Summary: A coming-of-age (not a fan of that phrase but for lack of better description) novel about a preteen girl named Mathilda whose very popular, beautiful, yet secretly struggling sister’s death opens up a dark can of emotional worms for her and Ma and Pa, her often distant parents. Mathilda is determined to discover what exactly happened to Helene and along the way figure out the meanings of her own unconventional perspectives and observations about life.
Genre: Young Adult
Page Length: 304
Published: September 2009
via Amazon
My Thoughts: I thought Mathilda was so odd, funny, unfiltered, and independent in her way of thinking and that’s why I loved her so much. She is definitely not the personality for everyone as she’s someone who notices every detail about everything and is quite blunt. I try not to look at the reader ratings on Goodreads before reading a book because I don’t want it to alter or influence my own views, though I was a little surprised that the ratings were low! (As of this post, the rating is at 3.18 which isn’t terrible, though I just figured it would be higher.
I didn’t really read any of the reviews to learn why some people had the opinions they did, though I’m thinking that Mathilda’s personality might have really turned off some people, haha, and that’s okay! Not everything is for everyone.
I do wish the story was a tad bit longer because, towards the end of the book, one of the main characters does go missing and then they just kind of appear out of nowhere at the end and there’s no real explanation for it. However, I don’t think it’s worth taking a star off for.
I’d recommend this book for readers who like out-of-the-box characters and if you enjoyed the Emily the Strange books. I got that “Strange” vibe from Mathilda while reading. This was a read that took me out of my own world for a bit and I loved it. Definitely one of my favorite books of the year.
Final Verdict: 5/5
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image Author’s Own
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