Review: True to life story about a girl and her life in “the park”
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 10, 2014
I will start off by warning you that if you are a grammar nazi, you probably shouldn’t be reading a book about a low-income girl living in the slums in the first place, let alone this book.This book is about a girl named, Rory, who lives in the local trailer park with her alcoholic mother and her younger brother, whom she practically raises. This is a story about Rory falling in love for the first time, making some wrong choices, living with those choices, and finding love in unexpected places. There is a lot of drama surrounding Rory’s life and while she has shown to be immature at times, she is ultimately a kind-hearted person with a great work ethic who just wasn’t as privileged as others.Keep in mind that this story is written from Rory’s point-of-view, so there is a lot of poor grammar and a lot of slang usage. If you can’t stomach that, best stay away! But with that being said, this book just wouldn’t have been the same if it was written in proper English and grammar because then you wouldn’t get to see the gritty, hard-to-swallow truth of what life is like for a girl living in the slums.This story is SO true to life. In this book, we see:Absent parentsKids having to be parentsSexual assaultTeen pregnancyThe importance of friendshipSurvivalBullyingThe heart break of first loveThe struggles of the lower-classAnd the hope and unwillingness to give up of those individuals who haven’t been quite as blessed as the rest of us.As for the structure of the story itself, it flowed very well. Because of the slang and the poor grammar, it can be difficult to follow at times. There were some things that seemed highly unlikely and improbable but –Hey!- this is a book, after all! That’s kind of the point. I did feel like there was a lot of filler at times, especially towards the end. I had no trouble connecting with the characters-especially Rome, in particular. Trust me, you’ll LOVE Rome.Overall, I am giving this story three stars. There was a lot of hard work put into this and the author is a super sweetheart! It was pretty interesting and engaging, even though it did drag on at times and sometimes, I was rolling my eyes at how stupid the heroine could be but if you like lots of drama and a good romance, chances are you will enjoy this book!(I was given this book in exchange for an honest review)