(Sorry about the small picture)This book was excellent! I approached it with a little trepidation (I was trying to read Skippy Dies! and just not getting into it, so I thought I'd try something else. Since this one is also about teenagers at a private school, I wasn't sure what to expect.) This book is about a girl who's a senior at an exclusive private school in New York, but who's in danger of not graduating. Her "absentee" father takes her to Paris to work on her school project. While there, she discovers an old diary from around the time of the French Revolution. The story jumps between the modern girl, and the girl in the diary.
Lots of French Revolution history, as well as musical background (specifically classical guitar - the girl is doing her senior project on the "musical DNA" passed down by past guitarists). I really liked the way the author interwove the history with the modern story. Also, you learn early on in the book that the girl suffered the loss of her little brother, and blames herself. However, it's not until almost the end of the book that you learn the full story of her brother's death.
There's a little bit of romance in Paris that livens things up a bit. There's a lot of humor on the New York end, specifically with her other friends and the projects they are working on. I read the whole book in about 2 days - that's how much it draws you in. All in all, a good read. I've added Donnelly's other book ("A Northern Light") to my reading list, and may post on it soon as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to leave comments. I reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments - and I reserve the sole right to determine what's inappropriate. (That's the attorney/professor coming out in me!)