37 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointment for loyal fans., June 7, 2009
This review is from: Perfect Fifths: A Novel (Jessica Darling) (Hardcover)
It boggles me that this book is getting five stars. While I would love to put five stars, I honestly can't. The Jessica Darling series is my favorite book series, and I love the first four books dearly. When I heard the fifth and final book was being released, I was excited, because as I trusted McCafferty in past novels, I felt she would do Jessica and Marcus justice, as well as give us some sort of closure for the many curveballs that have been thrown our way throughout the series.
Instead however, what I got was essentially a blank canvas where McCafferty felt it was her time to test out all these different creative ideas. Endless pages of solely dialogue and random stage inserts like [Pause.] seem careless and lazy, and unnecessary chapters filled with nonsensical haikus and poetry is unneeded and sloppy. Readers flock to these books to get in depth insight on what the characters think and feel, not to get out-there word combinations set up in stanzas for the reader to interpret.
Also, too much time was spent dealing with character introduced in this novel, and who we have no care about. I read from page 91 to 202 in one sitting, and literally felt like I had gotten nothing out of the chapters. All of it was nonsense, and did not seem like in character conversations for Jessica and Marcus. It was too much name dropping and not enough character development for the characters who matter the most (Jessica and Marcus). The end was bland, and while for a moment I had a glimmer of hope in the writing to where I felt like I was reading Jessica and Marcus as they had been portrayed in other hopes, it suddenly ends because well the novel ends. Too much time was spent not building up to anything, and dealing with characters that are not worth the time that was given to them. Honestly, read the first 20 pages, then skip to the last 50 and you will somewhat have the story you want to hear.
It pains me that I had to write such a negative review, nor have I ever even left a review on Amazon, but I was truly disappointed with Perfect Fifths to the point where I needed this to be heard. In all honestly, I wish McCafferty had just left us hanging with the fourth novel, because this fifth novel seems like a carelessly put together writing experiment that does not give the characters of Marcus and Jessica the attention, attraction, and closure they deserve, as well as leaves readers with no closure for themselves. In fact, with all the new information in this novel (which was unnecessary unless she was continuing the series), there is enough material for another book that would do the characters and the readers justice. Unfortunately, instead of finding closure, this novel will have you wanting more - not in a good way - just to actually see Jessica and Marcus deal with their problems and past, and get the proper reconnection that readers were expecting; not just a slightly static story that spent too much time on nonsense, and not enough time on the heart of the story.
I'm sorry Megan McCafferty, and I love all your other books, but unfortunately, I have to give you one star for this. I apologize for saying this, but you have let me down.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a disappointment!, May 24, 2009
This review is from: Perfect Fifths: A Novel (Jessica Darling) (Hardcover)
Rarely do I ever feel strongly enough to post a review on Amazon - in fact, this is the first I've ever written. That's how disappointed I was in this book. I have been an avid Megan Mccafferty fan since I stumbled upon Sloppy Firsts in my freshman year of high school. I've grown up with Jessica Darling, so natually I was super excited for the new book. I was super disappointed. The entire book is just a conversation, an afternoon between Jessica and Marcus. It completely breaks with the tradition from the first four books, written in journal form.
It was nice to hear about side characters and how they're doing, but mostly, readers want hardcore Jessica and Marcus info. And we got it, I guess. I mean, I read the book in one sitting and basically sat it down and felt like "that's it?"
Honestly, looking back through the series, the books just get
progressively worse. And this is by far the worst yet. If you're a fan of the series, I'd recommend checking it out from the library for a quick read. But this is definitely not a book you'd want to reread, so don't bother buying it.
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Terribly Disappointing End, May 5, 2009
This review is from: Perfect Fifths: A Novel (Jessica Darling) (Hardcover)
**SPOILER ALERT** I see all of the five (5) star reviews of this book and I have to wonder if the people who wrote them are related to the author or read a different book than I read. I have read all of the other books in this series, and I was psyched to get this one. What a disappointment. It took me a week and a half to get through it because it was insufferable. There was way too much dialogue (perhaps 70+ straight pages of dialogue), and it was so stilted. It was just a little too witty and not how you would imagine such a conversation would take place. Further, even though it gave us info on all of the other characters introduced in the other books, it wasn't a good method. Reading about people talking about what other characters are doing just feels lazy. Jessica and Marcus ending up together is not a good enough reason to determine this book was good. It was artificial and painful to get through. I only finished it so that I could write a review having actually read the book. If you've read the series, you probably won't be able to stop yourself from reading this, but don't be surprised by how bad it is. Here's hoping that the author's next endeavor is more like the first few books in this series.
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