Rate this book

Virginia (2010)

by Susan Hughes(Favorite Author)

3.03 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1554533066 (ISBN13: 9781554533060)

languge

English

genre

Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction

publisher

Kids Can Press

review 1: Virginia was a strange novel for me. It has a lot of religious themes, and, well, I'm not religious. It took me a while to separate by beliefs from the story. Once I did it wasn't a terrible book, just not my thing.For me this book lacked the compelling factor that most books have. Until I was about 3/4's in I could have stopped reading and not have regretted it at all. It was slow going, a lot of build up, which was probably meant to be suspenseful but didn't work for me. I didn't think that Ivy, the main character, was very interesting.. The whole book revolves around Virginia and I never really got to know Ivy without the whole mess. At the beginning there's a little bit of normal high school-ness, but that's all dropped not far in.I liked the way that at the end of eve... morery chapter there was a little piece of Virginia's point of view, told from third person. It was interesting to know what she was thinking while everything was happening, and to know her side of the story.The relationship between Ivy and Joe was a nice addition, and was one of the reasons why I thought that the end was more compelling than the beginning. Joe, unlike the rest of his family, is normal. Normalcy was a nice change.Sadly, this book wasn't for me. I'm sure that there are some other readers who would enjoy it, but the religious aspect through me off.
review 2: Wow! What a wonderful surprise -- a young adult book with Big Ideas. Virginia takes on faith, fanatacism,terrorism, family (what makes them dissolve and cohere), adolescence, and possibly the biggest "what if" there is. The narrator, Ivy, is a normal/good kid trying to survive her childhood while exercising her considerable brain and seeking a measure of happiness. Her friend, Virgina, is both strong and adrift. As extraordinary as is the mix of people and events, the story is completely believable. Be forewarned that Virginia and Ivy spend a lot of time feeling like they can't breathe, and the reader, too, finds their relentless internal monologues a bit suffocating. I would have been happy if Joe had entered the story sooner. We needed him!I prize originality in a book -- perhaps over all other qualities -- and Virginia has it. I am still asking myself about one scene, one moment, brimming with ambiguity. Was it all in Ivy's mind? Virginia's mind? a hallucination? a miracle? I'm kind of happy not to be sure. less

Download links for: Virginia

Advertising