Beautiful Disaster - Jamie McGuire
I had read so many mixed reviews about this book that I couldn't wait to make my own opinion. I guarantee you that I started Beautiful Disaster with no prejudices at all and, at first, I found myself genuinely enjoying it: nothing life-changing, sure, but enjoyable nonetheless. Then it all went to hell pretty quickly, and unfortunately this disaster turned out to be anything but beautiful.
The Plot:
Abby and Travis meet. They fight. They make up. They fight. They make up. They fight. They make up. (Repeat 10000 more times)I wonder why this book had to be this long, since it's always the same situation OVER AND OVER. Of course, the reasons for their fights are always changing and more unlikely (and also usually completely avoidable, but, hey, what fun would that be?). Still, the last 200 pages were so frustrating that I just wanted it to be over because it was seriously getting on my nerves. What was the point of all those sub-plots, besides providing them with more material they could use to argue? Ugh, so annoying.
The Characters:
There is so much to say about them, and it's not complimentary, I'm afraid. Let's start from our protagonist, shall we?Abby is freaking exhausting. I don't know much about psychology, but I honestly believe she (and the majority of the other characters, for that matter) is schizophrenic. She says something, then she changes her mind the next moment for no reason. Can we talk about her virginity? She says sex is important to her, then she has it with Travis two seconds after saying that, as a way to say goodbye to him (?), when she was dating another guy (??) and so with no intention in starting a real relationship with Travis, when it was clear that he was in love with her. And then she actually complains because he is confused. YOU DON'T SAY??
She's always mad at Travis, she says she doesn't want to be with him, then they have sex and boom! She decides that she wants to be with him forever and ever. And this happens TWICE. At this point I can only believe that Travis has a magic penis.
Let's move on to Travis. Maybe it's my problem, maybe I'm an old-fashioned girl who likes nice boys who treat you in a decent way, but I'd never want a guy like him in my life. He's violent, possessive, way too obsessed with Abby and just plain scary. I don't find his urge to hit everyone who looks at Abby (or tries to speak to her) sexy and hot or whatever. IT'S NOT. Come on, Travis even threatens to hit whoever threw accidentally a snowball at Abby! This is a psychopath we're talking about. And I think that before trying to have a serious relationship with anybody he should work his sh*t out. Because what he and Abby have is not healthy and it's not beautiful: it's what in real life would develop in an abusive relationship. I'm not saying that books should only deal with happy and normal love stories, but if you decide to write one like this, then you should take your responsibilities, and not make it look like something that every girl should aspire to. Because there is no way that this could lead to a happily ever after. And I couldn't see any actual change in Travis' behaviour at the end.
Also, Pigeon is the worst nickname EVER.
The other characters weren't that much better; the only decent ones are Kara (who seems to be the only one gifted with a brain, therefore she is ignored by everybody), Finch (but he should hang out with better people) and Parker. I don't understand his crush on Abby (I don't understand how anyone could have a crush on Abby), but he is a genuinely nice guy, cute, funny and even rich (so maybe he was just a hallucination after all); he made his mistakes, sure, but in the end he was the only normal one out there, so of course everyone had to label him as a douchebag (because, otherwise, there would have been no reason why Abby shouldn't have chosen him).
The Writing:
Bad. I don't have anything else to add.
Usually, even when I don't like a book, I'm still able to understand what other people who loved it saw in it. This time I don't. I just can't. It's repetitive, painfully boring, badly written and full of terrible characters. What's so special about Travis completely goes beyond my understanding, so I'll just give up.
Now excuse me, but I have to sanitize my brain.