Review: Love and Other Four Letter Words

Title: Love and Other Four Letter Words
Author: Carolyn Mackler
Publication date: May 10th, 2005

Summary:
With her parents splitting up, 16-year-old Sammie Davis may not want to feel a thing, but feelings happen. For starters, she's plenty angry. Her dad's leaving their upstate New York home and moving clear across the country. Her mother -- well, she's packing up and relocating to New York City with Sammie, who has no say about any of it. Overnight Sammie is forced to deal with change. And one change spawns another: Roles get reversed, old and new friendships tested, and sexual feelings awakened. It's a scary time. But as Sammie realizes that things can't stay the same forever, that even the people she loves and trusts the most can disappoint her, she begins to accept that change isn't always bad. It's how you cope, jumbled feelings and all, that counts. And as she copes, Sammie's sense of self emerges proud and strong.


Review:

This was definitely a book I could relate to in a lot of ways, and that made it all the more enjoyable to read. The relationship between Sammie and her mom, for example. Or the awkwardness of having to move to a new place and trying to make friends with people. I've definitely been there before, so I could really sympathize with her struggles. All of the situations and characters in this book were very real and enjoyable to read about.

I loved Sammie's relationship with Phoebe. How Sammie kind of thought she was weird at first, but then they started spending more and more time together. Then Sammie kind of realized who her true friends were. And just the same as in the other book I reviewed by Carolyn Mackler, the more I read into the story, the more I felt like I was living in it and wanting to cheer on the characters. I laughed out loud at some parts, and I'm not sure I often do that when reading. The author definitely has a good way of writing a story. It's very realistic and you can really relate to things.

One thing that I really wanted to know, though, about the guy Sammie meets in the elevator of their apartment building. She refers to him as JD - short for Johnny Depp, because he looks like him. But the book never tells his real name, and I was wondering about this throughout the whole book. When you look at the big picture, it really doesn't matter. I like who she ended up with and how it ended. But I'm still really curious, haha.

This was a great light read about having to cope with situations that you have no control over, and trying to make the best of them. And the fact that sometimes, no matter how bad things may seem, there can always be good things that come from it.


Characters: 9/10
Plot: 9/10
Originality: 7/10
Writing: 8/10
Overall grade: B