Innocence

Rating:
Summary: Read this with your heart, not your mind!
Review: I began reading "Innocence" and after the first 30 pages or so, I was trying to reconcile in my mind whether or not the storyline was a dream. So....I started over and began reading this book again, WITHOUT my intellectual predilection to examine and "prove" every detail in a novel. That's the whole point of this novel, as "Beckett" the main character herself mentions several times, that her view is not believed by those around her. She is a teenager who has recently lost her mother in an accident and is facing womanhood, moving to a new school, where she doesn't fit in, dealing with her father's new romance with the school nurse. The actual events of the novel, while I never had a strong feel for whether or not they were real, as Beckett says, were "true." I think that this novel is as another reviewer said, mostly allegorical, and that the entire point is to look through the eyes of Beckett, as she struggles to process momentous changes in her life. After I read the book [in one sitting, by the way] and closed the cover, my thoughts were just as Beckett said...It doesn't matter if it was real, it was true... This book is not for everyone, I will concede that point. It is filled with so much imagery and the fantastical thoughts of a teenage girl in turmoil that it is impossible to tell which parts are truly supposed to be real. But after reading it, well, it doesn't really matter. I was entertained, and concerned, because I agree that there is great disolutionment in our youth. This book points that out so well.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding and colorful!
Review: I began reading this book late one night before bed and after what seemed like minutes turned into hours. I was mesmerized by the way the book was written, it pulled me in and kept me interested from one page to the next. I finished the book in 2 days! I have only found 3-books in my life that have entertained my imagination as this one did. I felt sad when it was done because I wanted to follow Beckett everywhere and learn about her life and how she deals with reality or non-reality! I could feel a sense of closeness to her. The words come alive and bounce off the pages, they fill your head with wonderful vivid pictures and scenes! I felt as if I were right there with her looking into the moment. I read a review by a young girl, 15 yrs old, who found the book to be outstanding as well...I am 30 and this book was just as good to me as to her. Absolutely colorful, creative, and I can't say enough great things about it... wonderfully written!

Rating:
Summary: Dull, trite, maudlin & cliched
Review: This is probably one of the worst books ever published. 1st of all,it is trying to be allegorical when it really isn't. Kafka is great allegory. Innocence is not. Her ramblings read like bad confessional poems- like Sharon Olds- she had every cliche- being trapped underwater, blood, melodrama, etc... The ironic thing is that this book is SO bad you won't forget it. So I do recommend it so people can see how bad it really is. The sad thing is that there was a review written by a young girl who liked this crap & said how it has "inspired" her to be a writer. Sheesh. This is why bad writing does us no good. This book is easy to write and easy to read, and it gives hopefuls who can't see Jane's lack of talent hope, just as Sharon Olds gives bad women poets hope. UGH!