Delilah McPhee is a normal American teenager, doomed to never be popular (especially having broken the head cheerleader's knee) but things begin to change when she borrows a fairytale from the school library. She knows it's not normal for someone her age to be obsessed with a story written for children but she can't stop reading it until eventually she knows the book by heart. Or at least she did until one day the unthinkable happens - it changes! She soon discovers that the characters in the book don't cease to exist once the story has ended but resume their normal lives until the next time someone opens the book and they are forced to re-enact it once again. Prince Oliver is tired of this life and longs to escape. He soon discovers that Delilah may be his one hope as she is the only person he has ever managed to communicate with outside of the book. Will she help him to escape and will they both find the happily ever after they both desire?
I've read quite a few of Jodi Picoult's books, having started with My Sister's Keeper and worked my way through several more until they all got a bit predictable. Recently I decided to read a couple more as they were on offer and found myself pleasantly surprised as they didn't follow her usual pattern (Picture Perfect and Harvesting the Heart in case you were wondering - the latter affecting me as much as My Sister's Keeper). This meant I wasn't quite sure what to expect when it came to Between the Lines, her first teenage novel and co-written with her daughter. Having spoken to a few of my colleagues it seems that quite a few people are confused as to whether this is teen or adult fiction and what it is exactly that this book is about. I'd already bought it as an impulse purchase because this book is so nice and unusual and so thought I'd bump it up my reading list to see if I can have an answer.
My answer is this: Between the Lines is written for a young teenage audience and is a bit of a light-hearted and fun modern fairytale. It's definitely more for those who already have a love for books as those who aren't so keen on books will be put off by the length (and weight) of this book. It's also completely different from Picoult's other books - there's no darkness aside from the mention of divorce and being unpopular but these aren't the focus at all and the whole book has a very happy and fairytale feel.
The quality of the actual book is stunning (hence the impulse purchase). If you pick it up one of the first things you'll notice is that it's a lot heavier than you'd expect. This is due to the fact that it's printed using high-quality paper to enable the use of colour (or so I presume). There are three narrative voices used in Between the Lines: the original fairytale that Delilah fell in love with, Prince Oliver and Delilah. Each has their own colour and then Delilah and Oliver's worlds have their own font style. There are also colour illustrations to go with the original fairytale and black and white silhouette-style ones dotted throughout the text which both help to add to this book's charm. The cover lets it down slightly as it would have been nice to have one that was in the style of those you usually find on fairytales to truly complete the feel. It is instantly identifiable as a Jodi Picoult novel, although as the story is so different I don't think this adds anything to the book and may be part of the reason why some are getting a bit confused about it. It's as if they're hoping people will buy the book because it's her writing it instead of on the strength of the book itself. I can see the marketing logic but would definitely love to see it with a more stunning cover as it does just let the book down slightly.
The story itself was charming and fun. You won't end up in tears or traumatised (thinking of you C!) but will feel slightly warm and fuzzy (although not as much as you will if you watch Tangled - love that film!). It doesn't take itself too seriously and is a pleasant read with an ending that comes about in a way that I didn't predict. I think if I was a young teenager I could quite easily fall in love with this book but as an adult it doesn't quite have the depth that I'm used to and this is absolutely fine because that's the age group it's intended for. The writing style is easy to read, the characters are suitably soppy for each other and the products mentioned are perfect at speaking to that age group. However, the products do prevent it from having that timeless quality that some books have. The two inconsistencies also bugged me a little. On page 28 Delilah explains that she broke the head cheerleaders knee after swinging the bat whilst playing softball in the gym and then on page 155 Jules (Delilah's best friend who moved to the school a week after Delilah broke the cheerleader's knee according to page 28) says that she was the first one to know when a hysterical Delilah called her after breaking the head cheerleader's knee by tripping her during the Field Day hundred-meter dash. I suppose Delilah might have broken the head cheerleader's knee twice... The other inconsistency is with the famous page 43 (in the fairytale book, not the actual one in my hands) where Delilah has all of her private conversations with Oliver. The illustration that matches the description of that page is next to the title page for Between the Lines but the one next to fairytale book page 44 is completely different. Having read the book, my first reaction was a little bit of disappointment that it ended where it did without you finding out how the author or anyone else react or how they make it work in the days to come but having thought about it, the point where it ends works perfectly because it's the end of the altered story in the fairytale book which is of course supposed to be the story that you're reading and so what happens after that story ends would not be in it.
One thing I would question is the inclusion of descriptions of Picoult's other books at the end of Between the Lines. Picoult herself says at the end of Between the Lines that it "is a great fit for preteens and younger teens who may not be quite ready to tackle moral and ethical dilemmas in fiction." Moral and ethical dilemmas are usually the focus for Picoult's books (which are nothing like Between the Lines) and so do not fit with this book and it's potential preteen readers, creating a slightly confusing message. I would probably have left it with just listing her other titles in the front.
Overall this book was pleasant to read and a bit of light-hearted fun that I would recommend to young teenage girls who are confident readers and who like a good fairytale.
I give it 7/10 :)
Title: Between the Lines
Author: Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Teenage Fiction
No comments:
Post a Comment