Customer Reviews

Saving Zoe: A Novel

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Fifteen-year-old Echo has had to deal with more tragedy than anyone, regardless of age, should have to bear. Her parents' relationship is made up of alternating periods of arguments and silence. Her two best friends, Abby and Jenay, seem to be drifting apart -- from her, and from each other. She has a boyfriend named Parker, a great guy that she can't seem to work up any emotion towards. And her older sister, Zoe, is still dead and gone.

Echo and Zoe could not have been more different. Echo is diligent in her studies, quite happy to take the quiet path of least resistance. Zoe, on the other hand, had the sunny, naive disposition that led her to live life however the mood struck her. In fact, it was that same sweet and fun personality that may have led to her death.

Zoe's boyfriend, Marc, is still struggling to deal with the death of the girl he loved. However, he has something that has helped him a great deal; something that he decides to give to Echo, to help her know the sister who no longer is. Zoe left her diary with Marc the last time they were together, and he's held onto it ever since. Now it's Echo's, and, at first, she resists reading it. After all, she already knew everything there was to know about Zoe, right? Turns out, not so much.

As Echo becomes immersed in the last few months of Zoe's life, she learns that she really didn't know her sister at all. The struggles, the insecurities, the traumas that her sister faced and never spoke about -- these aren't things that Echo would have ever associated with her bright, popular sister. As she delves deeper, into both the diary and the need to be like Zoe, Echo learns that although her sister will never return, she will always live in Echo's memory -- and in the justice that Echo is determined to get in her sister's name.

Although Alyson Noel is best known for her lighter, contemporary stories, she has taken a serious, heartbreaking plot line and turned it into a winner that you'll never forget. I found myself as immersed into Zoe's life as Echo did, and found it hard to put the book down the entire time I was reading. Ms. Noel has done an awesome job with this weightier subject matter, and I hope to read more stories in this vein from her in the future.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

Saving Zoe: A Novel

Synopsis
In the last year, Echo's life has transformed into a nightmare. Her older sister was brutally murdered, as no one in town will let her forget. She is trying to continue living a life that no longer makes any sense to her. Then, on her birthday, she is given her sister's diary, the chronicle of her last days on earth. Reading the diary shows Echo just how much she didn't know about Zoe and the unfinished business she left behind.

Review
While Saving Zoe: A Novel was relatively short, I found it to be very engaging. After I finished reading it, I simply sat there and sorted through the feelings that the story left me with. It approached very mature topics, like sex, drugs, predators, and relationships through the medium of the diary, which I found to be very insightful. After the half way point of the book, I found it hard to put down as I wanted to know what was in that diary.

My Recommendation
I really enjoyed this book, though I wasn't a huge fan of the multitudes of emotions that it brought up. This book should be read by teens ~14+ as some of the themes are too mature for younger children.
4 - Wait for a sale/coupon

I'm surprised to come here and find that most reviewers loved this book. I read "Saving Zoe" and found it to be simply written (a pro in this case), kind of bland, and not quite much of anything. I really liked some parts, while at the same time some parts bothered me immensely.

The storyline is simple. Echo's spirited older sister Zoe is gone, and Echo tries to piece her life together through her final diary entires. As she enters Zoe's world bit by bit, she finds herself in similar situations, meeting the same people, and facing similar dilemmas. She strikes up a strange relationship with Zoe's boyfriend and begins to distance herself from her former good friends.

"Saving Zoe" read realistically at times, but there were moments where plot and writing felt cheap and out of place. Zoe's diary entries often felt supremely fake (like most diary entry books), with whole quoted conversations and a writing style remarkably similar to that of Alyson Noel. What a curious coincidence.

But the story never really lifts off. I read it quickly enough but without feeling like I'd gotten close to any characters. The plot is one that's fairly common and the writing isn't special enough to warrant a read (though it's most certainly quite nice). The cover is also bewildering: how anyone can call this book "hysterical" is beyond me. It's a girl's book, no doubt, and while it's not amazing, it does have a certain charm to it. In the end, I didn't come away from it feeling like I'd enjoyed the hours spent on it. I didn't actively dislike it, but there was nothing in it for me to particularly like.

Not amazing, not terrible, and nothing out of the ordinary. "Saving Zoe" is good for teen girls looking for more substantive drama (dealing with loss, boyfriend drama, friend drama, etc.), but too flat for avid readers in search of a meaningful book to tug on heartstrings and take you to a whole new world. Take your pick.

I hate writing bad reviews. Hate, hate, hate, especially since Alyson Noël is an established author. But I don't know what else to do - there was absolutley nothing I enjoyed about Saving Zoë. By the end, I was annoyed by everything and just wanted to get it over with.

My first problem is the writing and style. Mainly, it isn't even written like a novel, more like the way an adult imagines a 15-year-old would speak, which annoyed me - yes, we say "like" too often, but writing a novel like that doesn't make the voice authentic, just annoying. Sometimes, though, in between that type of writing, there are a few passages attempting to sound deep, which just doesn't fit. Zoë's diary entries are just as annoying - that's just not how you write in a diary. As far as I know, when you write in a diary, you write about your feelings, and you don't use dialogue and long descriptions. There is almost no difference between the normal narrative and the diary entries, except things like writing "cuz" instead of "because". To me, it doesn't even seem realistic that Zoë kept a diary in the first place since she hates reading and anything academic.

The characters are also annoying. All of them have one or two characteristics - Abby is the bossy one, Jenay the optimistic, fun one, Echo the smart one, Zoë the outgoing, wild one, etc. - but none of them have actual personalities, no individual quirks whatsoever. They all just personify that one characteristic. For the characterization, the author only used telling, and no showing. I couldn't relate to Echo at all - I didn't even get any giref from her. Mainly, she doesn't seem like she misses Zoë at all, and then there are two or three passages about the "gaping hole" Zoë left in Echo's heart. Usually, I love reading about dealing with grief, but I didn't get anything like that from this novel - not from Echo and not from her parents. Marc is the only character with a bit of a personality, but I didn't really get his relationship with Echo either. Echo starts going out with her dead sister's boyfriend, but never once feels guilty about it.

There is no development, character growth or suspense; there isn't even much of a plot. That's not saying I need books to have loads of action - I love books that are mainly about inner processes and character growth - but since there is none of that, either... For me, the book never really got started. What Echo tells us about her life in the beginning has little to do with her sister's death, just teenage life. I thought the story might pick up once she starts reading Zoë's diary, but there's almost nothing in there the reader doesn't already know: only that she was killed by an Internet predator. The reader just gets to read about another boring teenage life, just with a different voice.

I didn't really get the point of the whole novel - it didn't make me feel anything, and it has no message other than warning readers of Internet predators - which, honestly, I think is kind of stupid - most of us who use sites like that aren't as stupid as the characters in Saving Zoë and know not to meet up with random people sending creepy messages. The ending didn't really do anything for me either - other than what happens to Jason, there is no relevation. I'm not even sure you can call it a relevation - the guy is creepy from the beginning on.

I don't know what else to say about Saving Zoë. I just didn't enjoy it - writing, plot, characters, none of it. Obviously, I don't recommend it, but I've read a few reviewers who like the same types of books as I do give this one positive reviews, so decide for yourself whether or not to read this book. I hope you enjoy it more than I did.

Alyson Noel has done it again! Another book thats off the charts. Saving Zoe is different from the rest of her books. This is a book you wont want to put down.
A year and a half ago Echo's sister Zoe is killed. Echo starts high school without her sister and with people talking and whispering behind her back. Until one day Zoes boyfriend Marc gives Echo Zoes diary telling her she should read it. At first Echo isnt sure, in a way she feels that she would be betraying her sister by reading it. But after a while she realizes Zoe would have wanted her to read it. Once Echo begins the diary she starts to realize she didnt know her sister as well as she thought. And the picture perfect life she always thought Zoe had. . .was about to be shattered with each page she read.
As your reading this book your sucked into the lives of Zoe and Echo. Asking yourself many questions. Like what happened to Zoe? It all comes together in the end leaving you a book that can make you laugh and make you cry.

this was an amazing book my favorite also. it was very sad, but very quick meaning i read it very quickly because it was a good book. it made me want to cry. the cover was deceiving. it looks as though the book has to deal with a friendship that is falling apart, and some girl named zoe is the problem. but its more about how echo;s sister zoe just died. zoe boyfriend gives echo zoe's diary. then as zoe reads the diary she finds out that her sister had a secret life away from zoe and her parents. i relize this sounds boring but the book is truly amazing.

As if starting her freshman year in high school wasn't bad enough, Fifteen-year-old Echo has to deal with finding closure from the brutal murder of her older sister, Zoë.

It isn't until Zoë's former boyfriend shares Zoë's diary with Echo that she realizes Zoë had a lot more secrets than she expected. As she reads the entries in her diary, the truth is set free.

I found myself engrossed in the storyline and eager to know more about Zoë and her sister Echo. An awesome story about loss, love and redemption.

Two thumbs up!

I feel I have to write a review for this book in case there is anyone else that comes by it that has ever been in my shoes or Echo's for that matter. It almost came as a form of therapy reading this, for me at least.
Just days after my 15th birthday, I lost my sister. My older sister and only sibling. No, she may not have died in the same manner as Zoe but her death was just as tragic and traumatizing.
I had the unfortunate luck to be a part to finding her half drowned after an accidental over dose. She died only a few days later.
It was during the summer between 9th and 10th grade and going back to school I didn't really give any thought to how it was going to be. I have to say; reading Echo's experience with the attempt to resume a normal life was true and honest for me. I've been there and my experiences were very similar if not exactly as describe.
I was able to connect with Zoe as well and with how Echo was able to learn who she was through her diary because my sister was not so much unlike Zoe in a lot of ways.
There was a part in the book where Echo mentions how she just always assumed that her sister was always going to be a part of the grown up life she was going into, now that she was gone, she didn't feel ready. I can totally relate to that. I went through the same thing. My best friend and closed confidant left me stranded in a big scary world and she was now never going to be there for any of the milestones that I selfishly just assumed she was going to be a part of to escort me through. Homecomings, proms, first everything's etc. Echo now has to go through all those alone. Yeah she has her friends but they can never fill the vacancy that the loss of Zoe as left and no one ever will. They also will never, as hard as they try, can truly understand what she is going through so they can only be so much help so mostly it's just Echo alone until she can pull herself up.
I don't know, I've jabbered on enough. I just had to say just how much this book meant to me and just how close it got to, at least my, real life experiences.
Thank you Alyson Noel for this one.

Ms. Noel, I am in love with your writing. I thought your paranormal books had me hooked, but boy was I ever wrong!

What had me in admiration of this book was the feel of it. Ms. Noel writing is not only easy to read, but easy to fall in the main character. From the very first chapter, you see Echo struggling with so much in her life. She is so young yet she acts so mature in the handling the situation of her sisters death. Echo is searching for so many answers that the help of an unlikely component opens so many new doors. As the reader follows Echo, we see her finally discovering her sister. Echo thought she knew, but Zoe was holding so many secrets.

For me, as I was reading this, I experienced Echo's heartbreaking search for answers. Why? Because Ms. Noel's writing is so good in coming into know the characters and their feelings. I felt Echo's pain and joy in finding answers. Though the answers were not want Echo thought they be but it taught her a very important lesson. That she didn't know her sister, and now she knows. The whole element of the book changes for that simple reason.

Saving Zoe is not only about saving Zoe but as well as saving Echo. Echo was left with questions unanswered that she needed them to move on. Echo's struggle in this book is so significant in who she becomes at the end of the book. This is a great read that I can read again. Beautifully written and strongly proposed, this book will grab you at your heart.

"Zoe was just one of those people who the clouds always cleared for, the sun always shined on, and the stars came out for. She's the reason they invented spotlights" - Echo

Saving Zoe was just a great, can't-put-down kind of read. Although the main subject of the book is heart-wrenching, Alyson Noel also brought on a whole lotta laughs. There were so many laugh out loud moments, and hilarious one liners. Echo's witty humour was addicting, making it nearly impossible to stop reading. I immediately bonded with her, and fell in love with her character. Echo, along with the rest of the character cast are very likable and relatable making that reason enough to keep reading.

With the heart-breaking storyline and funny moments all mixed into one book, it does take you on an emotional roller coaster. All kinds of feelings rise to the surface, and make you think throughout the book. The book introduces the danger of Internet predators and partying with strangers. The book also brings attention to what you take for granted. For most of us with siblings, it is very easy to get caught up in the annoyances and clashing, but what if they were suddenly taken away from you? All those annoyances would probably seem really little and maybe even a bit silly. It makes you have a new appreciation for the people and things you have in your life.

Alyson Noel knew exactly how to get into the heart and mind of a 15 year old and a 17 year old when writing as Zoe. It was just as if Echo was right beside me, sharing her sisters diary in confidence with me. It was a very powerful reading experience. The writing style was light and breezy and flowed perfectly throughout the entire novel. The book has a very important and powerful message that shouldn't be missed. A must, Must, MUST read!

What I loved: The important message it gives, and the feeling it left me with after I read it. Amazing characters and storyline. The book is heavy, but not overwhelming.
What I disliked: The length. I did not want this book to end