I could see the correlation between Tim, the lovely albino boy, and Duncan, the new senior. There was a connection between them that you only got to know about as the story continued. And, what a story it was. I could write a short summary here like I usually do, but I've come to realize that if you want to know what the book is about you only have to look at the blurb, so I'll continue.The suspense in 'The Tragedy Paper' grew with each page I read and it sucked me in until I couldn't read the pages fast enough. This was the first time a book that had a love triangle felt less like a love triangle and more like a boy who happened to meet a girl on the off chance and couldn't help falling in love with her - one who unfortunately already had a boyfriend. The writing was not defined as a team 'him' or 'him', but of a type of unrequited love that just continued to break my heart as I read on. The story line itself keep me guessing Every time I thought I had it sussed out, Elizabeth LaBan threw me another curve ball that me think I was entirely wrong. The plot kept twisting and I loved it. I love unpredictable books. And I also loved how listening to Tim's story was somehow helping Duncan not to make the same mistakes he did. Somehow I thought that would be the greatest tragedy of all - for the characters not to have learned something meaningful out of what was and what could have been a far worse tragedy then it was. The characters in this book were special. Usually if I can connect to the characters earlier on in the novel, then I enjoy everything else. The thing is that it wasn't that I knew a huge amount about their family life, but through Tim's story, I also got to learn about both boys' back story. Vanessa was the central point for both characters, even if in Duncan's case it was more peripherally. Haha I bet that doesn't really make sense, but it does if you think of the time that passed between Tim's tragedy and Duncan hearing about it in full. They felt real and that was important to me.I tried to be on the lookout for anything that disturbed me about the book and, I have to be honest, I failed. They were probably there, but when you have a book that just clicks with you, it's harder to find them and that's what happened to me. For me, this book was charming, intense and just brilliant. Overall, 'The Tragedy Paper' was thoroughly enjoyable and it was a pleasure to read. I would recommend this book to anyone.Now for my rating:- Originally, I was only going to give this book four stars, but as I wrote this review I realized just how much I loved 'The Tragedy Paper' so I have to go with my instinct and that is -5 out of 5 stars.This review can be found here:-http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingthings.blogspot.co.nz/
A Reader's Heart
Focuses on reviews of Young Adult novels with honesty and integrity. My ratings and reviews vary on how I feel about the book.
A wonderfully thought-provoking and brilliantly told epic tale of tragedy.That's only some of the words that come to my mind when I think about this book. I was hooked on this book right from the start - mainly because of the way the story was told. The two alternating viewpoints were flawless and I could see the correlation between Tim, the lovely albino boy, and Duncan, the new senior. There was a connection between them that you only got to know about as the story continued. And, what a story it was. I could write a short summary here like I usually do, but I've come to realize that if you want to know what the book is about you only have to look at the blurb, so I'll continue.The suspense in 'The Tragedy Paper' grew with each page I read and it sucked me in until I couldn't read the pages fast enough. This was the first time a book that had a love triangle felt less like a love triangle and more like a boy who happened to meet a girl on the off chance and couldn't help falling in love with her - one who unfortunately already had a boyfriend. The writing was not defined as a team 'him' or 'him', but of a type of unrequited love that just continued to break my heart as I read on. The story line itself keep me guessing Every time I thought I had it sussed out, Elizabeth LaBan threw me another curve ball that me think I was entirely wrong. The plot kept twisting and I loved it. I love unpredictable books. And I also loved how listening to Tim's story was somehow helping Duncan not to make the same mistakes he did. Somehow I thought that would be the greatest tragedy of all - for the characters not to have learned something meaningful out of what was and what could have been a far worse tragedy then it was. The characters in this book were special. Usually if I can connect to the characters earlier on in the novel, then I enjoy everything else. The thing is that it wasn't that I knew a huge amount about their family life, but through Tim's story, I also got to learn about both boys' back story. Vanessa was the central point for both characters, even if in Duncan's case it was more peripherally. Haha I bet that doesn't really make sense, but it does if you think of the time that passed between Tim's tragedy and Duncan hearing about it in full. They felt real and that was important to me.I tried to be on the lookout for anything that disturbed me about the book and, I have to be honest, I failed. They were probably there, but when you have a book that just clicks with you, it's harder to find them and that's what happened to me. For me, this book was charming, intense and just brilliant. Overall, 'The Tragedy Paper' was thoroughly enjoyable and it was a pleasure to read. I would recommend this book to anyone.Now for my rating:- Originally, I was only going to give this book four stars, but as I wrote this review I realized just how much I loved 'The Tragedy Paper' so I have to go with my instinct and that is -5 out of 5 stars.This review can be found here:-http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingthings.blogspot.co.nz/
