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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely delightful, October 1, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Absolutely Maybe was hard for me to put down once I picked it up. The characters in it are as colorful as Maybelline Chestnut's Kool-Aid-dyed hair, the drama high, and the humor prevalent from beginning to end. I fell in love with Maybe from the first page. She's an easy to root for underdog. Her tears became my tears, and her triumphs my joy.
At the beginning of the book, Maybe is stuck in an impossible situation. Her mother's latest fiancé attempts to rape Maybe, but Maybe's alcoholic mother takes his side over hers. School is no safe haven either, as her mother's doted on charm-school students ambush Maybe and beat her senseless in the girls' bathroom. So Maybe does the only thing she can under the circumstances: she runs away. Fortunately, she has two best friends to help her on her journey across the country to California, where Maybe discovers there's more to her than meets the eye.
The one weak spot for me in this book is the too-neat ending. I would not have been so forgiving of Maybe's mother, but I know there are other readers who will prefer the ending just the way it is.
In any case, if you like books that make you laugh and cry and fall in love with the heroine, you're going to absolutely love Absolutely Maybe.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lisa Yee hits it right out of the park!, September 27, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Absolutely Maybe is an absolutely delightful novel that belongs on everyone's must read list. Far from a run-of-the-mill coming of age novel, Maybe is an entrancing character who dyes her hair with Kool-Aid, runs away to Hollywood and spends the summer working on a taco truck. As moving as Because of Winn-Dixie, Absolutely Maybe is an impossible to put down read. Expect to see this one on the book award nomination lists!
Note to parents: Suitable for ages 11 and up, no agendas.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well Written, But Has Problems, December 3, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The book by Lisa Yee is well written and the first few chapters of the book were very engaging. But it falls away after the road trip begins.
The chapters are short so it is an easy, and fast read but... it's a little disconcerting when so many sentences begin with Maybe, and you have to remember that is the girl's name.
The book seems to gloss over Jakes attempted rape of Maybe, and Maybe doesn't seem to be phased by it, except to be properly disgusted. But she doesn't have any repercussions from the assault. I found that unrealistic.
She seems to sleep walk through the book and the horror of her life without showing appropriate emotions like sadness at her mother being perpetually disappointed in her, choosing her charm school girls over her own daughter, and the ultimate betrayal, believing her fiance over Maybelline about the attempted assault.
Maybe leaves home for California to find a father she never knew. And things fall unrealistically into place for the teens, like Sammy opening up his home for his former step daughter, and being able to find the man she believes is her father with just a first name--in LA!
The entire road trip seems to glorify running away from home with friends.
There is just too much missing here to make it a recommended read. It is not the kind of book that teaches kids anything good. Rather, it seems to fall into the overworked catagory of trying to make dysfunction chic. That's getting very old.
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