Something NEW and fresh!! I love a book that takes a chance... this book is narrated by 10 different people and it SO works

Nate, Claire, Dewey, Jack, Stephen, Keith, Dylan, Lacy, Grace, and Ms. Lindsay. Ten people, one day. This is the story of ten people who are all connected to Irving High in some way and all want to see themselves as something different and/or wonder if anyone ever sees the real them. It's a normal day in a suburban town, but it's on this most ordinary day that these ten people show us what it's like to walk in their shoes. Heartbreak, bullying, family problems, and high school.... that pretty much sums up this book.


My Thoughts:
This is by far my favorite Jo Knowles book!! She really got it right this time! I've read 2 other books by this author and always felt like something was missing from them. At the same time, something about her writing and the way she draws me in, always makes me want to read more by her. This book made me so happy I stuck it out.

The setting takes place over the same 24-hour period, but you get to see it from 10 different, semi-connected perspectives. I loved the idea of showing how on any given ordinary day, teens are going through tough things. It made me think about what it was like to be in high school and have things happen. Have your heart broken, have your parents split up, have your same shitty social life, and have it just be another day. It's like these things happen, and the world does not stop to acknowledge it like you think it should. The world just keeps on going and you have to too. That's what I took from this.

My favorite characters were Nate, Claire, and Lacy. Nate led the book off by breaking his middle finger (something that proved to be a recurring theme in the book). He lived with his dad, who was an asshole. There's really no other way to put it, the guy was an asshole to the highest degree. I felt so bad for Nate. Claire was in a popular clique, but wondered if there wasn't more to life than talking about the same gossip over and over again. She wondered if anyone ever saw the true her... or if she even knew who her true self was. Lacy was a girl who had body issues. She always lived outside of the popularity bubble, until Grace came and encouraged her to tryout for cheerleading. She was needed on the squad to lift up the smaller girls, and Grace also had a slight ulterior motive: she wanted to date Lacy's hot jock, basketball captain brother.

What I loved about those 3 characters (and several others) was that they wanted to find out who they really were. They all believed there was so much more, just didn't know how to go about finding it.

I loved the way the characters were so different, but all connected in multiple little ways. Some of them were connected by knowing the others, being friends with them, being neighbors, siblings, classmates. Other times they were connected by having similar experiences and feelings about those experiences. They were connected by the places they went, and of course, that single crude gesture.

I have a mild love/hate thing going on with the ending. So many of the characters didn't get a clear ending. So many things hanging in the balance. I liked that in a way, but OMG what happens to these people!?!?!!!! Also, I just wanted it to go on and on. I could have read full-length books about several of these characters.

OVERALL: LOVED!!! I'm so happy I stuck it out with this author because this book hit the nail on the head for me. I loved it and could not put it down. I was thinking about these characters and what it all meant every second that I could not read it. I'm still thinking about what it all means. Highly recommend!

My Blog:

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This book starts off telling the tale of teen Nate who breaks his middle finger in gym class, giving him the distinct advantage of being able to flip everyone off, even his father, without recourse. The book then spirals out into the tales of popular Claire, the janitor Mr. French, a group of bullies and their victims as well as others all tied together in the end. The common thread is being able to or having the desire to flip people off that is interwoven in each person’s tale. This is a wonderful compilation of life told through various perspectives! ( )

This was an interesting story told from a different person's perspective each chapter. Each chapter was a different time on the same day. Most of the people were connected in some way. Each chapter featured someone giving someone else the finger, for various reasons. It was teenage angst at its finest! You had the jock who was secretly gay, the "popular" cheerleaders, the outsider who is bullied, the "chubby" girl, and the going no where graduate. I enjoyed all of the stories and was wishing I could read more about each person instead of one chapter. All in all an enjoyable read. ( )

Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles got good reviews from library journals including a starred review from Kirkus, so it was with high hopes that I began reading. I had wanted to read it for a while. I had previously read See You at Harry’s which I thought was pretty good.

Ms. Knowles stated that the idea for the book germinated with an incident in which a driver gave her and her family the ‘middle finger’. It annoyed her even more than it would normally have except that he was in the wrong to begin with. So, as you can guess by the cover art, Read Between the Lines is all about that middle finger.

I will admit that I was somewhat disappointed with the book. It is comprised of several disparate stories that tenuously come together, sort of, in the end. Nate is bullied at school (and at home, to some extent) and in a rough game of dodge ball in gym, he breaks his middle finger and has to wear a splint. Everyone is somewhat jealous that he can give everyone the middle finger without really giving them the middle finger.

Claire is tired of ‘the girls’ and wonders if there is more to life than gossiping about everyone. Dewey bullies his next door neighbors because they are a lot messier than he is. He and his father began being ‘neat’ in hopes that the mother/wife who left them might come back. Now they’re anal about it. But their neighbors don’t mow their lawn and actually the mother is a hoarder. So, of course, Dewey is going to give them the finger.

There are more vignettes along these lines: bullying, giving the fingers, scamming, hopefulness, hopelessness, sexuality, peer pressure, etc. Everything takes place in the course of one day and, as a result, about midway through the book, lives start intersecting. But these intersections and their conclusions, at least to me, were unsatisfying, especially the last one regarding a sexy, new English teacher, Ms. Lindsay.

Ms. Knowles gets her point across and Read Between the Lines would be a good discussion book middle schoolers and young high schoolers. ( )

First of all, I think this is my favorite cover of the year! The vignettes are a fantastic tool to draw in reluctant readers. Even though written in different voices, each vignette converges with the central theme; making a solid connection. ( )