Author: J.K. Rowling
*Imported from tumblr*
I knew going in that this was going to be very different from Harry Potter, and I was okay with that. Thirty pages in, I was horrified — most of the characters were frustratingly unlikeable people, and there was almost as much swearing as there was conversation in the dialogue. I gave it a couple more chapters but was unconvinced that I would finish it.
And then… I kept reading. I was still kind of disgusted by a lot of the characters, but at the same time I understood why they did what they did. I’ve seen it described as “dark and gritty" but I’ve also seen it described as “brutally honest," and I think both descriptions are accurate for this book. It is a brutally honest portrayal of the dark and gritty parts of life that we like to ignore, although I felt that the happiness that people often manage to find in everyday life was underrepresented. (That, in fact, is my biggest complaint about the book.) But I dare anyone to read this book and come away unchanged.
Depressing, this book certainly is. Also very adult in content in many ways, and yet there are teen characters whose lives are portrayed accurately. Anyway, I’ve lost the thread: depressing, but also honest and thought-provoking and beautifully written and above all, powerful. Not one to read lightly, certainly, but one I am glad to have read.
