This 'discussion' section is something I'm planning on doing with feedback from the YA Book club held at Waterstones in Gloucester. So the 'review' sections that I do are just my own opinions nut these will be a collection of opinion: what we agreed on, what we didn't, etc. (It's also spoiler free!)
This week's book was Replica by Lauren Oliver, an author which I have admired for a while after reading her Delirium trilogy and if you haven't read that and want a taster of it before you do, i have reviewed them! ( Delirium: https://theperksofalisha.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/review-delirium-by-lauren-oliver.html )
The brief synopsis of this book is (directly from Lauren Oliver's website) :
Lyra’s story begins in the Haven Institute, a building tucked away on a private island off the coast of Florida that from a distance looks serene and even beautiful. But up close the locked doors, military guards, and bio hazard suits tell a different story. In truth, Haven is a clandestine research facility where thousands of replicas, or human models, are born, raised, and observed. When a surprise attack is launched on Haven, two of its young experimental subjects—Lyra, or 24, and the boy known only as 72—manage to escape.
Gemma has been in and out of hospitals for as long as she can remember. A lonely teen, her life is circumscribed by home, school, and her best friend, April. But after she is nearly abducted by a stranger claiming to know her, Gemma starts to investigate her family’s past and discovers her father’s mysterious connection to the secretive Haven research facility. Hungry for answers, she travels to Florida, only to stumble upon two replicas and a completely new set of questions.
While the stories of Lyra and Gemma mirror each other, each contains breathtaking revelations critically important to the other story.
Sounds good right??
So to start, we all did enjoy the book. We thought the was it was written was really well thought out but the one thing that was sort of a down-side was the two stories and having to flip them over.
I had chosen to read Lyra's story first, then go on to read Gemma's. I don't think I'd recommend doing it in this way purely because I felt like I spoiled Gemma's story. I felt like there were holes in the story purposely left to be told in the other one. I think the best way to read this would've been to flip back and forth, maybe reading three or four chapters from one story and then going to the other one. I feel that this might give a bigger impact of the same moment.
We also gave views on whether the characters themselves were interesting or whether it was the situation. Personally, I thought that with such complex situations you didn't need to have really strong, complex characters as it would've been confusing. Zoe had said that Lyra dealt with some 'human' experiences better than others which seemed odd - whether that was a subtle hint as to what's later revealed about Lyra, I don't know.
We also agreed that we're all interested to see what happens in the sequel as we thought Lauren Oliver had left a good end in order to develop things a lot further despite, wanting more development in this book.
Lyra’s story begins in the Haven Institute, a building tucked away on a private island off the coast of Florida that from a distance looks serene and even beautiful. But up close the locked doors, military guards, and bio hazard suits tell a different story. In truth, Haven is a clandestine research facility where thousands of replicas, or human models, are born, raised, and observed. When a surprise attack is launched on Haven, two of its young experimental subjects—Lyra, or 24, and the boy known only as 72—manage to escape.
Gemma has been in and out of hospitals for as long as she can remember. A lonely teen, her life is circumscribed by home, school, and her best friend, April. But after she is nearly abducted by a stranger claiming to know her, Gemma starts to investigate her family’s past and discovers her father’s mysterious connection to the secretive Haven research facility. Hungry for answers, she travels to Florida, only to stumble upon two replicas and a completely new set of questions.
While the stories of Lyra and Gemma mirror each other, each contains breathtaking revelations critically important to the other story.
Sounds good right??
So to start, we all did enjoy the book. We thought the was it was written was really well thought out but the one thing that was sort of a down-side was the two stories and having to flip them over.
I had chosen to read Lyra's story first, then go on to read Gemma's. I don't think I'd recommend doing it in this way purely because I felt like I spoiled Gemma's story. I felt like there were holes in the story purposely left to be told in the other one. I think the best way to read this would've been to flip back and forth, maybe reading three or four chapters from one story and then going to the other one. I feel that this might give a bigger impact of the same moment.
We also gave views on whether the characters themselves were interesting or whether it was the situation. Personally, I thought that with such complex situations you didn't need to have really strong, complex characters as it would've been confusing. Zoe had said that Lyra dealt with some 'human' experiences better than others which seemed odd - whether that was a subtle hint as to what's later revealed about Lyra, I don't know.
We also agreed that we're all interested to see what happens in the sequel as we thought Lauren Oliver had left a good end in order to develop things a lot further despite, wanting more development in this book.
***
Be there or be square.
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