Everything is Fine (and Other Lies I Tell Myself) by Cathy Brett
| Everything is Fine (and Other Lies I Tell Myself) by Cathy Brett | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Robert James
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| Summary: Absolutely beautiful artwork, but the story didn't do as much for me here. Probably worth a read if you're interested in World War I, at least. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 272 | Date: May 2013 |
| Publisher: Headline | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0755379491 | |
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Fifteen-year-old Esther Armstrong is having problems at home. Her mum and dad keep arguing, her younger brother is driving her crazy, and she's reduced to writing letters to her older brother about the situation as he's not around. When she finds some letters from a soldier to his girlfriend, she starts trying to find out what happened to them - will she work it out, and also get her own life back on track?
I really wanted to enjoy this one more than I did, because it's such a gorgeous book to look at that I'd have loved to give it pride of place on my bookshelves. Author Cathy Brett has illustrated it herself and the characters she's drawn are utterly fabulous - she's really brought them to life in her pictures. Sadly, I didn't think she did anywhere near as good a job of bringing them to life with her words - all of the main characters felt pretty flat to me. Esther seems rather immature, the main love interest is one-dimensional, and the big revelation towards the end seemed obvious to me from early in the book.
It's not a poor book by any means - Brett captures the period of the war well in her letters, and the ending is a heartwarming one which even made me smile. In addition, the relationship between her parents, struggling to make their marriage work, is well-portrayed. It's just that having heard a lot about Brett as an author, I was expecting signifcantly more than we got in this rather bland story.
That said, I really did love the artwork, so much so that I'm planning on trying Ember Fury, her debut - and if she moved from illustrated stories into the world of graphic novels I'd pre-order one just to get more of her gorgeous pictures.
Mildly recommended to younger teens, particularly those with a keen interest in history, or those who love superb drawings.
I think fans of this one would really like Life, Death and Gold Leather Trousers by Fiona Foden, while The Bookbag highly recommends Brett's own debut, Ember Fury, which again has gorgeous illustrations.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Everything is Fine (and Other Lies I Tell Myself) by Cathy Brett at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Everything is Fine (and Other Lies I Tell Myself) by Cathy Brett at Amazon.com.
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