Customer Reviews

The Tear Collector

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

 

 

**NOTE: This book has sexual scenes and cursing.

She's the perfect shoulder to cry on, the one people can turn to in crises. She volunteers at hospitals to be there for hurting family members. She devotes her time to her high school peer counseling program, which she also co-founded. She takes your sorrow and dries your tears with her handkerchief, encouraging you to let your tears come freely. She knows how you feel. Or does she?

"The Tear Collector" is a spin on the vampire myth. Instead of surviving off blood, the narrator, Cassandra Gray, lives off the pain of humans. She absorbs this through tears and, using her great-grandmother Veronica's special handkerchief, can gain strength for herself and her ailing family matriarch. It's a repetitive business: Cassandra has the reputation for being a heartbreaker at school, but also as a girl with a huge heart who cares about everyone. She has been trained since birth to do what it right for the sake of her family. She must collect energy for her great-grandmother. She must procreate and make sure the line continues. It's a duty she does with a few doubts, but those doubts grow when she finds herself attracted to--and possibly falling in love with--a boy from her class.

The writing style reminds of R.L. Stine's wonderful "Fear Street" series. No frills, just sparse language and clear descriptions of the way people look and act, which, for me, makes the story easy to read and get in to. We get to see how lying is so easy for her if she can get those coveted tears eventually. We also see the family life, if I can even call it that, which rules how she lives.

However, since Cassandra is by nature driven to manipulate to get what she needs, she is not a reliable narrator, so there are times when it's difficult to say if she is sincere. This proves especially true when she and Scott, the boy she's attracted to, start to "fall" for each other. Their feelings happen quickly, which is plausible since they are in high school, yet Cassandra isn't believable when she says she's in love. She also reaches out to a troubled girl named Samantha, Scott's ex and in whom Cassandra views as a wealth of unshed tears. Strangely, they will later become each other's support systems. Theirs is a strange yet satisfying friendship.

Cassandra is also faced with other foreign feelings when her friend dies in a possible suicide and the strain of her upbringing has her longing for something she had always thought unattainable until now. In Cassandra's world, sadness is necessary and love means exile. If she starts to feel this, she becomes the worst of the worst: human. Remnants of the fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" are found in these sections, along with the notion of sacrifice. The mermaid becomes human out of love but experiences only pain. Sacrifice and being female go hand in hand, and the story centers around these perfectly. Why does the woman always have to sacrifice herself for her family and others? When is it time for her to think about what she wants? It's a heartbreaking reality.

I have several reasons for the three stars. I couldn't feel anything for Cassandra because she was an unreliable narrator. There are various caricatures of people ranging from white boys who want to be black and gossiping cheerleaders who wear tight clothes to get people to like them. There's a cackling, handsome, over-the-top villain who wants Cassandra to join his evil doings, while Scott is sweet and religious. The biggest pet peeve I had with this book though was the use of the question, "What do you mean?" by some of the characters. I lost count after twelve. There are other ways of asking, "What do you mean?" The editor should have caught this for the sake of the reader and to avoid the repetition.

"The Tear Collector," while a decent read, could have been stronger. It's too bad the narrator is the main reason the story falls short of excellent. I would recommend borrowing this from the library, but have tissues in hand for those frustrated tears you'll be shedding.

THE TEAR COLLECTOR attempts to work an interesting spin on the well-established genre of vampire lit, but fails miserably at raising readers' sympathies and holding their attention. The characters are flat and the interactions unbelievable.

Cassandra is an unlikable protagonist, and not because she's a girl with questionable morals and intentions--there are many "mean girls" in YA lit whose faults and funky attitudes I embrace fully. However, Cassandra is often difficult to connect to emotionally: we hear that she is frustrated by her family, scornful of her classmates and ex-boyfriends, but we don't see or feel it. This emotional distance makes readers unable to sympathize with Cassandra's difficulties. She's really a character in a fictional story, not someone who could be our classmate or a person we knew back in school.

Cassandra's interactions with the other characters in the book are far from interesting. Most of the time, conversation falls flat as stereotypes attempt to catfight with one another...while neither of them have real claws. Cassandra and Scott's relationship is also dull: there's about as much successful chemistry between the two of them as remedial science classes.

Perhaps that was a bit harsh, but that's the problem: THE TEAR COLLECTOR doesn't know what harsh is. Jones comes up with a brilliant premise, one that could really go places, but ends up only playing on stereotypes and surface emotions. And it's really a shame. THE TEAR COLLECTOR will appeal to those not as well read in YA vampire lit or those who are willing to overlook uninspiring writing for the sake of an original concept.

I found this in the normal fantasy section, in a display of several vampire novels. The premise of a vampire who lives on sorrow and not blood sounded potentially mesmerizing, so I gave it a try. What I found was a YA novel, which followed the life of a teenage girl from a first person perspective. As a narrator, Cassandra Gray leaves much to be desired. Sure, she drinks down the sorrows of others like a psychic leech, but the book is about her journey of self-acceptance. If you think of the tear collecting as a limit like lactose intolerance or insulin for diabetes, then Cassanda becomes all too human.

She is so un-monster like that I found this a simple novel of a normal teenage girl who falls in love for the first time, despite recurring tragedy that keeps entering her life. The twist was she perhaps enabled and sought out the tragedy, but that doesn't make the tragic stories less heartless and random. Other characters include a representative from every high school clique you can imagine, a cliche villain, a hateful 'evil step-sister-like' family environment, and the love interest Scott (a good smart true-believer with Catholic moral values).

The reason I didn't like the story was the setting. It wasn't fantasy; it was High School. I'm not a fan of High School stories where the majority of the story is spent dealing with High School teachers, High School drama, and High School cliques. Maybe you'd like this if you were in High School yourself, but I'm long past that stage of my life, and I simply found the whole thing tragic and immature. It's a 'feel bad' type novel, and I don't like reading things that get me down. If you like that vibe, the novel is developed well.

The Tear Collector by Patrick Jones

Release Date: September 1, 2009

Summary: Fans of urban fantasy should prepare for a new kind of vampire-one that feeds off of tears instead of blood. Descended from an ancient line of creatures that gain their energy from human tears, Cassandra Gray depends on human sorrow to live. Only Cass has grown tired of living this life and wants to live like a human, especially now that she's met someone worth fighting for.

Thoughts: This book was pretty much amazing. I am a huge fan of vampires and I was really intrigued to read this book for the simple reason its a different take on being different. This story is about a girl named Cassie who feeds off others pain and fears. She feds off tears instead of blood. She comes from a group called the "family." She is always there for everyone and it helps her survive since she needs tears to survive. I liked the whole aspect of this book. She has never known love. She has boyfriends but she never gets serious about them, though they do fall in love with her. But that all changes when she meets Scott. She falls in love and wants out of her way of living. She wants happiness and a future. Vampire books all seem to be the same anymore (which yes, I still do enjoy) but this was just cool in it's own way.

Overall: Awesome, a definite read for anyone who is already a fan of Patrick Jones and anyone who likes vampire/paranormal books! If there is one book you must read this year, it is The Tear Collector!!!! Run NOT WALK over to amazon and buy it right now!!!

Cover: I really liked this cover. As soon as I saw it advertised on amazon, I knew I had to read it. I love the tear going down the face and all the coloring ! Its got black coloring in the background which makes the face seem more vivid and stand out. Cool Cover!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a big change of story, compared to the normal book and I must say I was puzzled as to what the story behind it would be... which of course pushed me to read it faster. I took this book on a 4 hour car trip with me.. and had it completely read by the time I got home, lucky for me I wasn't driving.

Story- Well written with a clean flow throughout the whole book.

Characters- Great Development, enjoyed every one of these characters, and there personalities

I would certainly offer my recommendation to anyone who wants to get away from the typical same old story.

I absolutely loved the premise of the book. I was looking forward to some great hurt/comfort in this book, an angsty crying boy, and the girl absorbing his tears and comforting him. It fell so flat. The book is filled with every cliched extremely depressing thing you can imagine, things I couldn't even read. Also, the book is written in the oddest voice/ present tense thing I've ever read. I kept trying to read more to get to the good hurting boy parts, I tried flipping forward. It was just so very awful and left me feeling so horribly depressed, I had to stop reading it. I wish I could have my money back. I am considering taking it to a book resale or donating it to the library, but I don't even know if I'll do that, because I don't want to inflict this book on anyone else.

I was excited when I first heard about this book, such a twist on a specific genre that has been essentially the same over time with only minor changes. It was added to my list of must haves and I got my copy shortly after it was released. I read it over a period of three days, it was hard to put down in between work and school because I just wanted to know what came next! Cassandra Gray, the main character, starts off kind of empty. Not in the character's sense, but in her life sense. She needs tears to survive and must do what she can to acquire enough to keep her refreshed and alive. She offers a helping hand at the hospital and at school, all to get enough tears to keep her and her great-grandmother going. She doesn't get to feel emotion, such as love and happiness and it begins to take it's toll on her. When the time comes that she meets Scott, not a jock or a prep but the boy next door, she finally starts realizing that there is more out there then just tears, that there may actually be happiness for her. But what will Cassandra do next, stay with her family and make the next generation, or will she become the one thing that breaks her off from her family completely, a human? Jones does a wonderful job bringing each of the characters to life. You don't always get to feel the emotions that the characters in the book do, but with this one you can. This will be going right to my "favorites" shelf. I can't wait for the next installation, I know it will be one that I will be picking up! Another plus of reading The Tear Collector was getting introduced to a great new author, new to me not to writing. I will be on the lookout for all of Jones' yet to come releases.

Going into The Tear Collector I wasn't sure what to except exactly. Since there has been an abundance of negative reviews for it. Sadly enough I'm going to have to agree with those negative reviews; because while I did personally find the Tear Collector to be an interesting book with an even more intriguing premise, it feel flat for me in a big way.

Cassandra was someone who I found extremely hard to like and sympathize with, which is odd for me because I can usually find the good in almost anyone I read about. Though, Cassandra felt like a complete alien to me, but I guess that kind of makes sense since she wasn't exactly human. Since not only was she an odd girl, but I hated how for 95% of the book she used people to her own benefit, pretending to be their friend so that she could get to their sadness in life, and in turn fed of the one thing she craved the most: tears. I get that was something she had to do in order to live, but the way in which she never truly cared about most of the people she fed off of bothered me. With saying that I did like the supporting characters, though, such as Robyn, Samantha, and Scott. All three where ones that I not only liked, but could feel sadness towards with the sad, lonely lives they were given.

As mentioned above, I did find the premise to be intriguing. I mean vampires feeding off tears instead of blood? I can't say I've heard that one before. Though while the book had an interesting feel to it that made it an easy read, at times the plot was predictable and the dialogue lacked emotion and feelings instead coming out in a clichéd type of way. With saying that I could still see promise in Mr. Jones' writing and because of that, I may give at least one of his books another try, even though The Tear Collector was pretty much a let down.

In all, The Tear Collector is a book that I don't exactly recommended because in all truth, it's far from being a gem. Though, if you are set on reading, I would highly suggest you pick it up from the library instead, and maybe, just maybe, you'll see the light in it that I unfortunately did not.

Grade: D+

I was really looking forward to `The Tear Collector'. It is a pretty good book, but has some serious flaws. Firstly, it says that the tear collectors don't feel emotions like love, but are capable of becoming human if they have those emotions - see why I'm confused? If they can't feel, how are they supposed to feel?

What sets the story into action is the death, probably suicide, of the narrator's best friend. It seems like half the book is about Robyn's death and her little sister who's dying of cancer. Then they are almost totally dropped from the story.

The narrator's family is very unconventional and cruel, but is an interesting statement. The young woman, our heroine, is expected to sacrifice everything for her family, including her virginity, as she is betrothed to her cousin (but not actually first-cousin). It's no love match - she's expected to have and raise his kids while he does nothing for her.

But before the reunion at which she'll meet this cousin, she falls in love with a human. I like Scott as a hero - he's not a `bad boy' or a supernatural being. He's a little bit perfect and innocent, but still likeable and believable. A girl who seemed like a great person to get tears from - Samantha - is more than she appears and becomes friends with Cassandra. The thing I didn't like about Samantha is that obviously she's had a terrible life - but we don't learn much about it. The big reveal is that she was thrown through a window when she was a child, but later she says that worse things happened to her.

The mystery of the story is pretty obvious. Before we're given any real clues about the person's identity (other than that they're a tear-collector, which is obvious) we are handed the info on a silver plate.

This book deals with a lot of mature stuff - one of the major characters is tortured by having their teeth ripped out, young children are kidnapped and traumatized, there is attempted rape, self-mutilation, suicide, and murder.

Finally, in the end the heroine does a very disturbing and cruel thing. Aside from that, I just wanted more info on what was going on, why things were happening the way they did, and more characte

I really enjoyed reading this book. The vampire novels that are written now a days express the stereotypical blood sucking vampires. However, Patrick Jones totally took another approach to the definition of a vampire. At first I was a little skeptical since I have a fascination with the whole smooth, sexy approach of a vampire. But, once I got into the story with the main character Cassandra, I fell in love with the new type of urban fantasy. I loved the concept of vampires needing tears instead of blood. It is definitely not gruesome and does not fulfill a sexy, satisfying feel like the stereotypical vampire would experience. It is a more deep, emotional connection that these vampires have to induce with the human in order to receive their energy. So, I thought the idea of vampires having to work their way into getting what they want was awesome. I also feel Cassandra was relateable because most human beings fight turmoil within themselves and seek a way to rebel against the nature that every parent enforces on us. I recommend this book to readers if they are looking for something fresh and new that hasn't been done before.