I'd read a review, or some recommendation for this book recently, so when I saw it in Smiths I started to read, to see what it was like. I was waiting for a friend and it turned out her train was severely delayed, so I decided to buy it and read until she arrived. Quite a big thing as I hardly ever buy books, especially in a non-virtual setting and at full price!
Anyway, I'm really glad I did, as I really enjoyed this book. The premise is 'what if love was a disease...and we had the cure?'. This involved a future in which society-is-improved-but-with-a-hidden-dystopia sort of thing, which is a favourite genre of mine. Of course there are the rebels who have shunned the new order and are living on the outskirts. So the main character's questioning of her mapped-out future and subsequent rejection of the values she was brought up with are predictable enough. But the book is well written, I think it's a great idea, and it makes you want to read it so quickly, so very addictive. One good thing about gobbling books is you will always be able to appreciate it as much a second time, as you actually take in all the details you missed the first time around.
Add to this wonderful mix that the book is incredibly sad, and it's a surefire winner for me. I love books that really make you feel something, and my favourite emotion to be manipulated into is sadness. If a book makes you angry, its frustrating because your emotion has nowhere to go, no tangible subject to attach to. If they induce an abundance of happiness I usually dismiss it as unrealistic. I have never yet been truly scared by a book (would be interesting to experience though). Anyway, part of the whole ideology of the book is that it is better to have pain, to have a full range of emotions, including sorrow and heartbreak, as this means we are really living and connecting rather than just sailing through, indifferent.
So although this may look like a trashy romance, I think it transcends this pigeonhole marvellously and I was very impressed.
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