Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

Where We Have to Go by Lauren Kirshner

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Lucy Bloom is 11 years old, and she loves Alf, and her cat Lulu. Her life is simple but soon gets more complicated. Her family is drifting apart before her, and there’s nothing she can do to stop it.

The book continues to tell the story of Lucy throughout her teenage years. She has more than enough problems to face in a lifetime, let alone just those few precious years. As Lucy moves towards adulthood, she learns the truth is not always what is seems, and learns to look at her parents as real people–not just parents.

I didn’t really enjoy this book that much. First off, literally NOTHING good ever happens in Lucy’s life throughout the course of this book. Her entire teen years–not one good thing? It made for a really depressing read.

While I liked the author’s style and the imagination she gave Lucy, I found most of the characters very flat, including Lucy herself. I didn’t really enjoy her voice and the perspective she had on some things.

The plot was not really driven by anything. There are no real climactic events to speak of, just a series of things that Lucy happens to go through. The story definitely did not pull me in and make me want to finish it as quickly as possible.

The book got better towards the end, but I’m still not sure what I’m supposed to have taken away from it. If this was a coming-of-age story, I’m not sure what the significant events were that were supposed to have changed Lucy. She never really acted like anything affected her too significantly. I wasn’t really able to view her actions and emotions as being a result of her parents’ problems.

Basically, I felt the entire book was just Lucy’s life going along from point A to point B. I’m sure she was somehow supposed to be shaped by the things that happened in her teenage years, but to me, there was no one important thing that stood out.

View all my reviews