Amy Zhang started the book off in an amazing way and I was immediately pulled into the story. I sincerely wanted to know why everything was happening and what lead to Liz driving her car off of a cliff. The ultimate reason I stuck with the story was to find out who was narrating. There was no other real reason for me to keep reading. I do wish I had DNFd because the ending left me completely disappointed.
The way Amy Zhang wrote the book was beautiful. I haven’t felt they way about a writer’s writing style in a while. What I did not expect was how all over the place the story was. The timeline of the story went from past to present and switched points of view with each chapter. I was really confused and a little frustrated with that. I felt that made the story hard to follow and I was lost interest a couple of times. One chapter would talk about Liz’s friend’s drug addiction, while the next jumped to the topic of the boy who had a crush on Liz.
The characters were all flat and unlikeable. I did not feel anything for anyone. Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch. I felt bad that Liz felt she needed to try to end her own life, but her friends were the biggest fakes. I would have been devastated if I had friends like that. Talk about putting on a show. It seemed that all of Liz’s friends and mom seemed to figure themselves out and solve their problems during the first day she was in the hospital. I didn’t buy any of it. It was just too convenient.
I found myself struggling to finish this book but wanted to find out the ultimate mystery – who was narrating??!! The mystery narrator was ever-present but unnamed until the very end. It just seemed too sunshine & rainbows and not really doable by the way the story was going. Liz’s friends were really too messed up to solve their issues in such a short time. Overall, I was let down with the one. I was super excited to read the ARC but was left wanting. The writing style was amazing but not the timeline of the story. It was hard to follow and I wanted to quit at least three times. With that being said, I am still excited to read what else Ms. Zhang publishes and will give her another chance.
