Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Review/Losing Faith by Denise Jaden

Tuesday, October 5, 2010
When Brie's sister, Faith, dies suddenly, Brie's world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood and barely even liked, everything in her life seems to spiral farther and farther off course. Her parents are a mess, her friends don’t know how to treat her, and her perfect boyfriend suddenly seems anything but.

As Brie settles into her new normal, she encounters more questions than closure: Certain facts about the way Faith died just don't line up. Brie soon uncovers a dark and twisted secret about Faith’s final night...a secret that puts her own life in danger.

I probably wouldn’t have picked up this book on my own if it hadn’t been on the Contemp Challenged. What I found was a so so book about the loss of a sister. The plot revolved around Brie’s search for the truth about how Faith died. While the premise of the plot was different, I am afraid that the plot was not enough to fully engage me primarily because of the characterization.

From the start, Brie’s connection to Faith was pretty non-existent. Faith and Brie’s parents were quite religious while Brie was not. I found it hard to accept that after Faith’s death, that Brie suddenly had an all consuming desire to figure out exactly how Faith died. Her motives just didn’t ring true. I also had a hard time with the connection to Alis, who slowly became Brie’s love interest. One character I did like was Tessa, but again I really couldn’t wrap my head around the relationship that Brie and Tessa developed over the course of the story.

One thing I did like about the book was Jaden’s ability to create suspense, which she did throughout the book. However, I really wanted more about the cult. The ending was exciting and exposed the cult enough to satisfy most of my questions. I was also impressed with how Jaden handled the religious aspect of the book, never preachy, she does explore the possibility that sometimes religion can turn into over zealousness and lose touch with the true meaning of faith.

Although Losing Faith did not totally engage me, I feel that it is a book that will appeal to the YA audience, and that the book more than establishes Jaden as a strong voice in contemporary YA fiction.


10 comments:

Lori said...

I'm happy that I am not the only one that found this book so so. I had a problem with the characters as well. There was such a lack of feeling from Brie!

Great review!

Nomes said...

ah, no! i read some glowing reviews and ordered this one. so glad for your honesty here as sometimes ppl really hype things up. maybe i like it more now that my expectations have been lowered...

Melissa (i swim for oceans) said...

Oh no, I'm sorry to see this didn't engage you as much as it did me. I suppose it's different tastes and takes on it and all that. Either way, great honest review, and you made very valid points :)

Karen said...

This one is on my challenge list as well. Hope I like it more than you did.
I've been reading mixed reviews so far.

Natalie said...

I have this one in my review pile, so I'll be reading it sooner or later. I haven't heard a whole lot about it though, so it was nice to get your thoughts on it!

Tammy (The Book Fairy's Haven) said...

I have to say that I'm not quite sure whether or not I'd want to read this one. I've read some glowing reviews about this one, but I think the premise behind the novel isn't something that I'd normally pick up. Perhaps if I find it at the library one day, I'll pick it up, but I don't think I'll go out of my way to buy it.

Dwayne said...

This isn't my usual type of book, so I doubt I'll read it soon. Fab review!

Darlyn said...

Looks like it has an engaging story and the element of surprise kind of attract me. Great review ;p

Jessica Lawlor said...

I really like the sound of this one! I'm sad that you didn't find it as good as you would have liked.

Staci said...

This was a great review. I'm always looking for good YA to recommend and even though you weren't totally engaged I do agree with you that it will appeal to the YA audience for sure.

 
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