Thursday, January 11, 2018

Review: My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier


Title: My Sister Rosa
Author: Justine Larbalestier
Published by: Soho Teen
Released: 2016
Source: Library

Summary: Che is pretty sure his little sister is a psychopath. He's studied up on the subject, he wants to be a neurologist. Rosa exhibits all the classic signs of psychopathy; no empathy, fearlessness, no inhibition. Che feels a real responsibility to protect the world from Rosa. As his family moves to New York, that pledge to watch Rosa becomes a lot harder. It doesn't help that his parents don't believe him. How could sweet, cute, little Rosa be a danger to anyone?
My Thoughts: I found this book to be very addicting, and I liked it. There was this tension running through it. I was just waiting for something really bad to happen. I did feel like I ended up waiting for a very long time though. There was this weird compulsion to it, where I was just hooked, I can't really explain why though
I don't think this book was perfect, and I don't think this book is for everyone. Not a whole lot happened in it. It kind of had this slow pace to it. I could have used a little more excitement and some more intense events. Rosa is billed as a psychopath, which makes one think super evil little kid! And she was very unsettling, but she wasn't a murder everybody psycho. Don't get me wrong, she's definitely messed up, I just thought she'd do more bad things.
I felt bad for Che because of his family situation. Being moved place to place, being a kind of father to his little sister, and then not even really having a stable education. His parents struck me as kind of selfish. They were so into each other and their businesses, that the kids were just kind of an afterthought. They sounded like very hippy parents to me, which I'm always a little bit disapproving of. I think it's weird when kids call their parents by their first names, when the parents have trained them to do that. And it was also weird how the parents were living off the generosity of others, and not paying for really anything. It was just a very weird situation all the way through.
I just found the story to be very addicting though. I think I like how Justine Larbalestier writes. Even though it was slow going, and I was waiting for the crazy to really take off, I was never bored by the book. I'd put it down, but was always excited to pick it up again. It was a compelling read. I do feel like there was no gasp-worthy conclusion at the end. I feel like Rosa will grow up to do worse things, and I'm curious how her story will continue.
This book took me on an odd little journey. I was never bored. It surprised me at turns, shocked me at others. There is this sense of bad things are going to happen as I was reading through. I liked this book. Rosa is scary manipulative, but interesting to read about.
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5
Oddly Addicting

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