Rundown

Rating:
Summary: interesting set-up, but....
Review: another book that was on my required reading list for school. it centers around jennifer thayer, daughter of two newly well-off parents who seem to care alot....about jennifer's older "perfect" sister. to get attention, jennifer fakes being assaulted, which brings on many more emotions then jennifer counted on. at first, i found the fast-moving action exciting, and the set-up promising. i even could identify with jennifer at some points. then, however, the story hit a point where i just didn't care anymore. to many side-plots that went nowhere were annoying. not the best book i've read, but not the worst.

Rating:
Summary: Headline: CONFUSING BOOK EATS BRILLIANT PREMISE
Review: As stated on the back cover, this is the story of a girl who fakes her own rape. This idea in and of itself would have been enough for a brilliant book, plus he threw in a fictional Paul Newman as her father, and the scenario from "Jacob Have I Loved" mirrors the relationship between the narrator and her sister.

Then this beautiful setup dissolves into pointless interaction between characters, and suddenly you have no idea what's going on anymore. I kept thinking, oh, this is going to be the part where it is all going to come together, but it never happened. Then i got to the ending, and I was like, huh?

But I don't think this is a book of filler. I just think the point is far too subtle, as I completely missed it. At first I though it was just me, but then i read the other Amazon.com reviews, and it seemed nobody understood what he was talking about. I picked up that there was a theme of running away, that's about it.

The good news is, there's still a slot open for ME to right the Great American Young Adult novel =)

Rating:
Summary: An interesting premise, but runs out of steam
Review: I enjoyed the beginning of the book and was intrigued by Jennifer's staged crime. She seems to gain the attention she wanted but guilt soon consumes her. Most of the book after that seems to drag on. Several supporting characters offer sympathy to Jennifer, but not much happens to let us get to know these people very well. I agree with Horn Book's review that the characters are too sketchily drawn to care much about them or their motivations. I was hoping for a more emotionally charged novel but it seems to go flat in the middle and gets annoying at the end. What should have been an emotionally suspenseful ending just didn't tug at my emotions. I give Rundown three stars for it's strong beginning and interesting conflict, but it it got tired quickly. Needs Wheaties.

Rating:
Summary: All-Around Good Book
Review: I thought that this book was very entertaining. The book was very detailed and was very easy to follow. Though the book did have a mis-leading ending, I will give it 5 stars because I thought that it was ver well written. (results not typical)

Rating:
Summary: Good concept, but..
Review: The beginning of this book was very well written in my opinion, as were the descriptions used throughout the story. However, I wasn't impressed with the character development throughout the story. The end was abrupt, and really turned me off. I probably would try reading some of the author's other books, but I just didn't care for this one.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: The concept of this book was interesting, and the beginning of it had potential, but towards the middle and definitely the end were disappointing. The ending made no sense, and the middle had little to do with the beginning and was uninteresting. The plot was unusual and could have been a much better story if written differently.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely terrible!
Review: There were times when I really loved this book, and there were other where it was just too boring. Rundown is an ok book with a great premise behind it. If more if it appealed to me, I'd rate it higher. Also, the ending was terrible. Its still something that doesn't set right with me. It makes no sense.

This one had the chance to be amazing...but it just didn't work out.