Book Review: You Against Me

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Book Details

Title: You Against Me

Author: Jenny Downham

Release Date: September, 2011

Book Summary

If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge.
If your brother's accused of a terrible crime but says he didn't do it, you defend him.

When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the offense, her world begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide.

This is a brave and unflinching novel from the bestselling author ofBefore I Die. It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all, it's a book about love.

Book Review

After reading Before I Die, I was optimistic in reading this new Jenny Downham offering You Against Me. The summary is an interesting tease that points towards another modern Romeo and Juliet theme with a tinge of crime drama. Written in an alternating narrative between Mikey and Ellie, this book dealt with the issue of rape differently. Concentrating more on the people around the victim and the assailant, it gives reader a full view of the domino effect of one single event in the life of the people that surrounds them.   

What I like…

©       The Characters. I love the characters because primarily, they are not really involved in the rape. Mikey, being the good brother that he is, had the intense drive to protect his sister and annihilate the boy who wronged her. On the other hand, Ellie chose to stick to her brother’s innocence and stay loyal to her family. Downham threaded the situation with the two families carefully and sensitively. I hate to place spoilers, but one thing is for sure - I am not a fan of people who condone mistakes.

©       The Plot. A modern tale of star-crossed lovers, the pacing of their romance was perfect. So many things came in their way, belonging to different ‘teams’. I just wanted the both of them to end up together, because they were so fun in each other’s company.

What I don’t like…

There were weak points in the story and the end made me cringe. I think it was cut short just when the book was picking up. I wanted to know what would happen with Karyn and Ellie when they meet face to face? What will happen to the case?  What is the future for Tom? There are just too many important questions that are left hanging and unanswered.

You Against Me centers on choices and the consequences that comes with it. It is about loyalty to one’s family, the ones we love, trust, importance of truth and love. 

Favorite Quotes

“Sometimes if you want something badly enough, you can make it happen. If you miss someone so desperately that it wrecks your insides, you say their name over and over until you conjure then. It's called sympathetic magic and you just have to believe in it to make it work.”

“It was strange how words meant something when they came out of your mouth. Inside your head they were safe and silent, but once they were outside, people grabbed hold of them.” 

“Do you want this to be a love story?” 

“Her skin tasted expensive.” 

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þ @ ChuCha

Before I Die

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Book Details

Reading level: Young Adult

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: David Fickling Books; Reprint edition (May 26, 2009)

Language: English

Purchased Online

Book Summary

Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, and drugs with excruciating side effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is Sex. Released from the constraints of “normal” life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up.

Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, and her new boyfriend, are all painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out.

Book Review

Before I Die is an amazingly crafted novel that will astound you. It is written filled with real and uninhibited emotion that will allow you to join the main character in her final days. Tessa Scott, our heroine, is dying of leukemia. Instead of spending her remaining days stuck in her bed, she decided to make most of life by making a bucket list and sets about to accomplish everything.

What I love most about this heartbreaking novel are the characters, Tessa is a great and brave teen. Although she had her mood swings, to the point that you just want to snap her out of it, in the end you will have to admire her tenacity. The male character outshined the female characters on this book. First is the father, he is a wonderful man and any child, with or without illness would be lucky to have him. I couldn’t fault him for being in denial at first. I think there isn’t any parent who wanted or ever imagine his or her child die ahead of him/her. Cal, Tessa’s brother, is a sweet thing. I love the way he adores his sister, and not wanting to let her go. Lastly, Adam, who took the risk to love her and be with her till the end.

The best part of this book is the end, when she finally accepted to herself that death is near. Her death was beautifully written that you could really feel you are with the family saying goodbye to Tessa.  

Before I Die is not a book that will leave you in depression, instead it encourages its reader to grasp and celebrate life. This is not a story about death and dying, but of love and life, of taking risks and making the best of what the world offers. 

Favorite Quotes

I love you. I love you. I send this message through my fingers and into his, up his arm and into his heart.  Hear me. I love you. And I'm sorry to leave you.

We made love twenty seven times and we shared a bed for sixty two nights and that's a lot of love.

I've been told that there are five stages of grief, and if that's true, then he's stuck with stage one: Denial

Being Positive strengthens the immune system

Keep breathing. Just keep doing it, It's easy. In and Out.

I don't want to be dead. I haven't been loved this way for long enough.

"It's all right, Tessa, you can go. We love you. You can go now."

"Why are you saying that?

"She might need permission to die Cal"

"I don't want her to. She doesn't have  my permission."

Nurses never tell you what they know. They’re hired for their cheeriness and the thickness of their hair. They need to look alive and healthy, to give the patients something to aim for.

Lots of people are unhappy. But they never run away. 


Don't pretend to care. I don't need you as an anesthetic. 

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