Unfortunately, the story never quite gets interesting. Towards the second half, however, she lets go of the similes and adverbs and the pace and flow of the story picks up dramatically. I like poetry and I admire incredibly well-written literature, but this novel seemed to scream out "Hey, look at me! I know how to write!" so much that I became annoyed rather than in awe. I found "A Ticket to Ride" too florid and almost overwhelming in its beautiful poetic language for the first half of the novel that I was very close to putting it down for good. The tone and language in both books is COMPLETELY different. She wrote one of my favorite books from last year- "The Paris Wife"- and I'm finding it very hard to believe "A Ticket to Ride" is also by the same author. Paula McLain is a superb writer and poet, there is no doubt about that. I'm waffling between "I liked it" and "It was Ok". Hope for Jamie to use her experiences for the good. The saving grace of the painful content, is that Paula Maclain's writing is absolutely gorgeously beautiful, and something about the way she writes gives me hope and depth to Jamie. She had to grow up quickly, and and move from girl to young woman in a heartbeat. Because even though there is still and always a chance for Jamie to somehow start over, the consequences of that summer remain. Because the book is half about Jamie's mother, Raymond's sister Suzette. But for her Uncle Raymond, newly Jamie's foster parent, this is deja vu. The story is about that fateful summer, and all the consequences of when trouble comes to town, and a 15 year old is entranced by her cousin. When Fawn comes to stay with them, after having blown up her and others lives in another place, she quickly sets her sights on young Jamie. Its a coming of age story, where a motherless 15 year old falls under the entrancement of a 16 year old cousin, who is every ounce of trouble and danger. It's beautifully written, and the story itself is painful. It only 250 pages, and its reviews have been pretty standard threes.
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