Monday, April 4, 2011

BOOK REVIEW - WITHER by LAUREN DESTEFANO - THE CHEMICAL GARDEN # 1



By: Lauren DeStefano
Published By: Simon & Schuster, HARPER COLLINS
Released : Available Now
Details: Hardback, 358 Pages
Source : Bought myself

RATING:  4.5 CREEPY MAD SCIENTIST STARS!!!





Book Blurb : Taken From Goodreads

What if you knew exactly when you would die?  

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.
 
 

BOOK REVIEW:


Lauren DeStefano certainly makes you ‘feel’, her book Wither when you read it.


The book cover is absolutely gorgeous!!! but it painted a different picture in my mind about what the book was about. I deliberately did not snoop or read book blurbs/reviews. I went in cold turkey, having wanted to read this book for a long time. Yes, I judged a book on it’s cover.


WOW!!! From the first chapter, WOW!!!! It grabbed me by the hair and didn’t let go.


The emotions/words that came to mind when reading Wither:


Scared, basement horror scene, fear, death, too young, squirm, wrong!!, nervous, trapped, I want to slap him hard , untrustworthy, creepy mad scientist, disturbing, no escape, killer , determination, nauseous , “oh lord, what have you just done”, “let me at the prick” and heartache.


I really enjoyed Wither, but it made me very tense and unsettled, the whole read. One character helped me release some of it whenever this character came into play.


Rhine Ellery, 16 yrs old , Jenna 18yrs old and Cecily 13yrs old, stolen , the lucky ones, well that’s debatable, forced into marriage to Linden Ashby. Oh Linden, do I slap you so hard it knocks some sense into you or do I feel sorry for you. You are an architect, intelligent but sooooo, soooooo ignorant!!!! I could not bring myself to like this stupid boy. I wanted to, I tried to see it through his eyes. I understand his father’s control but, he has a brain that functions. The kitchen staff are more clued into the goings on. That was my mini grump of the book. How can he love without knowing his love? Did he just not want to know for fear of the truth?


The new generation females live to the ripe old age of 20, the males, 25. Why, because Lauren says so and some virus which I didn’t completely understand. The world does not have a conscience, things happen that I hope never consume the natural way of thinking in our modern society, like they do in Wither. I’m not ignorant, Lauren did touch on the non fiction of our world in her fiction.


Lauren has bravely gone to a lot of topics in this book that some would question. I remove myself from those topics and read the book as a fictional story. Did I feel uncomfortable with some of it, being a mum of 3 kids..oooo yeah, but, it is a story that Lauren has chosen to tell and for all the feelings it brought up in me, I would highly recommend it.


You may be annoyed with Cecily, but you need to live her life and remember her age. Young girls are very impressionable if they have lost so much so young. Sometimes the gain is not necessarily a gain , it is still a loss.


I am being very careful not to give story away as it will lose some of the effect it will have on you.


I must google if it snows in Florida ,after watching Seinfeld, I always assumed it was the sunny state. Jerry’s parents lived in warmth and hurricanes.


Book # 2 I’m going to be begging somebody for an Arc. I never beg ,but I know whose book it’s going to be and I must get my hands on it. I predict much suspense in book 2 and don’t forget .....tick..tock...tick...tock.

FAVE QUOTES:

"I always knew I was an excellent liar; I just didn't know that I had it in me to fool myself."

"She smiles at our husband as she moves, and he blushes, overcome by her beauty. But I know what her smile really means...Her smile is her revenge."





Michelle 

6 comments:

  1. your review made me want to read it! I am going to go sample it right now on my kindle!

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  2. I really enjoyed this one, glad that you did too!
    Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog

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  3. Enjoy!! Read my books and thanks!!

    Michelle

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  4. Hi Brandileigh2003,

    It was very good wasn't it:)
    I'll just pop over and see what you thought.

    Michelle

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  5. I loved this book. I can't wait to read more from Destefano. It is such a great debut!

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