Great concept but better suited to younger readers
I love the idea behind this young adult novel; based on the real-life psychological study of matching individuals based on a series, of questions, '36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You' explores the budding relationship between Hildy and Paul based on this matching process. The idea is great and I immediately warmed to the characters, despite how obtuse Paul seems to be and Hildy highly-strung.
Straight away the book moves into a sort of instant message dialogue, almost reading as a script, with 'PAUL:' and his dialogue followed by Hildy's. This isn't a natural way to read a story and after quite a few pages of this I found it quite hard work. I understand with this being a YA novel it is told through various modern mediums of communication, but this is taxing way to read nonetheless. Not only that, but when you get to reading about Hildy and Paul's responses to the questions, you realise that 36 is a LOT to get through.
I will admit that I DNF this book at about 30%, as the format was hard-going and I just could not find myself getting invested in these characters' romance. For others however, such as younger readers and those more comfortable with the instant message style format, I imagine this is an enjoyable and snappy read.
Straight away the book moves into a sort of instant message dialogue, almost reading as a script, with 'PAUL:' and his dialogue followed by Hildy's. This isn't a natural way to read a story and after quite a few pages of this I found it quite hard work. I understand with this being a YA novel it is told through various modern mediums of communication, but this is taxing way to read nonetheless. Not only that, but when you get to reading about Hildy and Paul's responses to the questions, you realise that 36 is a LOT to get through.
I will admit that I DNF this book at about 30%, as the format was hard-going and I just could not find myself getting invested in these characters' romance. For others however, such as younger readers and those more comfortable with the instant message style format, I imagine this is an enjoyable and snappy read.