Review: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Three gumdrops :)

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly:

Release date: October 4th 2010

Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Number of pages: 496 (UK paperback)

Series: None

Plot:
BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

Jennifer Donnelly, author of the award-winning novel A Northern Light, artfully weaves two girls’ stories into one unforgettable account of life, loss, and enduring love. Revolution spans centuries and vividly depicts the eternal struggles of the human heart.


Review:

I gave this book 3 out of 5 gumdrops though I thought of giving it 4.
If the entire book had been as great as the last 150 pages it would have been a 5, but sadly, it was not. The beginning was okay, a little bit confusing, the middle part
was just downright boring, but as implied, the ending was really good. 
I've read about the French revolution in school and think it's very interesting, but sometimes, especially while reading Alexandrine's diary entries, I got completely
lost and didn't know what she was talking about. 
Sometimes, in the diary entries, Alexandrine wrote of her feelings right then, as she was writing, but often enough she wrote about what happened a few years 
earlier and at times I found myself asking, when did that happen? is he talking to her now? or did he talk to her in 1789?
That got very confusing at times.


In one part of the book this man tells Andi that she looks good in braids or whatever, and in that moment I realized that I had no idea how Andi looked. I didn't know
her hair colour, her skin colour, eye colour, not anything. The only thing i recall mentioned is that she wears alot of metal, that's it. 
Andi's character was way too whiny for me to see her as the strong, female protaganist I always search for in books. Sure, I get it, she's depressed, but I don't want
to read about this or that way she'd take her life, I don't want to read about how many antidepressant pills she took this and that day. It's not the dort of thing I want
to read about in every single chapter.


I definetly prefer Alexandrine over Andi but Alex wasn't really my cup of tea either. Her love for Louis-Charles was really sweet. I loved reading about the two of them
toghether. The way she fought, and struggled for that little boy, the way she never let go of hope, was really what made me like her alot more than Andi.