Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Series or Stand Alone: Series
Next Book: The Evolution of Mara Dyer
Pages: 452
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Date Published: September 27th 2011
Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Suspense, Paranormal, Romance, Contemporary
Mara
Dyer survives the collapse of a building that kills her bestfriend,
her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's sister. Since the accident, Mara
was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and starts
to experience visual hallucinations and nightmares. To help get past
the whole ordeal, Mara suggests to her parents to move. Thinking that
it'll help, her parents agree and move from Laurelton, Rhode Island
to Miami, Florida. There, Mara starts school at Croyden, a private
school, where she meets Noah Shaw. Strange things start to happen
around Mara and death seems to have followed her to Miami. Since the
accident, Mara no longer trusts her mind and questions her
sanity.
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer has a very unique storyline and plot that makes it stand out among the other young adult paranormal books. It's is a hard book to describe and review without spoiling to much.
The book has
paranormal
elements to it without the use of vampires, zombies, werewolves,
fairies, or anything like that. Without giving too much away, I will
say that Mara acquires a mysterious ability and she tries to figure
out the extent of it with Noah's help.
This
book was a real page turner and I found myself staying up late to
finish it because, I really wanted to know how things tied together.
Though I wouldn't say this book is action packed, many striking
events happen throughout the course of the book that make you want to
read on. As well, small pieces of information about the night of the
collapse and what's happening to Mara are slowly revealed as you
read. As I was reading, I was trying to connect the dots and
formulate theories on what the hell was going on and how the book was
going to end.
The
book is told from Mara's perspective and what's interesting is, Mara
is an unreliable narrator and you can't always trust whether what she
just experienced actually happened, or if it was a hallucination.
Being diagnosed with PTSD, Mara expects to have hallucinations and
often questions her own experiences and what she thinks she sees.
Reading the story through Mara's point of view will have you
thinking, “Did that really happen?”, “Did she just imagine it?”
and “Was it just a dream?” throughout the book.
Though
a bit mentally unstable, Mara is witty and sarcastic and I instantly
liked her for her sense of humour. Mara is a very relatable
protagonist who's just trying to put her life back together after a
tragedy. Though she's not entirely sure how to take control of her
life, she's no Mary-Sue and can stand her ground when need be.
Bad
Boy. British. Accent. Tall. Protective. Witty. Handsome. Sexy. Who am I talking about? None other than, Noah Shaw. His physical
description is nothing I haven't seen before in YA literature, but
Noah stands out among all the cookie cutter clones. If you're like
me, when you first read about Noah, you'll probably roll your eyes a
few times. I HATE comparing things to Twilight and all things related
to it, but that's what I mentally did – and I mentally slapped
myself for it. After his initial introduction, we gradually learn
that Noah was adopted, he plays the guitar and composes, and he's
rich. A certain character from Twilight came to mind, but that
quickly went away as the story progressed.
Like Mara, he is also
witty and has a sense of humor and I loved the romance between them.
Between them, Noah and Mara have perfected the art of banter. Many
scenes between Mara and Noah were very sweet and he was there for her
when she had few or no one she could turn to.
I
was a tad let down when I found out what was going on with Mara. Not
that I was disappointed, but I think I mentally built myself up for
a bigger (more complex?) answer/reason to everything that was going
on. No biggie though, the story was still enjoyable after the
revelation.
Mara
Dyer is an interesting and enjoyable read that will appeal to many
people as it has a little bit of everything – mystery, suspense,
humor, and a great romance. Mara Dyer ends with a cliffhanger and
you'll probably want to pick up the next book right away.
My Rating: 4/5
“Did I just see you litter?'
'I'm driving a hybrid. It cancels out.”
“Is
there any point asking what you're going to make me do on
Sunday?"
"Not
really."
Okay.
"Is there any point asking what you're going to do to me?"
He
grinned wickedly. "Not really."
Fabulous.
"Does it involve the use of a safe word?"
"That
will depend entirely on you." Noah moved impossibly closer, just
inches away.