Young Adult Review: Bubble World by Carol Snow

Bubble World by Carol Snow

Hardcover, 352 pages

Expected publication: July 30th, 2013 by Henry Holt

Source: ALAMW

Freesia’s life is perfect. She lives on the beautiful tropical island of Agalinas, surrounded by idyllic weather, fancy dress shops, and peacocks who sing her favorite song to wake her up in the morning. She has so many outfits she could wear a different one every day for a year and not run out.

Lately things on the island may have been a bit flippy: sudden blackouts, students disappearing, even Freesia’s reflection looking slightly . . . off. But in Freesia’s experience, it’s better not to think about things like that too much.

Unfortunately for her, these signs are more than random blips in the universe. Freesia’s perfect bubble is about to pop.

I'm all for different, unique and even strange, but I need to connect with a book for it to work for me.  This one kind of fell in the middle, I didn't connect with it all, but some aspects were pretty good and it ended up being an entertaining read.

The first half of the book wasn't nearly as good as the second half.  But it couldn't have really been any other way.  For me I wish I had known more about the story, if this world of hers is like a movie set (like The Truman Show) and maybe she's on this show and doesn't know it.  That was what I thought it was at first but as I read on the pieces started coming together so when I realized the truth it made much  more sense.  I actually think I would have liked knowing that going in though.  I'll be nice and not spoil it for you in case you don't already know.  But what you do need to know is that the first half focuses more on the this world and we see how perfect things are, too perfect.  We get to know Freesia at her worst, spoiled and totally clueless to the real world.  For some reason I didn't care for Agalinas island straight away and didn't much like the parts of the book that happen there.

Once we get to the real world, and Freesia gets a reality check, is when things get more interesting.  This brought up lots of things to really ponder.  It makes you think, and I appreciated that.  Reality vs. the reality we may *think* we want.  Which would we really want? It also made me think of things more as a parent and what I would want for my children in a situation like this.

I mentioned that Freesia isn't terribly likable at first, but she does grow.  I think she's growing through much of the book even though some things she doesn't realize immediately.  She felt a tad blah to me, she didn't really stand out in any way, but she was still a  good character to read about, I'm just not sure she'll be very memorable.

I wish that the family issues had been more delved into, but it's a light read and more on the fun side instead of overly serious, so that can be excused.  I would have liked to see a little more sister time and their stuff figured out and explored more especially.  But overall it was a pretty fun read and it was quick.  I especially appreciated the unique factor of it.

  Disclosure: I received a copy of this book at ALAMW.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.