Title: Forgotten
Author: Cat Patrick
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Pages: 304 pages (hardcover)
How I Got the Book: Read it on my Kindle.
Purchase/Pre-order: Amazon; Barnes & Noble; Book Depository
Each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.
When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.
The way London handles her disorder confuses me. Writing down what it to come the next day so she can prepare herself? That's a smart one. I'll give her that much. However, her past is just as important as her future and yet she neglects her past by barely recording it or not recording it at all. How is she going to grow and change if she doesn't bother to start recording her past more thoroughly until she gets a boyfriend? Does she not remember the saying, "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it"?
Oh, wait. That wasn't nice to say, was it?
Concerning the aforementioned boyfriend, their relationship was one-hundred percent insta-love. That should say everything that needs to be said about why Luke and London's budding love made me want to go to sleep. I'm constantly tired in the first place partially thanks to anemia, but it got worse every time I tried to dig into Forgotten. I wish that was exaggeration, but it's not.
Forty-two percent of the way in, there was still no sign of a plot. Jamie started her relationship with the teacher, London met and forgot Luke multiple times, London tries to find out more about her dad, she and Luke go on a few dates... As if I were London, I've forgotten most of what happened in the novel because it's so forgettable. The novel is readable, but it's not interesting. I think this is a case of the author biting off much more than she could chew. This sort of idea required a meticulous author who could execute it perfectly and it does not appear Patrick is that author.
After a friend mentioned how the book comes together in the second half, I forced myself to skim through the second half just to give it another shot. I gave Forgotten far more fair shots than it deserved, let me tell you. Something about a dead grandma and brother, "I love yous" between Luke and London--yep, nothing interesting there. Quitting at the forty-two percent mark is only looking smarter the more I think about it.
So there you go. Another DNF. Forgotten was riddled with holes and as dull as dull can be and I can't really recommend it. A few of my friends loved it, but it definitely wasn't to my taste. Give it to a better author who can give London and co. better characterization, give London better ways to manage her life, develop a plot interesting enough to make me finish reading the novel, and not turn a great concept into a sleep aid. Then we'll talk about me giving this book a second try. Like I said at the beginning, this review is not concerned with Being Nice.
What am I reading next?: Silence by Michelle Sagara
Author: Cat Patrick
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Pages: 304 pages (hardcover)
How I Got the Book: Read it on my Kindle.
Purchase/Pre-order: Amazon; Barnes & Noble; Book Depository
Each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.
When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.
Review:
I gave it my best shot. Just under halfway through the novel, I'm calling it quits on Forgotten because this book is stupid. For a moment, I tried to find a kinder way to put it, but why sugarcoat it and Be Nice? Forgotten is dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.The way London handles her disorder confuses me. Writing down what it to come the next day so she can prepare herself? That's a smart one. I'll give her that much. However, her past is just as important as her future and yet she neglects her past by barely recording it or not recording it at all. How is she going to grow and change if she doesn't bother to start recording her past more thoroughly until she gets a boyfriend? Does she not remember the saying, "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it"?
Oh, wait. That wasn't nice to say, was it?
Concerning the aforementioned boyfriend, their relationship was one-hundred percent insta-love. That should say everything that needs to be said about why Luke and London's budding love made me want to go to sleep. I'm constantly tired in the first place partially thanks to anemia, but it got worse every time I tried to dig into Forgotten. I wish that was exaggeration, but it's not.
Forty-two percent of the way in, there was still no sign of a plot. Jamie started her relationship with the teacher, London met and forgot Luke multiple times, London tries to find out more about her dad, she and Luke go on a few dates... As if I were London, I've forgotten most of what happened in the novel because it's so forgettable. The novel is readable, but it's not interesting. I think this is a case of the author biting off much more than she could chew. This sort of idea required a meticulous author who could execute it perfectly and it does not appear Patrick is that author.
After a friend mentioned how the book comes together in the second half, I forced myself to skim through the second half just to give it another shot. I gave Forgotten far more fair shots than it deserved, let me tell you. Something about a dead grandma and brother, "I love yous" between Luke and London--yep, nothing interesting there. Quitting at the forty-two percent mark is only looking smarter the more I think about it.
So there you go. Another DNF. Forgotten was riddled with holes and as dull as dull can be and I can't really recommend it. A few of my friends loved it, but it definitely wasn't to my taste. Give it to a better author who can give London and co. better characterization, give London better ways to manage her life, develop a plot interesting enough to make me finish reading the novel, and not turn a great concept into a sleep aid. Then we'll talk about me giving this book a second try. Like I said at the beginning, this review is not concerned with Being Nice.
What am I reading next?: Silence by Michelle Sagara
Wow! I remember going to the library and checking out this book AND Once in a Full Moon. I finished both, but they were so incredibly boring.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got this book in the mail (after squealing and showing it to everyone) I sat down and read it immediately. I read until I couldn't stay up any longer and fell asleep. Then when I woke up I picked it back up and read it until I finished it. I have been wanting this book so badly since I first heard about it. It's a little bit of everything I love, drama, psychological, and mystery...It's the sort of book that is confusing and mind-blowing all in one swoop. Think Memento meets 50 First Dates with a splash of the future.
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