2012-07-18

Teen Review: My Life in Black and White

My Life in Black and White by Natasha Friend
Release Date ~ June 28, 2012
Viking Juvenile ~ Penguin
ISBN13: 9780670013036
ARC received from Penguin Canada through RazOrbill
Goodreads Synopsis:
What if you lost the thing that made you who you are?

Lexi has always been stunning. Her butter-colored hair and perfect features have helped her attract friends, a boyfriend, and the attention of a modeling scout. But everything changes the night Lexi's face goes through a windshield. Now she's not sure what's worse: the scars she'll have to live with forever, or what she saw going on between her best friend and her boyfriend right before the accident. With the help of her trombone-playing, defiantly uncool older sister and a guy at school recovering from his own recent trauma, Lexi learns she's much more than just a pretty face.


This novel has a pretty dramatic synopsis. Before I read it, I geared myself up for a novel that is filled with pointless drama, and a melodramatic protagonist. I didn't think that I would like it very much, from what I could gather from the synopsis. When I started reading it though, it was much different than what I thought it would be.

  1. Good portrayal of true friendship

    The novel's main focus is the friendship between protagonist and her best friend. Flashbacks are written so that we get to see how their friendship was before the accident. These two are as close as sisters. They don't have a perfect relationship, but the way that it has lasted so long shows us just how much they care about each other. Even after the accident, it is clear that the two still do care about each other; although neither of them will admit it. I liked how the question of whether or not you can still reconcile with a friend even after a betrayal was brought up.
  2. Lexi's character change

    At the beginning of the novel, lexi is the typical spoiled, popular snob. The accident takes its toll on her by basically taking away everything that made her popular. This forces lexi to change; for both good and bad. Her development as a character flows beautifully with the pacing of the novel. When the end of the novel comes, you can really tell that she has changed a lot as a person through the circumstances that she is put in.
Although I did really like this novel, I had two problems with it. Firstly, I found the back-and-forth switch between past and present to be really confusing. I was glad when that stopped later on.

Secondly, lexi could be so whiny and annoying at times. She whined about the smallest things. She just expected the world to fall at her feet, though I think she was purposely written that way to show her change in character and emphasize what she had lost. Despite these problems, I did like this book and recommend it to contemporary fans.

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1 comment:

ChristasBooks said...

Wow I'm really not sure what to make of that premise. This sounds like it could be a really intriguing read. Although a whiny and sometimes annoying main character is kind of a turn off

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