AUDIO BOOK REVIEW: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han (Narrated by Laura Knight Keating) ★★☆☆☆
They aren't love letters that anyone else wrote for her, these are ones she's written. One for every boy she's ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she can pour out her heart and soul and say all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control.
Overall Rated: 2/5
Narration Rated: 3/5
Story Rated: 2/5
If you were mine, I would never have broken up with you, not in a million years.
What can I say about TATBIEL? I wish I watched the Netflix’s movie instead because I was disappointed with this book. Don’t get me wrong. I loved Han’s collaboration with Vivian’s Burn for Burn series (the first two book but not the last), but this one was not to my liking and here’s why:
· Lack of character growth or development. Initially I liked the build-up descriptions around Lara Jean Covey’s mix heritage (white and Korean) and her family, but she’s an innocent, hopeless romantic who makes stupid choices, then wishes she had friends who would talk her out of making stupid choices. She’s silly, childish, and privileged in a sheltered upper-middle-class kind of way who calls her parents Mommy and Daddy like a twelve-year-old. She probably matured near the end by getting her younger sister Kitty to help around the house like how her older sister Margot would have done.
· Lack of female friendship. Chris, Lara Jean’s only best friend has a reputation of being a slag and smoking and drinking way too much who just seemed bitchy most of the time. She didn’t do much to move the plot. Their relationship was pointless and artificial because they rarely talked. But I guess when you have sisters, why have friends?
· No true romance. It’s meant to be a YA romance book, but what we have is a half heart attempt of a love triangle, where Lara Jean signs a contract with Peter Kavinsky to make his ex-girlfriend Genevieve jealous. Despite Lara Jean’s continual attempt of making us think that Peter is such a cool guy, I on the other hand couldn’t care less. I didn’t feel the chemistry and I still don’t get why she would like him. He sounds like a douche. On many occasions he would sneak off and meet his ex, knowing (or unknowingly) that Lara Jean might know. It’s as though he has some kind of hold on her. Have some self-respect and move on.
· The letters, which was used as a prop to spice up the plot, served its purpose and stopped mattering. Lara Jean initially was perplexed with who would send out her love letters, but then didn’t seem to care as she was dragged into the typical high school drama. This kind of annoyed me.
· What ending? I couldn’t listen to the last chapter as someone had requested it but I read it and wasn’t all that amazed. Sure, Lara Jean realises what she wants. It ends with two simple words and a dissatisfaction taste of a cliff-hanger that irked me some more. Basically, there is no definite conclusion or a hint of a happily ever after. It’s as if Han stopped writing. It probably wasn’t how I imagined it.
The only thing I like about this was the narrator Laura Knight Keating, who’s an Audie Award-winning narrator and an actress who has appeared on stage, in films, and on television shows, including Boardwalk Empire, Hope and Faith, and Lipstick Jungle. She’s narrated many children and YA books including Susan Kim’s Guardian and Margo Rob’s Kissing America. You can’t blame her for reading Han’s story aloud. The story was pants, but she did a great job at giving every character a distinct voice, pace and tone with her pleasant voice.
Despite the negative review, I may continue with the trilogy with the narration as I'm not sure I'd enjoy it simply by reading it.
Written By: Jenny Han
Narrated By: Laura Knight Keating
Publisher: Recorded Books
Date: April 16th 2014
Duration: 8 Hours 22 Minutes
Genres: YA, Genre Started from JULY 8th to JULY 20th
Comments
Post a Comment