Review : The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : The Beginning of Everything
Author : Robyn Schneider
Publication Date : August 27th 2013
Publisher : Katherine Tegen Books
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.

But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: if one’s singular tragedy has already hit and everything after it has mattered quite a bit, what happens when more misfortune strikes?

Robyn Schneider’s The Beginning of Everything is a lyrical, witty, and heart-wrenching novel about how difficult it is to play the part that people expect, and how new beginnings can stem from abrupt and tragic endings.

Personal Thoughts

The Beginning of Everything is a book that comes highly recommended by a lot of my favorite bloggers, so when I went into the book, I knew I was in for a ride. While I wouldn't say the book blew me away as it did for a lot of readers, it was certainly a refreshing and entertaining YA coming-of-age story.

The characters in The Beginning of Everything were probably my favorite aspect of the book. I adored the main character, Ezra's voice. Robyn Schneider really managed to capture the voice and feelings of a teenage boy in an authentic way, in my opinion. Ezra was a character that the reader got to watch grow from this slightly whiny boy to a more mature young man by the end of the book. His situation was sad and Ezra struggled with him no longer being as popular as he used to, but I thought he handled it well. Alongside Ezra was a wonderful cast of secondary characters who were the shining stars of The Beginning of Everything. Toby was by far the most interesting character that I met in the book. He was funny, goofy, but most of all a good friend who knew exactly how to make Ezra overcome his sorrow. He also had a rather frightening event happen to him involving a severed head on a roller coaster ride, but I liked how Toby didn't let that mentally and emotionally scarring episode define him and instead chose to move on. He reminded me a lot of Patrick from The Perks of Being A Wallflower ,who I also absolutely adored.

The Beginning of Everything was heavy on the friendship aspect, something that I was delighted to find out about. It was portrayed in such a positive and realistic light that I found myself being completely immersed in the interactions between the characters. I only wish this book had been solely based on friendship and there hadn't been much focus on the romance. The romance between Cassidy and Ezra, as you can tell, didn't work for me, mostly because I never warmed up to Cassidy. She came across as that annoyingly perfect girl with the good looks and the witty and sarcastic comments who tried way too hard. I could see why Ezra was infatuated with her, but I disliked most of the scenes that she was in, which made reading this book sometimes quite unpleasant. Plus, there were revelations about her throughout the book that made me dislike her even more. Schneider's humor and lovely writing does make up for Cassidy's lack of depth though and despite my not enjoying her character, this is a book that I wholeheartedly recommend because the good outweighs the bad.

The story of a teenage boy growing up, The Begnning of Everything was raw, authentic and gorgeously written. Fans of gritty YA contemporaries will have no problem enjoying this one.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5

**Overall rating : 3.5/5**


Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Teen for the e-ARC of The Beginning of Everything.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In My Mailbox (8)

Image
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren . Touch (Denazen #1) by Jus Accorda Summary (from Goodreads) When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home. Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized. Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking dow
Read more

In My Mailbox (3)

Image
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren . Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer Summary (from Goodreads) Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. The Alchemy Of Forever (Incarnation #1) by Avery Williams Summary (from Goodreads) Seraphina's first love made her immortal...her second might get her
Read more

In My Mailbox (10)

Image
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren . Don't You Wish (Obtained From Net Galley - Big Thanks To Random House Children's Books for the ARC) by Roxanne St Claire Summary (from Goodreads) When plain and unpopular Annie Nutter gets zapped by one of her dad's whacked-out inventions, she lands in a parallel universe where her life becomes picture-perfect. Now she's Ayla Monroe, daughter of the same mother but a different father—and she's the gorgeous, rich queen bee of her high school.  In this universe, Ayla lives in glitzy Miami instead of dreary Pittsburgh and has beaucoup bucks, courtesy of her billionaire—if usually absent—father. Her friends hit the clubs, party backstage at concerts, and take risks that are exhilirating . . . and illegal. Here she's got a date to lose her V-card with the hottest guy she's ever seen. But on the insde, Ayla is still Annie. So when she's offered the chance to leave the dream life a
Read more