Erika's Review of Bliss by Lauren Myracle
Bliss is about a girl named, wait for it… Bliss In the Morning Dew. Bliss was left with her southern grandmother when her hippie parents fled to Canada and it’s set in 1969 at a time when in Atlanta there were those who treated African Americans with little respect even though desegregation has already taken place. She begins going to a private high school, though she had never previously set foot in any school for that matter. There’s a girl that most view as perfect, Sarah, but she’s not. One who’s a little odd and is excluded from the rest of the school, Sandy. There’s a boy, Mitchell. And a rumor about of a girl, who jumped out of a Hampton Hall third story window, who’s voice Bliss begins to hear… So, you could say it has it all.
If you haven’t read Bliss, please do so now. One page will make you laugh and the next cry. I’ll be honest, I cried at the end. The way I view books is how well they play with my emotions and/or seem realistic enough that I feel what is happening to the characters as if they were happening to me. Bliss is one of those books that does both. I felt bad for Bliss, at times I thought she was insane, wanted to scream that this one character who was a sociopath even though she claimed she wasn't, and I even felt bad for a cat.
Now I had read Rhymes With Witches, so I kind of knew the basics of what was going to happen or at least what would happen 40 years into the future, but I have to say Myracle made a brilliant prequel. You do not have to read either one first because they are both phenomenal all on their own.
I still can’t completely get over how amazing this book was. It combined suspense with Myracles’s natural humorous tone. There are also multiple morals that are engrained in the book worth reading about and are important for younger readers to learn. (For example, the anti-prejudice aspect.) I read it in a matter of hours and could not put it down.
I must give a brief warning however, if you get scared easily and/or don’t like being scared, you may want to consider not reading it. But be assured that you are definitely missing out and it’s not as horrifying as you may think!
3 comments:
This is next on my TBR pile beside my bed!!
Hope you enjoy it! Let us know what you think when you finish. -The YAthenaeum Team
I picked up Bliss at the library while browsing....and though I'm not usually drawn to bookks with bloody covers, it seemed that this book attracted me for some unknown reason. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. I finished it in a couple of hours (I was reading under the covers) and the ending chilled me. I haven't read Rhymes With Witches yet, so I'm looking forward to that. It was provocative, and I loved it. Great book, but NOT for the faint hearted =)
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