My Never Ending List

I seriously loved this novel!  I loved the relationship between Travis, Dill and Lydia.  Although they didn’t see eye-to-eye all the time, their relationship seemed genuine and they each brought something to the group that the others seemed to be lacking.  It’s their last year of high school and they each see next year as a turning point.  College is an opportunity but it’s not a feasible option if pressure or obligations are put into the mix.  I loved the parent’s in this novel; I felt that they each had their own special characteristics that added energy and situations that influenced others around them.  Dill’s parents thought Dill owed them, owed them his life for a debt his father chose to make.  Lydia’s parents seemed to the most approachable but then not everyone is perfect.  Travis’ dad, I can’t seem to find the right adjectives to accurately describe him.  I really wanted to strangle him but why waste my energy.  His father was about brawn and force while he guzzled his beer and slurred his words.

When the history of The Serpent King is revealed, I thought of that as an added bonus, I loved that feature and I thought of Dill and what he had to have gone through.  As a child, I thought of many weird and usual events that I had witnessed but nothing compared it to Dill’s.  I loved the emotions in this novel, I was high and I was low, oh so high and oh, so low but the ride was definitely worth it!   I noticed that I began to read this novel slowly for I dreaded what might happen or what I feared would transpire.   The teens were looking out for one another but the world around them was swarming with activity.   The novel is about dreams, the possibility that not everyone sees into the same future but that everyone has the same hopes and that believing in yourself and having someone love you for who are, does matter.   This book was just amazing!!

"Do you ever wonder how many springtimes you have left? We're seventeen now, so we get sixty-three more springtimes if we're lucky, like that?"   (in proof copy)

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Crown Books for Young Readers/Random House in exchange for an honest review.