This was an interesting read. I picked it up because I had loved the movie so much (even my husband will watch it with me) so I figured the book had to be amazing too. My view of how awesome it could be diminished slightly when I realized Shannon Hale wrote it. Don't hate me guys, but I've never really thought her books were that amazing. Honestly, I thought they were pretty slow. But this one was an adult and I had only read her young adult stuff before, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
The first half of the book I thought was pretty slow. It had Hale's usual pacing and I thought it was going to be such a long haul to get through this one. There were bits that I liked better than the movie, like her eccentric great-aunt buying her the trip to help her 'get over' it. It felt like that reasoning for going made the most sense and fit in with her desire to be there and her desire for the real world colliding. Her confusion over what she wanted really matched the idea of being forced into it.
The second half of the book was much better than the first. It was quicker and had some drama in it that made it more interesting to read. Her romance with Martin made a little more sense in the book, although there was no horse being delivered, just sweaty root beers in the dark. I did really enjoy Jane's journey into herself that happened in this section. She really figured out who she was and what she wanted to be and went for it. The painting was a really nice part of the book that didn't make it into the movie too.
All in all, I am sorry to disappoint the Shannon Hale fans out there, but I would give the first half of the book 2/5 stars and the last half 4/5 (I felt like that was more fair to say than giving it a solid 3) and would rate it an older PG.
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