Review: Disappointing execution
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 08 9, 2013
Two years after toddler Riley died, his parents Jen and Ethan, and his teenage sister Ella are still drowning in grief. Separately. CHEER is told from the first person POVs of Ella and Jen, and the third person POV of Ethan. While Ella's voice is slightly teenage-like, there was virtually no difference or distinct voice from the POVs.From the beginning of the story, the first thing I noticed was an excessive amount of telling, rather than showing of the story. Ella's chapters were the most in depth and well written, as the self-destructive cheerleader isolates herself trying to be the perfect daughter to alleviate the guilt she feels over Riley's death. Rooting for Ella is easy. Jen's sections were much less relatable, as she desperately wants to conceive thru IVF, while distancing  herself from her husband and daughter. She only talks to her best friend, writes useless details about the homes she sells, avoids her husband and contemplates regrets over an affair. Ethan was also relatable and easy to root for, but boring as boring could be.CHEER doesn't have much of a plot--three family members grieving apart, we slowly learn the reasons for the accidental death. Yawn. For the first half of the book, I kept waiting for something to happen, before resigning myself to the fact that the book would probably end with a predictable kumbaya coming together of the family. (I'm not saying that was the case, just that was my thought).I had expected more from so many positive reviews on Amazon, but upon further inspection many of those reviews were written by friends/colleagues from the publishing business. I loved the premise of the story, but was disappointed in the writing, lack of plot development, and except for Ella, lack of character depth.