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DID NOT FINISH
DNF’d on: August 4th, 2019
DNF’d on: Page 173 (44%)
I suspected I wouldn’t love Dry before I picked it up. The premise was just too real for the book to be a fun escapist read. I was hoping I would love because of the success I’ve had with previous Shusterman books but as we can tell that wasn’t the case here.
Dry follows Cady and Ben two teens in southern California immediately after the water taps in the state are completely shut off. In this near future dystopian the Shusterman’s explore the consequences a drought could have on the community.
The Shustermans were great at building a sense of dread and horror throughout this novel. The sense of realism and the sequence of events is something to be commended, but that really worked against the novel for me. I live in a drought prone area. There have been seasonal droughts where I’m from for as long as I’ve been alive and water shedding (think rolling blackouts but with water) is a monthly occurrence. This made reading this book extra horrifying and honestly I couldn’t handle the anxiety of imaging this happening to me.
Outside of the premise there was nothing really keeping me engaged in this book. While the characters were serviceable there was nothing particularly interesting or engaging about them to me. I also found the beginnings of a romance between our two leads a bit distasteful. In the novel Ben’s family are apocalypse preppers meaning they have a surplus of supplies. Cady’s family unfortunately doesn’t. Ben’s previous attraction to Cady made every time he helped her feel slimy. It had the undertones of Ben expecting romantic reciprocation as a reward for helping her family.
The final nail in the coffin was how the plot progress. The first act of the novel felt very grounded in realism. I could clearly see these events unfolding next year, hell, even next month. However, as the story plodded along elements were introduced that made me raise my eyebrows. Specifically the character of Raven felt discordant with the rest of the elements of the story. I had a very difficult time buying her bad-girl persona.
So overall Dry wasn’t working for me. I can appreciate the Shusterman’s interesting ideas, but I have no interest in seeing it play out. I wouldn’t steer anyone clear of picking it up, it is a solid book with interesting ideas. It just wasn’t for me.
DNF’d on: Page 173 (44%)
I suspected I wouldn’t love Dry before I picked it up. The premise was just too real for the book to be a fun escapist read. I was hoping I would love because of the success I’ve had with previous Shusterman books but as we can tell that wasn’t the case here.
Dry follows Cady and Ben two teens in southern California immediately after the water taps in the state are completely shut off. In this near future dystopian the Shusterman’s explore the consequences a drought could have on the community.
The Shustermans were great at building a sense of dread and horror throughout this novel. The sense of realism and the sequence of events is something to be commended, but that really worked against the novel for me. I live in a drought prone area. There have been seasonal droughts where I’m from for as long as I’ve been alive and water shedding (think rolling blackouts but with water) is a monthly occurrence. This made reading this book extra horrifying and honestly I couldn’t handle the anxiety of imaging this happening to me.
Outside of the premise there was nothing really keeping me engaged in this book. While the characters were serviceable there was nothing particularly interesting or engaging about them to me. I also found the beginnings of a romance between our two leads a bit distasteful. In the novel Ben’s family are apocalypse preppers meaning they have a surplus of supplies. Cady’s family unfortunately doesn’t. Ben’s previous attraction to Cady made every time he helped her feel slimy. It had the undertones of Ben expecting romantic reciprocation as a reward for helping her family.
The final nail in the coffin was how the plot progress. The first act of the novel felt very grounded in realism. I could clearly see these events unfolding next year, hell, even next month. However, as the story plodded along elements were introduced that made me raise my eyebrows. Specifically the character of Raven felt discordant with the rest of the elements of the story. I had a very difficult time buying her bad-girl persona.
So overall Dry wasn’t working for me. I can appreciate the Shusterman’s interesting ideas, but I have no interest in seeing it play out. I wouldn’t steer anyone clear of picking it up, it is a solid book with interesting ideas. It just wasn’t for me.