Helpful Score: 1
Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
Vera's life is about secrets. Living with only a father doesn't exactly inspire her to share her many secrets. He has done his best to raise a teenage daughter himself, but not only is he tight with his money but also with his ability to communicate.
Vera is the result of a teen pregnancy. One of her secrets is that after she was born her mother was a stripper. Her best friend, Charlie, knows that secret, but she would like to keep it from everyone else if at all possible.
Charlie is at the center of many of Vera's secrets. They have been each other's best friend forever, and they share the secret that Charlie's father abuses Charlie's mother. As neighbors, it has been difficult to ignore the sounds of shouts and slaps, but Vera's father says keeping their secret makes things easier for everyone.
It isn't until Charlie's untimely death that Vera fully embraces the secret love that she has felt for him. As she deals with a full-time job, keeping up her grades, and pleasing her father, Vera's stress level has her visualizing Charlie everywhere. It takes a while to realize that the "Charlies" are trying to communicate something.
There are secrets that Charlie wants Vera to uncover and use to clear his name. The circumstances around his death were suspicious and involved the destruction of a place Vera loved, but these are secrets she finds incredibly frightening to share. Will she find the courage she needs to do the right thing?
PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ is presented through multiple voices, including both the past and present. A.S. King draws readers into Vera's world and then slowly peels away the layers to reveal each and every secret. The characters speak realistically and the situations ring true, making King's story flow smoothly despite the many shifts in focus. This novel will please King's fans and earn her many new ones.
Vera's life is about secrets. Living with only a father doesn't exactly inspire her to share her many secrets. He has done his best to raise a teenage daughter himself, but not only is he tight with his money but also with his ability to communicate.
Vera is the result of a teen pregnancy. One of her secrets is that after she was born her mother was a stripper. Her best friend, Charlie, knows that secret, but she would like to keep it from everyone else if at all possible.
Charlie is at the center of many of Vera's secrets. They have been each other's best friend forever, and they share the secret that Charlie's father abuses Charlie's mother. As neighbors, it has been difficult to ignore the sounds of shouts and slaps, but Vera's father says keeping their secret makes things easier for everyone.
It isn't until Charlie's untimely death that Vera fully embraces the secret love that she has felt for him. As she deals with a full-time job, keeping up her grades, and pleasing her father, Vera's stress level has her visualizing Charlie everywhere. It takes a while to realize that the "Charlies" are trying to communicate something.
There are secrets that Charlie wants Vera to uncover and use to clear his name. The circumstances around his death were suspicious and involved the destruction of a place Vera loved, but these are secrets she finds incredibly frightening to share. Will she find the courage she needs to do the right thing?
PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ is presented through multiple voices, including both the past and present. A.S. King draws readers into Vera's world and then slowly peels away the layers to reveal each and every secret. The characters speak realistically and the situations ring true, making King's story flow smoothly despite the many shifts in focus. This novel will please King's fans and earn her many new ones.
Helpful Score: 1
AHHHHH!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED this book!!!!
From the first chapter on I was completely hooked and already in love. The story just popped off the pages and the characters came to life and completely drew me into their story. The book flowed so smoothly and there was never a slow patch to have to get through. I devoured every page, even staying up late to finish it off, and then I couldn't go to sleep because I couldn't come off of the book high.
Vera was a fantastic character. She was so wonderfully sarcastic, I wanted to be her :) This book really centered around her grief and her trying to get through the death of her best friend, all while going through the process of growing into a woman. She was so smart and mature, but also flawed and scarred. Vera was left by her mother at a young age and raised by her father, but neither of them ever really got over it, and this helped to shape her personality and the way she dealt with losing Charlie.
I loved how the story would go from the present and then it would flash back to a memory that Vera would have from her childhood with Charlie, until the whole story of what really happened that night was revealed. There was also some really funny moments when the story would be briefly interrupted by a message from the dead kid, or Vera's dad, or even the Pagoda on the hill.
This book had me laughing out loud and crying and spitting mad. I loved every page of it and think that everyone else will too! I hope you all rush out to buy your copy RIGHT NOW!! You won't regret it! (and if you do, what's wrong with you???lol)
From the first chapter on I was completely hooked and already in love. The story just popped off the pages and the characters came to life and completely drew me into their story. The book flowed so smoothly and there was never a slow patch to have to get through. I devoured every page, even staying up late to finish it off, and then I couldn't go to sleep because I couldn't come off of the book high.
Vera was a fantastic character. She was so wonderfully sarcastic, I wanted to be her :) This book really centered around her grief and her trying to get through the death of her best friend, all while going through the process of growing into a woman. She was so smart and mature, but also flawed and scarred. Vera was left by her mother at a young age and raised by her father, but neither of them ever really got over it, and this helped to shape her personality and the way she dealt with losing Charlie.
I loved how the story would go from the present and then it would flash back to a memory that Vera would have from her childhood with Charlie, until the whole story of what really happened that night was revealed. There was also some really funny moments when the story would be briefly interrupted by a message from the dead kid, or Vera's dad, or even the Pagoda on the hill.
This book had me laughing out loud and crying and spitting mad. I loved every page of it and think that everyone else will too! I hope you all rush out to buy your copy RIGHT NOW!! You won't regret it! (and if you do, what's wrong with you???lol)
This book deserves it's M.L.Printz Award! Beginning to end it is what books should be;a really good story well told.
I have read and enjoyed a lot of AS King books; I thought this was the weakest AS King book I had read. I just felt that it was missing the special magical realism of King's other books and thought the story was a bit boring and typical YA.
In this book Vera is trying to recover after the death of her lifelong friend Charlie. As part of this she is trying to uncover the secret as to why Charlie's behavior became so self destructive towards the end of his life.
This book is full of lots of high school drama and kids acting out. It also makes a strong commentary on people ignoring the misfortune or troubles of those around them in order to not âmake wavesâ.
It's fine for what it is; which is mainly a coming of age story in which Vera struggles with the tough life Charlie has faced and the fact that Vera and her family didn't do anything to help or stop it. It just didn't grab me like other AS King books have and didn't make me feel wonder or intrigue...it just made me feel tired.
Overall this was an okay book. However, I felt like I had read many similar stories before in many contemporary YA novels. It was okay but not great and I could have taken or left it.
In this book Vera is trying to recover after the death of her lifelong friend Charlie. As part of this she is trying to uncover the secret as to why Charlie's behavior became so self destructive towards the end of his life.
This book is full of lots of high school drama and kids acting out. It also makes a strong commentary on people ignoring the misfortune or troubles of those around them in order to not âmake wavesâ.
It's fine for what it is; which is mainly a coming of age story in which Vera struggles with the tough life Charlie has faced and the fact that Vera and her family didn't do anything to help or stop it. It just didn't grab me like other AS King books have and didn't make me feel wonder or intrigue...it just made me feel tired.
Overall this was an okay book. However, I felt like I had read many similar stories before in many contemporary YA novels. It was okay but not great and I could have taken or left it.
