I Know It's Over (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—With heartbreaking honesty, Martin's debut novel gets into the mind of 16-year-old Nick Severson. Still dealing with the effects of his parents' divorce, he plans to have a vacation with no commitments. However, the summer takes an interesting turn when Sasha Jasinski enters the picture. Nick is intrigued by the connection they seem to share but also put off by Sasha's initial disappointment with his behavior. To the shock of his friends, Nick stops seeing Dani to pursue Sasha. They grow closer both emotionally and physically. When things start to get too complicated for her, she breaks off the relationship only to discover a few weeks later that she is pregnant. What raises this novel above the many other teen titles dealing with sex and pregnancy is the authentic voice and emotion of the protagonist. Readers struggle with Nick as he deals with the loss of his first love and the decisions related to Sasha's pregnancy. His story challenges stereotypical notions of reckless teen sex and careless abortions; teen boys will especially applaud this portrayal of a devastated and conflicted young man who makes the right decisions, but still finds that his mistakes have repercussions. Sex, drugs, alcohol, and abortion are each portrayed realistically, and the novel gives invaluable insight into the adolescent mind and the world in which teens live.—Lynn Rashid, Marriots Ridge High School, Marriotsville, MD
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From Booklist

The book begins when 16-year-old Nick learns that Sasha, the girl who recently broke up with him, is pregnant. Then the story moves back and forward in time as Nick, in a true-to-life first-person narrative, describes what it was like to meet Sasha, fall in love with her, and then have to deal with an all-too-familiar situation. What lifts this from a run-of-the-mill problem novel is the honesty that Nick displays. A regular kid with a part-time job at a sports store, divorced parents who don’t speak, and a best friend who’s struggling with being gay, Nick runs a range of emotions. He can be sweet, he can be snotty, or oddly detached. His relationship with Sasha gives him vulnerability that Martin writes so well. The intensity of those feelings is raw, a counterpoint to the almost banal sexuality, except for their first time, when their painful dissatisfaction is spot-on. Kids will recognize themselves here, and though this is a morality tale, its lessons resonate. Grades 9-12. --Ilene Cooper

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (September 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375845666
• ISBN-13: 978-0375845666
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #671,968 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars totally heartbreaking, totally worth it, October 21, 2008

By	courtney summers - See all my reviews

I read another review that said I Know It's OVer was going to break my heart, so I picked it up and was prepared to be totally heartbroken. I might have even been looking forward to it, because I like a good heartbreaking story (it's usually the happy ones that freak me out).

But as much as I thought I was prepared for this book, I totally wasn't. It doesn't just break your heart--that's putting it too mildly--this book will rip your heart out of your chest, break it a thousand times over and then direct you to the cupboard where the glue is so you can begin the process of pasting the pieces of your old heart into a NEW heart.

The good news: it's so worth it.

I Know It's Over is a book about a guy named Nick and his intense, all-consuming relationship with a girl named Sasha. The two are so full of each other they can hardly breathe. When they break up, Sasha citing a need for space, Nick is devastated. It's not what he wants and he struggles to understand how it's something she could.

And then Sasha comes back--not to tell Nick she wants to get back together... but to tell him she's pregnant. Together--but not--they must figure out what to do, how to cope and how to continue after the decision is made.

This is one YA novel that really impressed me. It tackles some big issues--teen pregnancy, sex, sexuality--but never once feels like an Issue Book. Martin never once goes for a melodramatic or heavy-handed approach, nor does she have an agenda, which is sure to make people on either side of the fence mad.

Nick is one of the most memorable male protagonists I've read in a long time. His observations are candid and devastating. He's a frustrated, 16-year-old guy, struggling with his own perceptions of himself and other people's perceptions of him. Martin drives home the fact that it's tough just to be a teenager, let alone one who is about to go through the things that Nick goes through. Martin is also excellent at taking down walls between characters and the reader. If you don't know these people, you will know them. I think that familiarity is especially important when considering the book's subject matter.

The writing is frank, brutal, beautiful and emotionally confrontational. I'm sure it'll force people to ask questions they don't want to ask. After reading I Know It's Over, I'm convinced there's nothing Martin won't say and that's good. That's what I want on my YA shelf. That's what I want on EVERY YA shelf...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emotionally captivating, May 6, 2009

By	::Sara:: - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Know It's Over (Paperback)

A heart-strings pulling story about teenage love, friendships, and family, consequential life-altering decisions and understanding, and the evolvement of [forced] maturity within a brief span of time - while still holding on to the characteristical youth... as life goes on.

Not just your everyday, sappy "teddy bear love" type of teenage love that disintegrates almost as soon as it begins - but rather, the kind that unexpectedly takes your breath away and reformulates your heart's desire with its permanent indentation. The friendships, which give a solid glimpse into the the effects, pressures, and comraderie that can form within one's youth, and family events and actions that may feel like near tragic stories in the future - all become experiences that shape and guide the younger characters into the years of maturity and eventual adulthood that they inevitably face.

C.K.Kelly Martin portrays each character so accurately to their respected situation, that you will fluidly visualize and hear them speaking in the voices that you know they were intended. She also brilliantly narrates as a 16 year-old boy, and not for one moment will you ever imagine anyone else telling the story.

Although I am not a young adult, I was unable to put this book down for long! The story captures your heart (have I mentioned that yet?) and reaches into your emotions, pulling you into finding out where the path leads for Nick and Sasha.

There are brief moments in a few scenes that may be slightly graphic and heavy for some young readers. With that being said, those particular scenes really do provide for a more deeply rooted and precise understanding of why, how, and where Nick and Sasha are headed by the end of the story. Without those scenes, it may not have painted the picture that the author so beautifully literated for us.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Reading Keeps You Sane, January 18, 2009

By	Kelsey Boeckermann "Kelsey: Reading Keeps You... (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

Title: I Know It's Over
Author: C.K. Kelly Martin
Publisher: Random House
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary (ckkellymartin.com):
Pure. Unplanned. Perfect. Those were Nick's summer plans before Sasha stepped into the picture. With the collateral damage from his parent's divorce still settling and Dani (his girl of the moment) up for nearly anything, complications are the last thing he needs.

All that changes, though, when Nick runs into Sasha at the beach in July. Suddenly he's neck-deep in a relationship and surprised to find he doesn't mind in the least. But Nick's world shifts again when Sasha breaks up with him. Then weeks later, while Nick's still reeling from the breakup, she turns up at his doorstep and tells him she's pregnant, and with his emotions and hopes crashing in around him, Nick finds himself struggling once more to understand the girl he can't stop caring for, the girl who insists that it's still over.
Review:
I Know It's Over starts out very exciting. The first chapter is in the present and the following dozen chapters are in the past leading up to what happened in the first chapter and then your in the present again. I thought that was a very nice touch to the novel, it pulls you in really quickly, then winds down for awhile and then quickly pulls you up again and keeps you there.

When reading this novel, the emotions from the characters, especially Nick's, was so strong. Nick was pulls the reader in with his emotions and the reader just can't bear to let go. One thing I thought Martin did wonderfully was write Sasha out through Nick's eyes. Martin grabbed Sasha's emotions and feelings through Nick so magnificently. The characters were proven fully equipped and very copiously thought out and divinely crafted.

Martin's writing was superbly done and the emotions she feeds from her characters and there thoughts were done so marvelously better then any books I have read recently. Hurrah! for you Miss Martin!

Now, the only reason I gave .5 points off was because of the ending. Now don't get me wrong, the ending was great, but it just kind of let me down because I knew where it was headed and I guess I just had hope for a different direction, but like I said. The ending was still amazing. It was just me who got let down just a tad because I had hope for something else. Nonetheless, this book is excellent and one you should definitely read.