The in between stuff that has been happening will be saved for another post, sawwwrryy.
The book: Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer
How I found it: Well I just happened to be with friends looking around a local bookshop and there it was. I've always been a sucker for things that shouldn't be there and this book was it. On it, it said advance reading copy, not for sale. On the back was a poncho. It was only seven dollars, a steal!
On the cover there is a girl blowing a bubble with bubble gum in a power pose on top of a ice cream truck. I thought she looked cool.
Brief summary: The seniors of a high school are combusting for no apparent reason. The story takes place in the perspective of a girl named Mara. She's sort of self-absorbed and is written to be dark humored. I would probably wouldn't be friends with her. Despite this I was curious, why were they exploding? What important lesson would they learn?
Spoiler: They don't learn anything other than live your life. Gosh, if only I had spontaneous combustion there to tell me that.
More Spoilers: Her best friend is Tess and I really, really wanted the two of them to get together. They had a spark. But no, Mara chose Dylan. Who was Dylan? I don't know...some guy that sought her out for no apparent reason. In the end, when he dies, she admitted that she didn't love him. She talks to Tess in the final chapters and they really have a moment. Like, I couldn't be reading it wrong, it was definitely there. And then...Tess is gone. Did she die? Did she run off to start a new life? The book doesn't say.
Well...it ends with Mara being optimistic that Tess is still out there and that she will make it a goal to find her. I guess that's good enough?
You never find out why they were exploding either. Everything just felt pointless.
At one point they brought up this girl named Jennifer Lawrence and how she was wronged...but nothing is confirmed. They don't hint that she could be behind it all. She's brought up to show how cruel they once were.
Maybe I missed something.
The good: It was an easy read, a page turner. I enjoyed shipping Tess and Mara.
The bad: It was fluff. Maybe if I went back in time it'd be more useful...probably not. It felt like the author was doing his best to tell the readers (who I assume are supposed to be high school age) that he gets them. Trying to get on their level. It was just so forced. What high school full of drugs, booze, and sex did he go to? Where are the normal kids?
More Reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23587115-spontaneous
My "Rating": 07.0/10.0
Takeaway: I've got my reading muscles going and I realized that I really wanted to read a sort of adventure mystery (Hello Neil Gaiman!).
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