Love, Sara

Rating:
Summary: A contemporary Shakespearean tragedy
Review: Foster child and incest-survivor Sara has a multitude of problems ranging from peer acceptance to sibling rivarly to acting out. When her best buddy Dulcie begins dating a jock, Sara takes a long time to accept him and his clique but Jon's parents are even slower at accepting Dulcie as Jon's Vietnamese-American girlfriend, and when she becomes pregnant, both are disowned. Depressed, desparate and alone, they contemplate a double-suicide. Can Sara save them and herself?
Because Sara is an aspiring writer, the novel is delivered through emails, school assignments, journal entries, and news articles. The unconvetial format was a delight and the English papers modeling famous short stories was a great plot device. As a writer and librarian, I really enjoyed the many allusions and literary styles in <<Love Sara>>. Smart Lindgren manages to make her teens sound like normal cussing teens without spelling out offending swear words -- the use of chat slang was very clever.
I could not put the book down, and in fact, I was so upset by the ending that after I went to sleep, I dreamed about the
characters and devised a happier ending in my dream! Lundgren has created a American tragedy in the Shakespearean style.
The plot itself is a is a little overwhelmed with its many issues: incest, foster care, multicultural romance, teen pregnancy, depression, and peer approval, and the ending is resolved a bit quickly (I would have liked to see more of Sara's healing process) but the narrator's voice is raw and fresh.
The ending is an unexpected shocker that doesn't take the easy way out. Perfect for fans of Speak.

Rating:
Summary: Love, Sara--absolutely beautiful
Review: I absolutely loved the way this book was written. Mary Beth Lundgren pieced together peices of Sara's life so beautifully. I enjoyed reading her diary to a famous artist and her IM conversations and her creative writtings. I thouroughly enjoyed the way that Lundgren usedd other author's writting styles for Sara's english assignements. And I LOVED all of the poems and quotes. I ached for Sara and her friend as they progressed into the pain of life. And I couldn't help but cry at the end....it's a must read!

Rating:
Summary: Love, Sara--absolutely beautiful
Review: I absolutely loved the way this book was written. Mary Beth Lundgren pieced together peices of Sara's life so beautifully. I enjoyed reading her diary to a famous artist and her IM conversations and her creative writtings. I thouroughly enjoyed the way that Lundgren usedd other author's writting styles for Sara's english assignements. And I LOVED all of the poems and quotes. I ached for Sara and her friend as they progressed into the pain of life. And I couldn't help but cry at the end....it's a must read!

Rating:
Summary: Feel In love with "Love, Sara"
Review: I love the book. I have only had it for a week and I have read it twice. When you start reading it you can't stop until you get to the last page. It is wonderful!!

Rating:
Summary: Must-Read For Anyone Who Has Heard of Foster-Care
Review: Oh, my gosh. I read this book a few days ago, and the pages are tearstained. It is such an amazing book, and EVERYONE should read it. It's unbelievably realistic--all of the book is Sara's computer entries (e-mails, journal entries, etc). Yet it still gets its point across powerfully. I was nearing the end and just HAD to write a song about its message, called "Aqua Pain Drops." It's so sad. I love this book.

Rating:
Summary: Poignant and powerful
Review: Oh, my gosh. I read this book a few days ago, and the pages are tearstained. It is such an amazing book, and EVERYONE should read it. It's unbelievably realistic--all of the book is Sara's computer entries (e-mails, journal entries, etc). Yet it still gets its point across powerfully. I was nearing the end and just HAD to write a song about its message, called "Aqua Pain Drops." It's so sad. I love this book.

Rating:
Summary: Must-Read For Anyone Who Has Heard of Foster-Care
Review: Sara Reichart is a sixteen year-old girl who looks forward to entering her junior year with her best friend, Dulcie, a Korean adoptee. However, Sara is no ordinary girl in that she is living with a foster mother, who is a widow with a twelve year-old daughter and a six year-old son. Sara was taken out of her parents' custody when it was found out that her father was sexually abusing her. "I only did it to save Suzy (her younger sister)" she says. Sara has been in many foster homes before, and for some reason or another, it has not worked out. She has also been in hospitals for struggling with depression, suicide attempts, and self-mutilation. Clearly, she is a very confused and very misunderstood young teenager, who has to deal with flashbacks (even when a boy just touches her) and feelings of anger and rejection, and the difficulty of being the odd girl in a close family, in addition to normal teenage angst.

When Dulcie falls in love with John, his traditional parents don't approve of her Korean nationality, while her parents don't want her to be dating a sophisticated, popular boy. Even Sara, herself, is originally suspicious, but soon grows to care for John and his friends. When Dulcie finds out that she is pregnant, she feels at a loss because her parents will be furious, and John's have thrown him out of the house already. Feeling abandoned and alone, they make a suicide pact to die together, and Sara, not wanting to be alone, decides to join. I won't spoil the ending other than to say that it is both hopeful, yet painfully realistic.

This book takes the form of back-and-forth e-mails, not-quite-fictional stories Sara writes for her English class, and journal entries, which Sara pens to the French artist Toulouse-Lautrec, which sounds far-fetched, but when you realize that he painted the degraded women of France's underground, you can see the connection. The book is well-written and you can really empathize and feel close to Sara, who seems so talented and gifted, yet so horribly exploited. My biggest disappointment with this book was that the subject of incest was dealt with so subtly. The story focused more on Sara's present with Dulcie, rather than her past at home. There are only a couple of phone calls to her home which reveal the dynamics of Sara's family. Still, I appreciate the author's showing the painful aftermath of sexual abuse and a Social Services removal of a child, unlike most pat "everything will work out" portrayals. I give the author so much credit for tackling this ambitious and sensitive subject! "Love, Sara" is a must-read.

Rating:
Summary: please read this book
Review: this story was told through poems, quotes, creative writing projects and journal entries. never does the author directly tell you the story. you basically rifle through this girls writing and learn her life. its not a page turner at the begining but knowing that the girls friend gets pregnant and a conflict ensues makes it worth reading. by the end, you cant stop reading for anything. the first book thats made me cry in years. you can totally relate to the girl if youve ever been through hardships like these ones, and if you havent, you can definitely sympathize. too good for words, and if i told you any of the rest of the story, id tell you the whole story, but you have to read it without a biased oppinion. this book is so much more than worth while.

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Summary: A stormy friendship supported by email communications
Review: Two teen best friends who come from foster homes form an uncertain, often stormy friendship supported by email communications in this unusual story, told in the form of emails exchanged by the two. One finds romance, pregnancy, and rejection and the other friend lands in a good foster home and tries to help her pal in this story of changes.