21 April 2014

Review: Something Real


Something Real
Something Real by Heather Demetrios

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Every so often, a book is recommended to you by a lot of people all in one swoop. I was surprised that it was this specific book, but if a number of people who know me from different areas of life all tell me to read something, okay, I'll give it a shot.

Something Real is a different premise. It tells us the story of Chloe, who is better known as Bonnie Baker, one of the children of the old reality series Baker's Dozen. She has successfully avoided the spotlight following an incident that ended up getting the show pulled, but her mother (now remarried and continuing to cash in on her family's fame) has signed them up to be on television again, which is really not a great thing for Chloe's life or sanity.

There's a lot to love about the book. A lot of reviews talk about privacy or surveillance, and it might be a reason for the author to have written it, but the story itself seems, to me, to be more about how we handle things that are out of our control, how we gain control from seemingly impossible situations, coping with family trauma and depression, and so on. There are a lot of layers, enough to mask the minor flaws and sometimes annoying choices made by the author (such as using a trademark sign on the children's show names through the entire book, as if we wouldn't get the picture right away). It's refreshing to read a young adult book that handles multiple issues in a non-condescending way without showing an overt agenda in the process.

Overall, highly recommended for everyone across the board. It's a modern tale but one that has a lot of parallels in a lot of different aspects. Definitely a great read.



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