Thursday, September 20, 2012

Ruined: a Novel by Paula Morris

Ruined by Paula Morris

Meh. This book was ok. I often wonder why authors put the words "a novel" after the title of the book. In this case - the title "Ruined a novel" is rather appropriate. The plot had interesting elements and could have been really good, but there were quite a few things that kept it from being as good as it could have been. First of all, Rebecca is supposed to be 16 years old, but her character seems much more like a 12 or 13 year old. I don't think she is ever described physically at all, and her thoughts and feelings don't reach the 16 year old level.  Secondly, the author tries too hard to insert historical and cultural information about New Orleans and does not weave that information in skillfully, so many parts of the book read more like a textbook or travel guide than a novel. Thirdly, the ending is rather bogus. I don't think you could have that many prominent adults and teens from a community involved in a plot to kill an innocent 16 year old girl. One or two maybe, but almost a dozen or more - no way - not realistic.

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