Jumping to Confusions by Liz Rettig
| Jumping to Confusions by Liz Rettig | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Zoe Page
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| Summary: Diets, boys, friends, fashion and a whole lot of misunderstandings. A fabulously funny story with just a few cringeworthy moments, this will be a great beach read for teenage girls everywhere. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 320 | Date: June 2008 |
| Publisher: Corgi Childrens | |
| ISBN: 978-0552557573 | |
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Ever since Size 14 Is Not Fat Either I've been a bit wary of those Ooh, look at me, I'm a lovely person but just a bit chunky books although the amazing Pretty Face did go some way to winning me back. However I wasn't certain about this one from just reading the blurb: fat girl, thin twin, diet conscious mother. Another 'lovely personality' no doubt. In the end I was pleasantly surprised.
Cat is the fat, plain one while sister Tessa is the beautiful blonde. Between them they are asked to look after their dad's new boss's son when the family move to town. He is, as you would expect in a book like this, gorgeous, rich and everything Tessa goes for. She has never had any problems getting what, or rather who, she wants, so she's as surprised as anyone when he turns her down. Cat can't believe any guy would say no to her perfect sister, but the mystery is solved when the girls work out that, of course, Josh must be gay. With that taken care of, Cat sets to work on befriending this poor, lonely, obviously gay boy, and soon they're so close and spending so much time together people start to think they're a couple. Which is clearly ridiculous because, of course, he's gay.
Subtlety is not a big feature in this book, and though there are some twists and turns (a teacher's partner turns out to be someone quite unexpected, for example) for the most part it is glaringly obvious what is going to happen from very early on. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book though, because it was a brilliant read, but it's not going to win any prizes for a surprising, unpredictable plot.
While the book is on the whole funny and easy to read, there were just a few sections which I had to read through squinted eyes, to try to make them even a fraction less cringeworthy. The page-long confusion over the different meanings of the word rubber in American versus British English is one of these, as is Cat's increasingly blinkered view of her relationships with Josh and David. They went a step too far for my liking, but I would probably not have been quite as bothered had I been at the target age of readers for this book.
So what was good about the book? The writing is brilliant and very readable – you could go as far as to say it's like Sophie Kinsella for younger audiences. These are characters who act their age, so they are proper 16 year olds, not 30 somethings masquerading as teens. Their worries and fears may come across as superficial – one character is obsessed with finding a boy who is taller than she is, no matter how dull he turns out to be – but at least they're real. It's a nice British book which is refreshing – so many of the great teen reads out at the moment are American - plus it's set in, um, Glasgow.
Slight cringy moments aside, I enjoyed this one, and it comes recommended.
The aforementioned Pretty Face is a similar, if somewhat less predictable read.
Thanks go to the publishers for supplying this book.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Jumping to Confusions by Liz Rettig 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 Jumping to Confusions by Liz Rettig at Amazon.com.
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