Monday, February 17, 2014

Book Review: "Labor Day" by Joyce Maynard

This book is on my 2014 to-read list and has also been made into a major motion picture, in theaters now. I have not yet seen the movie, but when I do, I will add a short comparison to the end of this review.

My Rating (via GoodReads): 3/5 stars
Kobo Price: $11.99

I'm sort of ashamed to admit I liked this book. It's not the type of book I would normally go for. The writing intrigued me though, even though it was simple. It is told from the perspective of a thirteen-year-old boy named Henry who lives with his mother. His mother Adele appears to be extremely odd from the start of the book.

On one of their rare trips to the grocery store, Henry meets a strange and injured man who asks to go home with them... Yea, would you say yes? Well, they did. I know right, who does that? Anyways, they find out as time goes on that he is an escaped convict which seems quite obvious to me. He stays with them for all of Labor Day weekend, through which Henry learns a lot about himself, life, and those around him. Yup, totally cheesy statement, but it's true.

The premise was so outrageous and unrealistic, it fueled my need to know how it ended. It's a nice quick easy read and though I find it unlikely to happen in real life, I enjoyed the book nonetheless and the ending was less depressing than I pictured which is always a nice surprise.

It's pretty much made to be turned into film... I'm interested to see how they translated it to screen and whether it's any good. So why 3/5 stars, well I liked it, I didn't LOVE it. Would I have read it, if not to compare it to the movie? I'm not sure, but likely not.

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