Monday, July 4, 2011

How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles


My Summary:

Amy is on her way to Israel to meet the Grandmother she never knew she had with the father that hasn’t been around.  Her parents were never married and she feels like she never should have been born.  Dad, Ron, has come by once a year for her birthday until she tells him to stop.   Amy has a bad (probably worse than that) attitude about the whole thing. But out of the blue, Ron decides to take her to meet Grandma in her home country of Israel because Grandma is sick.  Amy is stunned that her mom allows it.  Now she is stuck in a small community 10 miles from Syria, a war zone.  Afraid but without any options, Amy goes.  She finds a Grandmother she immediately loves, a cousin who can’t stand the site of her, a culture she has no idea about, a language she can’t speak, and a boy that she can’t quit thinking about.  Keeping her attitude bad, Amy tries to just survive.  The trip will change her life not to mention her prideful attitude.

My thoughts:

3 stars – a good read

I hate the summary from goodreads on this book.  I would never have picked it up except another blogger recommended it and even said to ignore the blurb about it.  I don’t care for the cover either.  I have to admit that Amy’s bad attitude got a little old for me too.  She has surely been given a bad deal and she is sixteen but I wanted to shake her a few times.  With that said, I read this book in an afternoon.  Amy made me laugh, scream and sigh.  Avi was also very interesting.  It took a while to figure out his problems as a very angry young man.  I liked how they had this hate then love attitude towards each other.  I liked how they needed each other to overcome a problem in their life.  I think that’s what good relationships are about – making each other better as a team.  There was one scene in the development of their relationship that still confuses me but I accepted it and went on.  I enjoyed this book.

If you like contemporary YA then this is good one to choose.  Enjoy the read.

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