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The Smile (2008)

by Donna Jo Napoli(Favorite Author)

3.75 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0525479996 (ISBN13: 9780525479994)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Dutton Juvenile

review 1: The smile is a story about Mona Lisa as a child. I thought that the story was well thought out and that it was easy to get into. The only problem was that I found the ending was very bland and did not make you happy with what you had read even if the book was good. I think that the author did do a good job at imagining what Mona Lisa's life could have been like. I think that it was easy to like the characters and feel attached but it felt that the ending was like chopping half the book off, it needed a little bit more of something.
review 2: About 50 pages into this, I wasn't sure I wanted to keep reading it. By 100 pages in, I still wasn't sure. Then the first big tragedy happened, and I couldn't stop. The writing was overly flowery sometimes. Usually I like d... moreescription, but this just didn't sit well with me. Elisabetta, the main character, is not quite 13 at the start of the book, and I couldn't really "buy" her voice. Twelve-year-olds don't talk or think like that, 15th century noble or not. A lot of it also seemed like the author, Napoli, was going, "Hey, look at me! Look at all the research I did on Florence in the 15th century! Food! Architecture! Painters! Look look!" But finally (because of really sad stuff, unfortunately), interesting things started to happen in the story. I liked the love story and I liked the descriptions of Florence.However, a lot of times this turned into a history textbook told in present tense from the perspective of a fifteen-year-old girl. It threw me out of the story. I wish Napoli had worked in the politics and religion parts more naturally instead of just having Elisabetta tell the reader, "This happened, then this happened. In such and such a year, this happened, and then blah blah blah." When Part 3 started, Elisabetta basically reviewed everything that JUST HAPPENED for the reader for several pages! I just read all of this, why are you telling me again? It's been a number of years for Betta, but only a number of pages for the reader. That was pointless and also threw me out of the story.I guess I just sort of wished this was a better book. Like my two-star review says, it was ok. less

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