Friday 21 November 2014

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer review by DaisDaily
Beware, there are spoilers contained in this review.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a book that is surrounded by so much hype, and in some cases, a reader can be put off. I admit, I was one of those people.
It usually takes me quite a while to get around to popular books, not because I'm trying to avoid reading them in the midst of the literary takeover, it's usually just because, the less I read and hear about it, the less scared I am of starting it and then being disappointed by that book.
The third and final installment of the Mara Dyer was released before I had even started it. I think that tells you exactly how long it takes me to catch up with popular reads.

So finally, after what feels like a life time of positive reviews and strangers urging me to read this. I have.
I always knew that I would eventually read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer because the premise outlined seemed like it was perfect for the kind of book that I love.
I was lead to believe that this book would be a dark and slightly disturbing read.

My reactions on first finishing the book?
Did I read the same book as everyone else?
For the entirety of my knowing of the Mara Dyer series, I have never heard a bad thing to say about it. I tend to avoid Goodreads reviews just before or during reading a book, but now that I've finished it and I've taken a look at what others have thought, I find myself sated with the idea that I'm not the only one to feel the way I do.

This book is dark, and it is a little disturbing. But I found it more confusing than anything.
I loved that we didn't know if what was happening to Mara was hallucinations and just normal PTSD symptoms, or if Mara Dyer was truly going crazy.
Mara Dyer is an unstable narrator, and I loved that, but in all honesty, that's the only thing I found  that I really loved about the entirety of this book.
I like her twisted way of seeing her 'powers' right at the very end though, like she is the enforcer of justice.

I find myself quite undecided of I like the character of Noah Shaw or not.
His nature, looks, and general badassness are a mold that I have started to grow tired of now. There are a thousand Noah Shaw's out there, and I found him lacking compared to others of his exact likeness.
Noah's 'powers' of healing are never really explained to us at all. I would have liked just the tiniest bit of exploration of them.
I did like his humor though, and I liked a lot of Mara's lines.

I found the pacing of this book quite slow. I felt like the book was centering so much on petty arguments at school, when it should have been more focused on Mara's mission to not be crazy.
There are so many things all juggling for attention, that I was finding it a little overwhelming.
The book held so much potential to be a truly original and remarkable, but I feel like it has kind of missed its mark a little.

I just want to touch on this next subject rather lightly, but.. If my best friend had died, in an 'accident' that I too was a part of, there is no way that I would be able to walk around normally and act ok. My grief would be an bottomless pit of a black hole, and I'm really not an emotional person either. But I'm sure Mara's parents would be ok with that and not see the need to send her for psychiatric help.
And when Mara figures out that it was indeed her that causes said 'accident' and indirectly crushing and killing her best friend, she still seems rather ok with that. I'd be a raging emotional wreck! Just saying.

And my last comment. I just want to say that I hated the ending.
Because now that we all know that Jude is alive, I find myself reviewing Mara's hallucinations and whether or not whenever she saw Jude if that was really him or not.

I'll definitely be picking up the second one, as I already own it, but because of my average opinion on this first one, I don't think I'm expecting too much from the rest of the series. Which is a huge huge shame, because the Mara Dyer series is one that I was so hoping that I could love and become obsessed with.

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