#belzhar

[literatureonline]

Everyone...has something to say. But not everyone can bear to say it.

Meg Wolitzer, Belzhar

[bookswithrita]

Title: Belzhar Author: Meg Wolitzer Publisher: Dutton Books Published in: 2014 Pages: 266 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

This was an interesting book, that I can say. I went into this without many expectations and it surprised me how much I enjoyed this....up until the last 50 pages. The story had everything to be interesting but it don't think it landed where it was supposed to. This is the story of Jam, a girl who fell in love with Reese, a British exchange student, who she lost after 41 days of meeting him. Now Jam is in mourning and her parents decide it's for the best if she enrolls in The Wooden Barn, a boarding school for "fragile teens", as advertised on the brochure. There she takes this special class with only 4 other teens and there she discovers a whole different world from the one she's living in....quite literally. I was very invested in her story. I enjoyed the boarding school experience and how Jam in the beginning didn't care at all about recovering from her experience but by the end she not only found a great group of friends, who all shared something in common, but she recovered from her loss. However, I do wish we had more scenes with this group of friends, more interactions. I never read anything by Meg Wolitzer and, as far as I know, this is her only YA book. And I would say it wasn't a bad attempt. The writing flows and it's very straightforward. The description are nice. This had everything to be great, including one of my favorite elements, magical realism. However, the plot lacks a bit and our characters, especially our main character, don't really standout or are in any way memorable. Yes, we have very different characters. But nothing that makes them more interesting than any other. As I said in the beginning, I really liked this until the last 50 pages, when we finally learn what happened to Jam and the reason why she's at The Wooden Barn. To say I suffered from secondhand embarrassment is an understatement........like girl, why? I don't want to be mean here but it's your mind playing tricks and creating the whole situation. I think I expected too much from this ending and it fell REALLY really short. I imagined a lot of things, except what actually happened. Long story short - I was disappointed and this is now a 3 stars book, and that's me being nice because I liked 80% of the story. Did I waste my time reading this? No, I don't think so. Will I read anything else by Meg Wolitzer? Probably not because I don't see myself liking her other books. But we shall not say from this water I won't drink because one day I might drink it 😂 who knows what Rita from the future will want to read? Do I recommend Belzhar? It depends. If you are already curious about it and have the book then sure, read it. But it you've never heard of it, it's not a book I would tell everyone I come across to read because of it's greatness.

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[nondualreality]

We’re talking about the novel, right? But maybe we’re not. We’re talking about ourselves. And I guess that’s what can start to happen when you talk about a book.

Meg Wolitzer, Belzhar

[so-hurt]

Todos tenemos solamente una voz. Y el mundo es tan ruidoso. A veces creo que los que son callados se han dado cuenta de que la mejor manera de que les presten atención no es gritando sino susurrando.

Belzhar, Meg Wolitzer.

[quiereme-tantito]

Belzhar

[theliteraryjournals]

It's funny how you can go for a long time in life not needing someone, and then you meet them and you suddenly need them all the time.

Meg Wolitzer, Belzhar 

[paigeypaige19]

We’re talking about the novel, right? But maybe we’re not. We’re talking about ourselves. And I guess that’s what can start to happen when you talk about a book.

Meg Wolitzer, Belzhar

[paperwhisperings]

It's funny how you can go for a long time in life not needing someone, and then you meet them and you suddenly need them all the time.

Jam Gallahue, Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer