I really wanted to like this, goddamnit. It's YA from the UK and it has a lovely cover to boot - the blue aspects are foiled in real-life and it's truly lovely. However, I expected something along the lines of I'll Give You The Sun (a truly great book) in terms of character development and dynamics; my hopes raised the bar too high and Sunflowers in February fell flat on it's face.
The idea behind it is really good. A girl is killed in a hit-and-run, and manages to possess her younger brother's body. It raises themes of grief and how it can affect a family. For me, however, it just missed the mark. Genuinely, I was not feeling this book at all and I skipped quite a bit; now, I'm not sure if this was a personal problem in that I "wasn't feeling the book" or something else.
One of the largest problems I had with this book was a largely interpretative one in that I hated the writing style. Sometimes it felt juvenile, other times plain and lacklustre. Shrimpton told a bit too much rather than showed. Her adult characters felt simplified and dull. The teens were slightly better as they were more of the focus of the story, but they weren't anything to shout about.
Furthermore, there were too many characters and I didn't feel for any of them. On the flip side though, this wide range of characters does display how certain events affect a community. Themes were nice but narrative pacing was awfully off; in the first third of the book nothing happens until Lily reconnects with her brother and ugh. This is a debut book. I didn't expect brilliance. But I wasn't really expecting this either.
I want to say that even though I didn't enjoy this one, don't let me discourage you if you are interested in reading it. I know others who've really enjoyed it, and it's UK YA which always deserves more love. Just because it's not my thing doesn't mean it can't be your thing.
The idea behind it is really good. A girl is killed in a hit-and-run, and manages to possess her younger brother's body. It raises themes of grief and how it can affect a family. For me, however, it just missed the mark. Genuinely, I was not feeling this book at all and I skipped quite a bit; now, I'm not sure if this was a personal problem in that I "wasn't feeling the book" or something else.
One of the largest problems I had with this book was a largely interpretative one in that I hated the writing style. Sometimes it felt juvenile, other times plain and lacklustre. Shrimpton told a bit too much rather than showed. Her adult characters felt simplified and dull. The teens were slightly better as they were more of the focus of the story, but they weren't anything to shout about.
Furthermore, there were too many characters and I didn't feel for any of them. On the flip side though, this wide range of characters does display how certain events affect a community. Themes were nice but narrative pacing was awfully off; in the first third of the book nothing happens until Lily reconnects with her brother and ugh. This is a debut book. I didn't expect brilliance. But I wasn't really expecting this either.
I want to say that even though I didn't enjoy this one, don't let me discourage you if you are interested in reading it. I know others who've really enjoyed it, and it's UK YA which always deserves more love. Just because it's not my thing doesn't mean it can't be your thing.