Official Review: The Rebirth of Francesca by Yoleen Valai

[SPasciuti]

I usually find it unfulfilling when the main characters in a story are irritating. From the title of the book, the author could have at least tried to have Francesca transform into a more likable character at some point. Great review!

I completely agree! I just can't get behind a book where the main character is awful unless they're specifically supposed to be awful, you know?

Thanks so much for commenting!

[SPasciuti]

I think that a two-star rating means that the book has some serious flaws that need to be rectified. In a world where books are believed to be correct and then the teenagers come across a book with serious grammatical errors, the English teachers would be in serious problems. One of those nasty jobs that English teachers do, is the correction of errors in the reference and textbooks. What do you think would happen if this book is read by a teenager without the supervision?

Nevertheless, I have enjoyed reading your review. It has enlightened me on the plot of this book. The story seems to be a moving one.

Yeah. I agree. I will, admittedly, give this author some leeway because my understanding is that English is not her first language. But even so, there's no excuse for a lot of books in the English speaking world today to have the level of grammatical errors that they have. I feel like, in a large way, grammar has been cast aside and far too many people don't understand how to use it. I even make mistakes sometimes, partially on account of the fact that the world is surrounded by people who don't know how to use their own language. It's depressing and embarrassing that so many people haven't learned properly. And we only have to look at a book like 50 Shades of Grey and see how popular it is to realize that a disturbing number of people can't recognize bad grammar.

As for if this book were read by a teenager unsupervised, if that teenager has not had a proper education in the English language, there's definitely an opportunity to perpetuate the problem of people who grow up with a very limited understanding of how to write properly. And it's so unfortunate.

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!

[papaya12]

The premise of this book sounds really interesting but it sounds as if the author didn't do it justice. I too would have a really hard time reading a book if I didn't feel like I could relate to any of the characters. Still, the premise is so different from your typical YA novel that I'm considering adding it to my "to-read" list. Great review!

[SPasciuti]

I usually find it unfulfilling when the main characters in a story are irritating. From the title of the book, the author could have at least tried to have Francesca transform into a more likable character at some point. Great review!

I agree with you 100%. I think the author wanted us to sympathize with her and like her just because her mother was unreasonably cruel. But that's not a good enough reason to like a character, you know? I felt bad for her, but she was still self-centered and rude all the time, so while she might not have deserved her mother being hurtful, she wasn't very nice herself either.

[SPasciuti]

I think that a two-star rating means that the book has some serious flaws that need to be rectified. In a world where books are believed to be correct and then the teenagers come across a book with serious grammatical errors, the English teachers would be in serious problems. One of those nasty jobs that English teachers do, is the correction of errors in the reference and textbooks. What do you think would happen if this book is read by a teenager without the supervision?

Nevertheless, I have enjoyed reading your review. It has enlightened me on the plot of this book. The story seems to be a moving one.

I mean, I think there are always a great number of opportunities for young teenagers to read books that a written poorly and unfortunately for them that often means they end up with a warped view of what grammar is and how to follow the rules. I've even fallen into that trap before because I dont think my teachers ever really focused on grammar enough when I was in school and I was taking AP classes!

But the issues with people not understanding how to write well are very prominent in the world today (and arguably have always been prominent). It's how books like 50 Shades of Gray somehow manage to go through an editor and still get published with an absolutely disgusting level of grammar mistakes. And it's a real problem, because a lot of people read those books and didn't even bat an eye at the terrible writing.

So, to tell you the truth, I'm not really sure. At the end of the day, I think the things I would be worried about happening if teenagers read this book without teacher supervision have already happened. We have a largely disproportionate number of people in the world who accept badly written books and enjoy them. And 50 Shades of Grey is the perfect example. It's terribly written. The plot is awful, there is little to no character development, it romanticizes abuse, and the grammatical mistakes are just riddled throughout each and every page. But it's a best seller. There's such a grand scale to this that I'm not even sure how to fix it anymore.

[SPasciuti]

The premise of this book sounds really interesting but it sounds as if the author didn't do it justice. I too would have a really hard time reading a book if I didn't feel like I could relate to any of the characters. Still, the premise is so different from your typical YA novel that I'm considering adding it to my "to-read" list. Great review!

Well, let me know what you think if you do! I definitely think that her book has potential if it were to be rewritten, so that's a silver-lining for sure.