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Albatross (2010)

by Josie Bloss(Favorite Author)

3.56 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0738714763 (ISBN13: 9780738714769)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Flux

review 1: 3.5Mildly surprised that this was a good read. The incessant "Voice" bugged me sometimes, but overall the message is clear-cut and precise. This novel actually reminded me of the underrated Dreamland by Sarah Dessen, in which the protagonist struggled throughout the story to find her identity. The heroine, Tess, started out annoying me (just a personal preference) but I think that that was the point of the story. She's this very meek heroine who inside is a very strong lady but just doesn't know how to show it, as she was afraid people would push her away if she acted true to herself. By people, I mean this emo dude named Micah (Micah is such a sexy name for a guy, I might borrow it someday) who HAHAHAHA is the author's obvious equivalent of Edward and Christian +10 points... more burn! LOL Tess, upon seeing Micah for the first time, developed an insta-love: a lethal, unattractive virus that affects girls 10 years and above that robs them of their sanity and capacity for reason because dude, emo guys who know how to play the piano, who don't have any friends because they are soooo smart everyone is below their intellect level, who basically only know how to glare and smirk and spout obscure music references and quotes from random philosophers are soooo damn gorgeous. Figure that out.Anyhow, Tess should thank THE MOST AMAZING and boring friends at school for never giving up on her, because frankly, I can't see anything interesting about her. Besides her occasional 'hmm' and 'okay' to about every question that is... ahm... well, interesting (?) probably to them, there's really nothing about her that may attract people to her. If she had been a good friend right from the start, I may come to understand it. But the start already involved Micah, so... I guess being new at school gives you a plus factor. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that there are amazing people out there who can see the invisible 'HELP ME I'M DROWNING' plaster card attached to your forehead, and they won't give up on you even though you can be an accomplished prick most of the time. It's these people around Tess that helped her stand back on her feet again after that disastrous phase with the emo dude.Favorite Convo (Toby and Tess):'I just don't get it''Get... what?''How assholes like Micah do it. How they get girls to fall in love with them, even when they act like dicks at every opportunity.''He's not always a--''I mean, what's wrong with nice guys,huh?''Nothing is wrong with nice guys--''Are you a masochist or something? Do you enjoy his bullshit?'HERE TOBY TAKE MY 100000x LIKES. Also, don't mind Tess. She's just, you know, confusing creepiness with romance. Girls.The payoff in the end was damn good and just about hit the right timing. Had the novel been 10 pages longer, I think I'd die of combustion. Luckily, the author was very smart, and I think that she played this very well. Once Tess made up her mind that she won't stand for anymore of Micah's crap, she walked away and never once looked back. Bravo, Tess.It is very rare to find a book that just about screams profanities to the more popular "romantic" books (I'm looking at you, T and 50), and tells them off that possession doesn't equate romance. It's high time someone point this myth-fantasy of romance in print, and let every teenager realize that co-dependency is destructive.. There is NO WAY that anyone can change a person, especially when the person himself doesn't understand the problem in the first place. And why would you think highly of yourself, thinking that you have the capabilities of changing a person? I mean, srsly? Are you really that great? That's self-righteousness right there. You can only understand a person. But don't ever think that you can change him - only he has the key to doing it himself.
review 2: I read Albatross right after reading Faking Faith, partially to see if it would be equally unique in its approach and partially because I was in a reading rut and feeling uninspired. Albatross explores an emotionally abusive relationship through the eyes of Tess, who falls for brilliant, good-looking, and uber-creepy Micah. I guess the object of this book was to teach kids what an abusive relationship looks like so it can be avoided, and it certainly does that. Beyond that, it fell flat for me. less

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