Runaway Dream by Amaka Weaver spotlights a young girl named Amara who aspires to be an actress someday. At first, life seems ideal for Amara—she enjoys her classes, adores her closest friends, and is blessed with a supportive and loving family. However, things take a sharp turn for the worse when deep secrets get revealed, placing a heavy strain on Amara’s path to attaining her dream. Amara wonders what she can do and who she can turn to when all odds seem to stack against her favor.
To start off, I think the story’s plot is interesting. I was intrigued by the author’s choice to discuss how several difficulties might plague the lives of some families and individuals rather than just one major issue. Finding work, paying for college, obtaining a lifetime of satisfaction and happiness, and being infinitely honest and loyal are not always some of the easiest things to do. Weaver’s characters carried these problems well throughout the story. I believe that one of the story’s strong points is that the narration changes between characters’ points of view, allowing me to delve into the characters’ personal lives more effectively.
Also, there was one moment in particular that left me impressed with Weaver’s craft as a writer. Instead of simply writing that Emeka, Amara’s older brother, was reluctant to reach home one Friday afternoon, Weaver wrote:
This interesting, lightly emotional writing is what I wish there was more of throughout the entirety of the story. However, the reality is that I was extremely underwhelmed with the rest of the book in nearly every other way. This brings me, first, to the storytelling. The execution of this tale was not neatly done. Weaver’s style of storytelling mostly consisted of repetitive and rushed sequences that never really allowed me as the reader to get behind the things that annoyed or excited the characters.“With every step I took closer to home, I peeled off layers of a different me: carefree, self-centered, unapologetic, unsatisfied. It was a familiar dance I soon became accustomed to every week.”
What bothered me most with the book was the severe lack of transition between the majority of all the plot points and settings. The skip from one scene to the next (at times, three setting changes on one page minus all necessary transitions) regularly disrupted the flow of my reading as well as my understanding of what was going on in the story. These instances persisted throughout the entire book, leaving every little thing feeling rushed and incomplete.
Furthermore, I thirsted for more descriptions and emotions/reactions from the characters. Despite the emotional plot, the characters were generally nothing more than robotic and unconvincing. Primarily, I was unimpressed with Amara as the main character. It was difficult for me to relate to and empathize with her. Instead, I found her unlikeable, hypocritical, indifferent, and simply unrealistic despite the author’s attempts to make her the hardworking and determined but betrayed victim. Ironically, her point of view was my least favorite to read.
In all, I rate Runaway Dream 2 out of 4 stars. The plot proved intriguing and ambitious but could use another round of editing and revision to work it to completion. For instance, I noticed inconsistent formatting of italics and quotation marks for characters’ thoughts and their dialogue. Also, near the end of the book, verb tenses started changing from past to present tense, all while more grammatical and punctuation mistakes occurred. All of these errors play a part in my overall rating as they hindered my understanding of the book in some ways. Finally, I think readers who relate to characters struggling to make ends meet, yet who persist against all odds might find themselves entertained by this book.
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Runaway Dream
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