We Are the GoldensAuthor: Dana Reinhardt
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books, 208 pages
Publication Date: May 27, 2014
*ARC received from publisher via NetGalley
From Goodreads:
Nell knows a secret about her perfect, beautiful sister Layla. If she tells, it could blow their world apart.
When Nell and Layla were little, Nell used to call them Nellayla. Because to Nell, there was no difference between where she started and her adored big sister ended. They're a unit; divorce made them rely on each other early on, so when one pulls away, what is the other to do? But now, Nell's a freshman in high school and Layla is changing, secretive. And then Nell discovers why. Layla is involved with one of their teachers. And even though Nell tries to support Layla, to understand that she's happy and in love, Nell struggles with her true feelings: it's wrong, and she must do something about it.
Review:
We Are the Goldens is told in second person through Nell's POV, as if she's talking to her sister, and I liked this conversational style of writing. There was such a sense of foreboding throughout the whole novel that it made me a bit tense when reading it, wondering how Layla's affair with her teacher would play out. Even though the plot is familiar, the author chose such a unique way to tell it so it felt different.
While all of this is going on with her sister, Nell is also dealing with starting high school, having a crush on a junior, and being a good friend to Felix, who's going through some family drama himself. I loved Felix, what a great best friend to have! He was adorable.
My only complaint about the book is the ending. It just sort of ends, with the major plot line not completely resolved. And all of the other plot lines are also left hanging, although those were more slice of life so I didn't mind it as much. But I still wanted to know. So yeah, absolutely no closure. Other than the ending, I enjoyed this short novel about sisters, friendship, high school, and figuring out how to do what's right.
Posted by: Pam
I was so mad about the ending. No resolution whatsoever. And I really struggled with the sisters relationship and how horrible it was. It made me so sad, bc even when my sisters and I were that age, we were never that far apart, you know what I mean? Just wasn't for me. :(
ReplyDeleteI still haven't read this teacher-student plotline. Not sure how i'd feel about it. But the complicated sister relationship pulls me in...
ReplyDeleteNo closure? No resolution? NOOOOOO! I don't know if I could deal with that, it would drive me crazy. I think I might have to skip this one, think the ending would ruin it for me.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've heard of this one. I love reading familiar stories from a unique perspective, but I'm not loving the idea of having no closure. I may check this out sometime if I stumble across it at the library. Great review!
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