"Hannah sat on the step beside Colin and took his hands. She peered into his face insistently until he met her gaze."
Release Date: Decenber 20th, 2011.
Description: Paperback, 212 pages.
Availability: Bookoutlet, $4,79.
Genre: YA, Paranormal.
Rating: 3 Stars.
Resume: Serious and responsible, Hannah isn't the type of girl to disobey or lie to her mother. However, with her boyfriend Colin going away to college, Hannah decides that she must go away with him for the week-end before he leaves. Colin's parents' lake house seems to be the perfect destination. But once the couple get there, Colin seems to be drifting away from reality. Can Hannah solve this mystery before it's too late?
Review: With a little over two hundred pages, Still Waters is a relatively short novel. This book is written in the third person which can be an advantage, or an inconvenient. In the case of Still Waters, it's an inconvenient. The author would have benefited from choosing the first person for her story, as it would have allowed the reader to connect more with Hannah.
Hannah is the main female character of the novel. She is from a dysfunctional family where the roles of the parents and the children are often confused. Not a lot can be said about that character because the author chose to give us very little information about her. Her whole world revolves around Colin and her inability to tell him she loves him. Colin is a young man fresh out of high school who's attending Pratt in the fall. He has a very chaotic family unit; his mother being described as an alcoholic and his father never seems to be around. Colin also resents both of his parents for an unknown reason. He is all-around rude and aggressive towards them. Hannah, being as clueless as she is throughout Still Waters, brushes it off because he is attractive and popular. Because she didn't tell him she loved him back, Colin feels like it's his duty to pressure her restlessly to do so. He does it in a very passive-aggressive way, which only makes it more annoying.
The whole book was incredibly unrealistic. Hannah kicks off the book with her idea of a week-end away to at lake house owned by Colin's parents. She schemes to plan this trip to the lake house, behind Colin's back, going as far as breaking into his family's house to retrieve a map to go down there. She also lies to her mother to obtain her permission to go away. The lie she comes up with though is everything but believable. No teenager would go out of town for her summer job after only one shift. Berne painted Hannah as very selfish and self-absorb. She pretty much manipulates her boyfriend to go to a place that she knows make him feel very uncomfortable. She lets down her best friend when she was counting on her. She promises to bring an income home to her financially struggling mother, which was a straight up lie. Hannah doesn't seem to care about anybody's feelings but her own.
After planing to spend the a few days at a house that's been vacant for roughly ten years, Hannah only packs clothes and a bathing suit. She doesn't know in what state the house will be or if it's even safe or livable. But no, Hannah does not worry about those type of things because she does not seem to be very bright. When the couple finally get there, they eat rotten food because Hannah didn't think to bring any food. No big surprise here since Hannah has been acting irrationally since the first chapter.
Still Waters is a well-written novel, even though Berne's dialogue is clumsy and corny at times. The book is somewhat thrilling, with clues to solve the mystery. The romance between the two main characters can be adorable. Colin is especially sweet towards insufferable Hannah all through the novel. Hannah is very insecure and needy, Colin does a good job reassuring her.
The ending of Berne's novel was utterly disappointing. It was rushed and left us with a bunch of unanswered questions. The author ended the story with a sappy, irrelevant, unrealistic finale.
Overall, Still Waters is a good thriller. However, the characters are lacking depth, some storylines are well-developed while others aren't and the Emma Carlson Berne's writing is pretty solid even though it's shaky at times. If you like short novels, thrillers and don't mind if it's slow-paced, I'd recommend it to you.
Review: With a little over two hundred pages, Still Waters is a relatively short novel. This book is written in the third person which can be an advantage, or an inconvenient. In the case of Still Waters, it's an inconvenient. The author would have benefited from choosing the first person for her story, as it would have allowed the reader to connect more with Hannah.
Hannah is the main female character of the novel. She is from a dysfunctional family where the roles of the parents and the children are often confused. Not a lot can be said about that character because the author chose to give us very little information about her. Her whole world revolves around Colin and her inability to tell him she loves him. Colin is a young man fresh out of high school who's attending Pratt in the fall. He has a very chaotic family unit; his mother being described as an alcoholic and his father never seems to be around. Colin also resents both of his parents for an unknown reason. He is all-around rude and aggressive towards them. Hannah, being as clueless as she is throughout Still Waters, brushes it off because he is attractive and popular. Because she didn't tell him she loved him back, Colin feels like it's his duty to pressure her restlessly to do so. He does it in a very passive-aggressive way, which only makes it more annoying.
The whole book was incredibly unrealistic. Hannah kicks off the book with her idea of a week-end away to at lake house owned by Colin's parents. She schemes to plan this trip to the lake house, behind Colin's back, going as far as breaking into his family's house to retrieve a map to go down there. She also lies to her mother to obtain her permission to go away. The lie she comes up with though is everything but believable. No teenager would go out of town for her summer job after only one shift. Berne painted Hannah as very selfish and self-absorb. She pretty much manipulates her boyfriend to go to a place that she knows make him feel very uncomfortable. She lets down her best friend when she was counting on her. She promises to bring an income home to her financially struggling mother, which was a straight up lie. Hannah doesn't seem to care about anybody's feelings but her own.
After planing to spend the a few days at a house that's been vacant for roughly ten years, Hannah only packs clothes and a bathing suit. She doesn't know in what state the house will be or if it's even safe or livable. But no, Hannah does not worry about those type of things because she does not seem to be very bright. When the couple finally get there, they eat rotten food because Hannah didn't think to bring any food. No big surprise here since Hannah has been acting irrationally since the first chapter.
Still Waters is a well-written novel, even though Berne's dialogue is clumsy and corny at times. The book is somewhat thrilling, with clues to solve the mystery. The romance between the two main characters can be adorable. Colin is especially sweet towards insufferable Hannah all through the novel. Hannah is very insecure and needy, Colin does a good job reassuring her.
The ending of Berne's novel was utterly disappointing. It was rushed and left us with a bunch of unanswered questions. The author ended the story with a sappy, irrelevant, unrealistic finale.
Overall, Still Waters is a good thriller. However, the characters are lacking depth, some storylines are well-developed while others aren't and the Emma Carlson Berne's writing is pretty solid even though it's shaky at times. If you like short novels, thrillers and don't mind if it's slow-paced, I'd recommend it to you.
Aucun commentaire:
Publier un commentaire