8. Fracture


Aaaand I'm back to light, fluffy novels. With such a busy summer schedule, it's nice to unwind in the evenings with a simple book. I've decided (for the moment) that meaningful, profound novels are overrated and shameless, plotless fluff is absolutely fine. Such quick reads are the equivalent of watching an episode of Cupcake Wars: short, sweet, and require minimal attention. 


...SPOILERS...
Average. That is the word that pops into mind when thinking of Fracture. There are countless young adult novels following the same, predictable storyline. It seems as though I’ve read several books just this summer with the same general plot. True, there are minor variations from book to book, but the endings are the same. In this particular story, the heroine turns out to be in love with her best friend (which is completely apparent to the reader from the beginning). The biggest conflict, which is not that big after all, is the appearance of another boy. This second boy is relatable to the protagonist, because they have both been revived from comas; as such, they can both sense death. Here, the novel has a glimmer of hope, the potential to add something intriguing to the average story. Miranda delves into that a little, by introducing the idea of interfering with death. Because the main character has the ability to sense an upcoming death (which is unavoidable), she has the option of killing the person early to ease their suffering. Now there is a moral dilemma, of whether one person has the right to decide on death over suffering for another. There was so much potential in terms of internal and external conflicts that could have been developed with this issue. Instead of truly picking apart that theme, Miranda quickly establishes that the answer is no, and continues with the romance. More could have been done with the story, but in the end, it was a simple, summer read.

No comments:

Post a Comment