Karina Halle's Reviews > Jenny Pox

That was fucking ridiculous.

Yet, I still liked it.

*Thoughts to come at a normal hour*

12 hours later....

OK. It's kind of a normal hour.

So let's start out by saying I liked this book. I'd actually give the first half of it 5 stars and the second half 2 stars...evens out to be about 3.5 stars. Or something. Still too early for math.

But, you know, that's quite a large jump from 5 stars to 2. So let me explain what the hell happened:

Things I liked (nee, LOVED) about the first half of the book

- Jenny was a refreshingly realistic heroine (considering her powers). She had a range of ups and downs but kept on trucking despite the way she was treated by Ashleigh (ugh) and the townspeople. But I liked you Jenny Mittens and I would be your friend.

- Jenny's relationship with her father was sweet and strained but supportive nonetheless

- Teens were portrayed realistically - sex, drugs, drinking, swearing. I liked that they were not sugarcoated (though there's a difference between having sex in the book because it's realistic and having sex just for the sake of having sex - but more on that later).

- Bryan's prose was simplistic but charming. It had a very quaint feel at times, in going with the quaint theme of the town

- Ashleigh is the most vile villain I have ever read. This - at times - bordered on being a bad thing, but the fact that the manipulative bitch made me so mad and got under my skin so much, means that she works. She gets to you. GAAAAAHHHH! I'm still mad.

- I liked Bryan's humour and the world he created. He thinks outside the box and I liked that this was VERY original. It made me want to check out his other work (I just bought Fairy Metal Thunder)


Things I hated about the last half of the book

- Gratuitous sex. OK, I didn't hate this. I didn't mind reading it per se...but I didn't understand why the threesome scene was so graphically explained. It wasn't necessary. You can still tell the reader what is going on without going into details. I mean, I get it was a somewhat important scene, but it threw me out of the book for a second and it kind of reeked of exploitation. Not in a bad way, but just in the "I'm going to throw in a scene out of every guy's fantasy" - a man wrote the book, yes, but most readers are female...ANYWAY the point is, why did THAT scene get so many pages and the actual important (emotionally, for Seth and Jenny) love scene kind of get skimmed over? That scene meant more and fit the flow of the story more organically.

- This book needed an editor. The writing was lovely, charming even, and the grammar and spelling were good - couldn't find fault there. It's really well done. But editors also tighten up the book and make the writer cut erroneous scenes, and Jenny Pox could have really benefited from that. I mean, Ashleigh's trip to New York, Seth showing Jenny the graveyard, the long description of valentine's day, THE GHOST ON THE THIRD FLOOR - why were these scenes even in the book? They had no purpose and had me skimming pages upon pages. Not good. An editor would have also tightened the plot and kept it from meandering at times...it was like somethings were given too much attention, and at other times, it was like the main point of the story was lost.

- Seth is kind of an idiot. I'm sorry Jenny, he is sweet but he's not very bright. Guess he's just not my type.

- This book was WAY too long. Again, an editor would have helped. The pace suffered because of it and it was at the half-way mark that I thought "WHY IS THERE SO MUCH LEFT?"

- The ending. OMG. The ending. It was fucking ridiculous, pardon my language. I don't want to spoil it but it had me sighing LOUDLY, IN ANGER while I was reading in bed. I get that Bryan was probably being satirical with the small town personas, hence why so many jabs at right-wing Christians and African Americans, but you still have to have SOME realism.

The whole idea of Jenny, Seth and Ashleigh is fantastical and outrageous, but in order to make that work, you have to ground that in realism. The end was out of character for the town and its people - small-minded bigots or not. I bought the supernatual stuff but not THAT.

- And Jenny. Oh, Jenny. I understand your rampage but I was disappointed to see that you lost all your remorse and feeling for humanity. Revenge is great and a few people did deserve it (in fact, I think you could have done even worse...make them REALLY suffer), but, I don't know. Everyone? Even those that weren't really at fault? Kinda harsh, no? But then again Carrie wasn't very understanding either.

- And then the very end. It was actually interesting to learn about what Jenny and Seth are, and I appreciated that it happened at the end... a nice tease into a sequel, if there was one, but I thought some things were overlooked. Such as, what the hell is going to happen next? The town is, um... also, Jenny's dad. That can't be fun for him. And Mrs. Sutland and Merle and the other nice people.

Well anyway, I didn't think I would have so much to say but this novel has severely polarized me. I loved it, then felt bored, then hated it.

But I'd still recommend it and that's why I'm giving it 3.5 stars. Aside from the moments where I was bored and skipping chapters, it held my interest, kept me entertained, made me laugh, made me cringe (it can be really gross - but I like that), made me think about it. And made me mad. That might not sound good but I think it means I care...nothing is worse than meh, and this book as a whole, isn't "meh."

I will be reading Bryan's books from now on.