Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Release Date: September 27th, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
Page Count: 452
Source: Borrowed from the New York Public Library
Rating: Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.
She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.
She’s wrong.
[Summary Source: Goodreads]
THE REVIEW
So there's this gigantic accident that kills 3 teens and leaves one in the hospital. That one teen who survives is Mara Dyer. (Or at least that's what we're told her name is. It's not really, supposedly.) Mara wakes up with no memory of what happened and is so traumatized by the whole thing that she convinces her family to move all the way to Florida to escape her past. But, like, obviously that's not going to happen. Throw in a hot guy and a little paranormal activity and we've got ourselves a story.
Let's break this down:
After I finished this book I messaged Judith freaking out. If it weren't for spoilers, I would just screenshot the whole conversation and post that in lieu of a review. Alas. SPOILERS. BUT I will quote a few of my gut responses because, well, they're pertinent.
All of that sounds promising, doesn't it?
None of this is to say I don't like this book. I did like this book. I liked Noah and Mara and everyone else involved in this story. I liked the writing style and I even liked the plot. I just think there was a lot of STUFF going on and all of this STUFF made it very hard for all of the excellent elements of this book to properly hold their own.
First, there's Mara's memory loss. Then there's the development of her paranormal powers. Okay. I'm down. Then there's Noah and all his shenanigans. which I'm also down with. I don't totally understand the paranormal powers here - there's some bizarre nightmare/vision portion to it that leaves me feeling all: "huh say what now?" But in general, I got it. But then things get a little wonky crazy with Mara's father's case and what happens to Mara's little brother towards the end of the book. I get the end game of doing all of this but I really just felt like the baby was being thrown out with the bathwater (almost literally, I think, in this case) and it was just too much for me.
But as much as I wished there'd be more fewer plot points and more answers, I really did find my little jaunt into paranormal enjoyable. Mara as a protagonist is really interesting. She's struggling with a lot - I repeat, A LOT - of things and she manages it all admirably. Yeah, there were times when I wanted to shake her, but I think I'd be more worried if there weren't. But she's totally been through a lot of person-shaking moments.
I also really enjoyed Mara and Noah's relationship, as well as their personal relationships with their friends and families (although Mara's token black/bi/Jewish bestie was a little much for me). And that twist at the end? Well, that's one plot point that I liked. A lot. As much as I hate cliff hangers, I love a good sucker punch at the end of a book - especially if Book 2 in the series is already out. (I will say I'm probably going to wait until Book 3's out to dig into Book 2. It just seems like a really bad idea to not have the last book in the series ready to go if I'm going to finish this one.)
The long and short of it?
Plot: Maybe a little too plot-y for me.
World Building: I have no idea where any of the paranormal in this book comes from. I'll worry if I don't know by the end of Book 3. That's generally how paranormal works, right? (I'm just praying I'll one day know.)
Character Development: Poor Mara. Poor Noah. Poor everyone, really. This book really puts its characters through their paces and the characters, well, they handle it well.
Prose: Smooth sailing.
Would I Recommend This Book?: If you like paranormal with a hot guy, unstable girl and way more questions than answers, this is a pretty good series to start. However, if you're interested in a little less mystery and fewer WHAT THE FREAKING WHAT moments, you might want to skip this one.
So there's this gigantic accident that kills 3 teens and leaves one in the hospital. That one teen who survives is Mara Dyer. (Or at least that's what we're told her name is. It's not really, supposedly.) Mara wakes up with no memory of what happened and is so traumatized by the whole thing that she convinces her family to move all the way to Florida to escape her past. But, like, obviously that's not going to happen. Throw in a hot guy and a little paranormal activity and we've got ourselves a story.
Let's break this down:
After I finished this book I messaged Judith freaking out. If it weren't for spoilers, I would just screenshot the whole conversation and post that in lieu of a review. Alas. SPOILERS. BUT I will quote a few of my gut responses because, well, they're pertinent.
"I do not understand this book."
"Help me."
"WHY DO I HAVE NO ANSWERS AFTER 450 PAGES?"
None of this is to say I don't like this book. I did like this book. I liked Noah and Mara and everyone else involved in this story. I liked the writing style and I even liked the plot. I just think there was a lot of STUFF going on and all of this STUFF made it very hard for all of the excellent elements of this book to properly hold their own.
First, there's Mara's memory loss. Then there's the development of her paranormal powers. Okay. I'm down. Then there's Noah and all his shenanigans. which I'm also down with. I don't totally understand the paranormal powers here - there's some bizarre nightmare/vision portion to it that leaves me feeling all: "huh say what now?" But in general, I got it. But then things get a little wonky crazy with Mara's father's case and what happens to Mara's little brother towards the end of the book. I get the end game of doing all of this but I really just felt like the baby was being thrown out with the bathwater (almost literally, I think, in this case) and it was just too much for me.
But as much as I wished there'd be more fewer plot points and more answers, I really did find my little jaunt into paranormal enjoyable. Mara as a protagonist is really interesting. She's struggling with a lot - I repeat, A LOT - of things and she manages it all admirably. Yeah, there were times when I wanted to shake her, but I think I'd be more worried if there weren't. But she's totally been through a lot of person-shaking moments.
I also really enjoyed Mara and Noah's relationship, as well as their personal relationships with their friends and families (although Mara's token black/bi/Jewish bestie was a little much for me). And that twist at the end? Well, that's one plot point that I liked. A lot. As much as I hate cliff hangers, I love a good sucker punch at the end of a book - especially if Book 2 in the series is already out. (I will say I'm probably going to wait until Book 3's out to dig into Book 2. It just seems like a really bad idea to not have the last book in the series ready to go if I'm going to finish this one.)
The long and short of it?
Plot: Maybe a little too plot-y for me.
World Building: I have no idea where any of the paranormal in this book comes from. I'll worry if I don't know by the end of Book 3. That's generally how paranormal works, right? (I'm just praying I'll one day know.)
Character Development: Poor Mara. Poor Noah. Poor everyone, really. This book really puts its characters through their paces and the characters, well, they handle it well.
Prose: Smooth sailing.
Would I Recommend This Book?: If you like paranormal with a hot guy, unstable girl and way more questions than answers, this is a pretty good series to start. However, if you're interested in a little less mystery and fewer WHAT THE FREAKING WHAT moments, you might want to skip this one.
I read this book because my friends couldn't shut up about it (*cough* Noah). Did/do you have similar motivations for reading or do you binge paranormal books on the daily? Talk to me about your genre preferences (and Noah) in the comments below!
