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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved This Book, June 22, 2008
This review is from: The Year My Sister Got Lucky (Hardcover)
Katya, a.k.a. Katie, and her sister Michaela Wilder are sisters and best friends that were born and raised in New York city. They study ballet and their best friends do the same. Katie is 14 and going to be a freshman in high school, Michaela is 17 and going to be a senior. Michaela is the great ballerina and the envy of her dancemates while Katie has to try very hard to be good at ballet.
Their mother is a college professor and their father is a writer. The parents decide to move the family to Fir Lake, New York for the mom to teach there. While Michaela takes the move in stride and embraces it, Katie fights it tooth and nail. She doesn't understand what Michaela sees in this small town and blames the move on the distance that grows in their relationship. As the story moves on, we find out why Michaela was so happy for the move from the big city to a small town and the effects of her secrecy on Katie.
There's too much that I liked about this book to put in a review. Katie's sarcasm is perfect and although only 14 her observations are those that both young and old can appreciate. This is a coming of age story that includes a younger sibling coming to realize she may just want to be something other than just like her sister. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Katie and Michaela visit their New York ballet instructor and friends over the holiday. They see the startling differences after only four months between themselves and their friends since the move. I thought this was a key part to have in the book as Katie comes to realize that Fir Lake may not be so bad after all. The only thing that didn't really connect the storyline for me was the Emmaline character but I guess she was necessary for Katie to realize a talent other than ballet.
Overall, this is a great read from Aimee Friedman that I highly recommend.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, December 2, 2007
This review is from: The Year My Sister Got Lucky (Hardcover)
Katie and her perfect sister, Michaela, have a brand new life in the country.
In their previous life, they've lived in New York City and danced ballet under the watchful eye of a legendary ballerina. But things have changed, and now Katie is lost on her own while her sister transforms into the queen bee of the social scene. Soon Michaela's dating the hottest guy in school and her best friends don't include Katie.
The two of them always shared secrets, but now Michaela barely talks to her about real life. Katie feels stung by her sister's betrayal.
Can sisters really be best friends?
Aimee Friedman dissects the sister relationship in her new book THE YEAR MY SISTER GOT LUCKY. The relationship between Katie and Michaela will captivate readers and the divergence from her usual characters will not be disappointing.
Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Beautiful Story about Sisterhood, June 10, 2008
This review is from: The Year My Sister Got Lucky (Hardcover)
Katya Wilder, better known as Katie, is tired of being the last one in her family to know everything. So when she finally finds out that she has to move from New York City to some little town neat Canada called Fir Lake, it's natural that she freaks out. After all, she has to leave behind the only place she's ever called home, the prestigious Anna Pavlova dancing school, and all her dancing friends.
Katie refuses to accept the new town that she lives in and all the people who live there. Her sister Michaela, by contrast, seems to fit right in. She's accepted at the popular table, and with all her new friends, it seems as if she doesn't have time for Katie anymore. But what hurts Katie most of all is that her sister used to be so close to her, and now Michaela doesn't tell her anything.
It's this hurt that influences Katie to grow apart from her sister. But some good things do result from this: Katie finds a friend in Autumn, a girl who likes both camping and dancing. Katie also finds out that the dancing school in Fir Lake is nothing in comparison with Anna Pavlova's, and that she likes yoga. The story follows Katie as she struggles to make her way through her first year in high school, along with her boy, friendship, and sisterly problems.
The Year My Sister Got Lucky was an incredibly well-written book about sisterhood. Even though I do not have the same sisterly bond with my sister as Katie has with Michaela, it was very easy to understand where Katie was coming from. All she really wanted when moving to the new town was for things to be normal and for her sister to be the same. But her sister didn't have the same idea, and because Michaela kept this secret from Katie, things started to get difficult between them. Katie's struggles are very realistic, and many times, I felt like I was inside her head and because we are so similar. Everything made sense in this book, and I like that because I didn't have to figure everything out for myself.
I highly recommend The Year My Sister Got Lucky to all girls. In my opinion, it is Aimee Friedman's best novel yet. I look forward to more novels of this depth and style from her.
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