Adelaide Buchwald has a brother who is an addict, and has overdosed. She and her father are living separately from her mother and brother - Adelaide's father is a teacher and has taken a job at a boarding school to pay for Toby's treatment, Adelaide has gone with him to attend the school. The book takes place over a summer, which Adelaide is spending at the school with her father, who has taken an extra job in Admissions, to earn extra money.
Adelaide has a summer job walking some of the teacher's dogs whilst they are away on holiday. We spend the summer with her whilst she deals with Toby's 'illness', catching up on work she didn't do during the school term, a breakup, falling in love with different people (in different universes), and her relationship with her brother.
This book had potential; instead of living up to it, it attempted to tell multiple stories in multiple universes and it just doesn't work. There is a decent story in here somewhere, just not in its present form. Adelaide is a likeable character, but there are points where her and her friend Stacey just feel a bit too self indulgent. The different universes are repetitive and muddled; you find yourself reading the same passage of text over and over again, with just little changes to the outcome.
Adelaide's broken relationship with her brother is well written, and frankly could've been more of a central point of the book. Ditch the self indulgent teenager bit, and focus on a book about a sibling relationship broken because of drugs, and how it begins to repair into something new. It is a shame, because this story had real potential.
Adelaide has a summer job walking some of the teacher's dogs whilst they are away on holiday. We spend the summer with her whilst she deals with Toby's 'illness', catching up on work she didn't do during the school term, a breakup, falling in love with different people (in different universes), and her relationship with her brother.
This book had potential; instead of living up to it, it attempted to tell multiple stories in multiple universes and it just doesn't work. There is a decent story in here somewhere, just not in its present form. Adelaide is a likeable character, but there are points where her and her friend Stacey just feel a bit too self indulgent. The different universes are repetitive and muddled; you find yourself reading the same passage of text over and over again, with just little changes to the outcome.
Adelaide's broken relationship with her brother is well written, and frankly could've been more of a central point of the book. Ditch the self indulgent teenager bit, and focus on a book about a sibling relationship broken because of drugs, and how it begins to repair into something new. It is a shame, because this story had real potential.