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Not Anything

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Not Anything

I fell in love with Susie Shannon and did not want this amazing novel to end. Dealing with her mother's death and her father's emotional abandonment, Susie is unable to feel her own worth as a person. Luckily, she has her one and only best friend, Marisol, who always understands her. Susie's fears prevent her from connecting to anyone else. When requested to tutor super cute Danny Diaz, her life becomes less routine, less safe. Susie tries her best to run away from it all. She is unable to see the obvious, that the first boy she has ever connected with is falling for her too. Susie makes some mistakes and isn't always so nice, but in taking chances and by learning she doesn't have to always be perfect, Susie begins to find herself. Maybe she could learn to love herself too.
Not Anything by Carmen Rodrigues is a must read.

Not Anything
This a fantastic debut novel about a girl living in a glamorous city living a life that is everything but that. Susie Shannon has been trying to guard herself from everything since the passing of her mother. No boyfriend, an increasingly gone best friend, and a father who can't seem to give her the time of day. With all of this baggage in tow she meets Danny Diaz. Her teacher Mr. Murphy has begged her to tutor him claiming his life is the one she could change, and make a difference in. As this story unfolds Susie begins to see how her life intertwining with Danny's could possibly change not only him but her as well. Susie Shannon is a character who will not soon be forgotten.
Carmen Rodrigues has written a story that is vivid and beautiful. It is a must read for anyone who has experienced the internal struggle of not being anything.

I wasnt sure what to expect from this book when I started it. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I could relate to a 15 year old character in a teen book. I'm far from being a teen, but I found this book to be really good!

It reminded me of Sarah Dessen's books and her writing style. I do recommend reading this if you love her books. I'll definitely be reading Carmen Rodrigues' next book!

Review from [..]

Title: Not Anything
Author: Carmen Rodrigues
Grade: A-
Ideal Audience: Girls & Some Boys, 12-17

Summary: Susie doesn't have a boyfriend, and Marisol, Susie's best friend in the entire world, is also Susie's only friend. But Susie's okay with that. She and her father have never really gotten over her mother's death six years ago. In fact, Susie's dad spends most of his time writing, and the two speak to each other about an average of ten minutes a day.

However, Susie's life starts to change. For one, she agrees to tutor Danny Diaz, a popular junior. At first, Susie is reluctant, but as time wears on, their relationship grows. Meanwhile, Susie feels as if Marisol is deserting her. Marisol has gotten herself a boyfriend, and the pair no longer eat lunch together, no longer see movies together, and a storm is brewing.

Susie is also becoming increasingly frustrated with her father. He seems to be falling under the spell of Leslie, Marisol's mother (and for some reason, Marisol is fine with it), but he never seems to notice Susie.

Susie's usually routine life is about to be thrown.

My thoughts: To be completely honest, when I was a couple chapters in, I was worrying Not Anything was just going to be another one of those school loser finally manages to get herself a life as well as a boyfriend type books. Thankfully, it wasn't.

The death of Susie's mother, and the relationship between Susie and her father, added much deeper levels to the novel. Also, Susie's behavior continually surprised me, which made it an even better coming-of-age story.

I read Not Anything in one night, and I think it is a great debut novel: highly recommended.

In the six years since her mother's tragic death, Susie Shannon seems to have withdrawn from the world, relying on only her best friend Marisol and her mother, and occasionally her absent-minded father to keep plowing though life. She's sad most of the time, and painfully shy, only truly coming alive with Marisol. Then her favorite teacher asks her to tutor Danny Diaz, a popular junior. Reluctantly, Susie agrees. She is shocked by Danny's easygoing nature and even more surprised when he seem eager to become her friend. Slowly, Danny draws her out of her shell, setting off a series of sudden and fast paced events that culminate in a massive blow out with the people Susie loves most. Things can never go back to the way they were...

NOT Anything was a surprisingly absorbing read. Susie is a freshly realistic character, and her indecision and grief are tangible. The captivating, witty, and honest dialogue easily propels the reader through the book. Rodrigues writes with a confidence that proves she knows teenagers and the emotions that being a teen often entails. Full of mistakes, regrets, forgiveness, humor, and love, NOT Anything is one rewarding read.

In Carmen Rodrigues' debut novel, Not Anything, she introduces the character of Susie Shannon. Right from the start, Susie holds nothing back from readers, yet keeps rather quiet around her peers and her father. Within a few paragraphs, readers will know that she hasn't smiled for a yearbook picture since she was in fourth grade and has been having panic attacks since the sixth grade. Within a few chapters, they'll also know that though she's never had a boyfriend, this sophomore has other kinds of love: music (she intends to be a songwriter when she grows up), organization, English lit, her best friend Marisol, her aging grandmother, her distant father, and her mother, who died in a car accident when Susie was nine.

At school, she has to tutor Danny, a junior who is far more laid back that she. His easygoing attitude and half-smile make her nervous and frustrated - and, though she's initially loathe to admit it, interested. At home, she and her father do the dance of strangers. They live in the same house but barely speak to one another, the distance between them having grown and grown after the loss of her mom. Susie would like nothing more than to feel as though, "just maybe, he might actually have room in his life for [her]," and to have a real conversation with him rather than one just in passing. As the story continues, Susie tries to summon up the courage to tell her father and Danny what's really on her mind, and to figure out who she is, with or without others.

Look for the lyrics Susie writes - if only the music played as you turned the page! - as well as a visit to Wonderland on Halloween.

Susie's stories and songs will continue in A Little Something, which will be released in 2009. While waiting for the follow-up, check out The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson and Adios to My Old Life by Caridad Ferrer.

Everything changed when Susie Shannon's mother passed away. Susie's once attentive father is now oblivious toward her, finding solace in his writing. Susie used to trust everyone, opening up to them, cracking a smile here and there, but now she doesn't trust her best friend or even herself. She used to love her life and everything in it, but once her mother passed away, keeping to herself was the way to go.

No boyfriend, one true friend, never smiling, trying to adapt to her changing father -- this is how Susie lives. It seemed like everyone around her had moved on, but Susie and her father just couldn't.

What Susie doesn't know, though, is that the new school year, her sophomore year, will be life-altering, in both good and bad ways.

Her boy troubles begin when her favorite teacher, Mr. Murphy, decides that it would be best for Susie if she tutored Danny Diaz, the very cute and very popular athlete, to shape him up a little. Of course, Susie doesn't think this is the best idea and the first few study sessions prove this. But as time progresses, not only do the study arrangements work out, Susie begins to see Danny in a whole new light -- especially the side of him that she wouldn't mind having as her boyfriend. Yet, Susie isn't so sure that a boyfriend is a good idea.

Aside from her Danny troubles, Susie's best friend, Marisol, begins to drift away, her next-door neighbor is trying to become friends with her again, and her father is showing interest in her best friend's mom.

Now that she sees her dad moving on, Susie wonders if it's her time to do so too, since the perfect boy is right in front of her and moving on would be the only way to reconnect with her old friends. But will this prove to be the worst decision she makes or will it be the beginning of something good?

With her debut novel, Carmen Rodrigues crafts a successful story of a girl lost in a world she thought she knew, only to figure out that she needed a little push, a little strength, to overcome her obstacles. While making decisions, both worthwhile and regretful, Susie discovers a new part of herself that she never knew she had.

Beautifully written, NOT ANYTHING is just the beginning of something special.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

Having lost my own mom a few years ago, I'm always a little skeptical of a story written about a character who loses her mother by a writer who hasn't. It's an experience you really have to go through to know how big it is. But Carmen Rodrigues hits the mark - in many ways. Her close attention to detail and development of character evoke the sense of grief, loneliness, and "lostness" that one experiences after losing someone so close and so important. She also brings back the torture of teenage love, the fear of rejection, and the devotion of family and friends that make this a very real story. I laughed, cried, and agonized right along with Susie the whole way. Brava!