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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful novel on sibling rivalry and mental illness, June 8, 2005
Jane and Lily are sisters who have always shared a vivid imaginary world. Jane, the elder sibling, was always able to create games her sister Lily loved. But Lily wants to grow up. She starts making friends at school and gets her first boyfriend, while Jane seems stuck in increasingly violent fantasies. The family comes to realize that Jane is mentally ill. She is put on anti-psychotic medication, but even with the aid of medication Jane realizes she will never be the same kind of normal as her younger, popular sister. An accident separates the sisters, and the story, narrated from opposite sides of the grave, is about the two sisters --- one living, one dead --- still trying to make peace with the life they shared together. Adele Griffin is the author of a number of psychologically insightful thrillers for young people. Previous books include THE OTHER SHEPARDS, about two young people haunted by the death of the elder siblings they were born to replace; SONS OF LIBERTY, about brothers banding together to overcome their controlling and abusive father; and AMANDINE, about a girl who becomes enmeshed in a dangerous and manipulative friendship. Griffin is a master at blurring the line between what is real and what is imagined, making her books truly spooky. Mental illness is a popular subject within novels for young people. The teen years are when many mental illnesses begin to appear. WHERE I WANT TO BE is an insightful portrait of living with mental illness, but it never reveals what illness from which Jane is suffering. It is not alone in this omission. Most fiction on this subject never makes a diagnosis. This does an enormous disservice to the reader, and encourages people to look at mental illness as one large disease rather than a variety of different disorders, all with different causes, symptoms, and treatments. Nevertheless, readers are likely to enjoy this story about a sibling rivalry that continues into the afterlife. WHERE I WANT TO BE is a late-summer teen gothic about ghosts that drive VW bugs, pick strawberries, and lounge in the dusky twilight by the pool. --- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Where I Want to Be, January 11, 2006
As I first started reading Where I Want to Be, I was almost 100% sure that this was going to be similar to the author's other National Book Award finalist, Sons of Liberty. No interesting characters (the only one being your run-of-the-mill tomboy), so-so story, and ho-hum writting with a few glimpses of inspired greatness thrown in. I was wrong. This story isn't exactly one that hooks you from the start. I struggled through the first thirty pages, until finally becoming interested in Jane's character. Jane is a character that I felt sorry for, but at the same time she was fascinating. Some people might compare her to a car wreck (seriously, no pun intended...yikes) and in a way she is. She's shy in front of her peers, and has a close relationship with her grandparents. She hears voices, as do all characters like herself do, but she isn't a caricature. Author Griffin really did well with her. But then there's Lily. I really dislike characters like her. Pretty, but not too pretty. Smart, but not the top ten in her class. This girl has no distinguishable features. Nothing that makes her any different from any other female character in teen lit. Well, except that she has red hair. It could be worse, I guess. Her name could be Jessica. She could have brown hair, and hazel eyes. Her boyfriend isn't much more interesting to say the least. It was the final chapters of this book that really tugged at my heartstrings. I was almost to the point of tears during the final act, in which Jane's breakdown occurs. Jane lives in a world full of changes, but she simply stays the same. She dislikes these changes, but knows there is nothing she can do. She escapes the only way she knows how. Reader beware: this one is sad. I just wish that the final chapter could have been JAne's. The party scenes with Lily seemed so unnecessary. R, your friendly neighborhood reviewer.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Not as emotional as I expected, August 21, 2011
When I was at the library, I was looking around for a shortish book because technically I'm supposed to be focusing on my ebooks. I thought I'd see what Adele Griffin books were on the shelf since I'd already read two and enjoyed them a lot. When I saw that this book focused on two sisters, I was sold. It alternated between third-person perspective about older, now dead sister Jane and first-person perspective from younger, still living Lily. The sisters are just a year apart in age but are worlds away in personalities. Lily is acclimated to the outside world, popular with a boyfriend and a cheery disposition. Jane prefers her solitude where she can pretend and she struggles with Lily's easy acceptance into the outside, away from their house, their family, and her. The book only covers a couple of days after the death of Jane, switching between Jane's path to an afterlife and coming to an understanding about her life and Lily's struggle to move on. In general I preferred Lily's narration because of the personality that accompanies a first-person narration and because I was fascinated by her relationship with her boyfriend Caleb, her anchor who keeps her from sinking in grief. Jane's story is more remembrances of her history and eventually quick segment about her death. Although I had expected a highly emotional read based on my feelings about sister-sister stories where one of them is hurt or dead, I did not get that from this story. I felt sad for them as their relationship didn't end on a positive note and I was happy that they got a measure of closure. But I had anticipated crying and an internal ache, which I did not have at the end. Overall: Well-written but not as emotional as I had hoped.
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