Howdy YAL!

I like this book in theory. It has an interesting premise and most of the characters (with the big exception of Harmony which I'll get to in a minute) were likable. I just thought after awhile the book got a little boring. Yeah, stuff was happening. Harmony was acting like a psycho while Melody was acting oblivious, but the book only focused on one thing: pregnancy. And yeah, I know it was a society that essentially worships pregnancy, but there could've been a little subplot that was completely unrelated to it at times that could just lighten up the atmosphere some. Maybe that was part of the problem. McCafferty excelled so much in her world building that I was reminded constantly of the prego obsessed world that Melody and Harmony lived in (including their knocked up inspired lingo) that this poor girl couldn't get a break and had to stop every fifty pages or so to read something else--even gasps, Immigration Law, just to get rid of a potential migraine. Once again, I thought McCafferty did a nice job with the characterization. Except when it comes to Harmony. Perhaps I am supposed to hate Harmony and want to shake her and then send back to the Duggars Goodside where she belongs, but I don't think I am. I think I'm suppose to feel for for her, but I don't because she's gosh darn too sanctimonious. And she compares the guy she has a crush on to Jesus. Obviously, she's been listening to too much Faith + 1. It's really perplexing to me that she's like this because Melody, her sister, is a very flawed character too, who wanted to get knocked up from the get go, but I could sympathize for Melody. I think it might be because we were more or less in her world than Harmony's. We saw what she experienced firsthand. While Harmony seemed to be a bit tight lipped about her life.Best Feature: Reality TV Bashing: Though it's not direct, I think McCafferty is making fun of reality TV. Although, the world is about teenage pregnancy, sexuality, and marriage at it's core, I couldn't help but note that several of these societies seemed to be based off of the trashiest of the trashy reality shows.Worst Feature: Too different: The world building is fantastic. But how far can you go with world building? It's true that McCafferty's world is no near the level of derange that Brave New World is, but even though soma does not exist in McCafferty's world, she's gone pretty far into the world of dystopia even inventing her own lingo. And although this is really cool, sometimes it can get to be a little too much.To see full review which includes casting, a special dystopia analysis, and much more click here: http://yalbookbriefs.blogspot.com/2012/03/trend-spotlights-into-land-of-dystopia_08.html