Saturday 11 April 2009

Book review - Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

The day Audrey broke up with her boyfriend, he wrote The Song. A song about their breakup. The song is a huge success, suddenly his band the Do-Gooders are famous and everyone wants to know more about the mysterious Audrey. She’s thrust into the spotlight, even at school people are acting differently towards her, as though she’s an actual celebrity. But the thing is, Audrey doesn’t want to be famous. All she did was break up with her boyfriend and now it seems as if half the world hates her for it. What people forget is that they don’t know anything about her. Only her name.

Wow. This is one of those books that makes you happy. In fact, I think it could be the ultimate comfort read. It’s witty, fast-paced, has an interesting plot, and had me laughing out loud a lot. The star of Audrey, Wait is definitely Audrey herself. I don’t think I’ve ever read a more lively, funny, confident main character. (For liveliness equivalent, think Em in Finding Cassie Crazy) Audrey and her best friend Victoria have some great dialogue that makes me remember how great being sixteen was. It also makes me want to be friends with them. A lot.

Yes ok, the plot is a little far-fetched – I don’t think you’d get nearly as famous as Audrey does if someone wrote a song about you, but then again she avoids the press and that would make them far more interested in her. It’s also handled very cleverly. The plot and characters are a bit larger than life, but at the same time, the writing somehow makes it all seem realistic. Audrey handles her breakup and rise to fame surprisingly maturely. Her relationships, especially with ex-boyfriend Evan, are far more layered than I expected.

The biggest problem I had with the book though is the editing. I don’t know, maybe it’s because punctuation rules are different in the US and it got a little scrambled in the translation, but it seemed little someone let a little kid loose with the punctuation marks. Example:

‘totally humiliate the rest of us, who just want, to say how much we love, the music and how much it means, to us.’

Does that look right to anyone? Because it kept distracting me trying to work out if I was reading it wrong, but to me I don’t think that quote needs more than one comma.

Apart from the confusing punctuation thing though, I loved this book so much. I can’t really explain how good this book is, or find a quote because every time I look for one I want to copy a whole page. And then I keep on reading and forget I’m meant to be writing a review. Go and get yourself a copy right now!

16 comments:

  1. I love this book too. It was one of the first novels I hunted down once I entered the YA blogosphere. I don't believe I had those punctuation issues as had I seen that, I would have contacted the publisher lol.

    Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oooh, good review! I'm adding this to my wishlist!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't remember noticing those punctuation issues. I don't have my copy any more to check, but I'm wondering whether it could have been a deliberate effect? It seems quite breathless, written like that. Maybe not, though!

    Anyway, I enjoyed this book a lot too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I guess it could be for effect. I wondered about that, but the thing is that it's not a spoken line and it just doesn't make sense to me! It also referred to CDs as CDS, leaving me trying to work out what this stood for. Maybe I'm really slow, but I found it confusing.

    But don't let this put you off if you haven't read it before, READ THE BOOK ANYWAY!!! It's worth it! Maybe try to get hold of the US version though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really want to read this! It's going on my wishlist right now :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am a fan of the liberal comma, but that does seem a bit excessive. This sounds like a fun book, though.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Someone went comma-crazy!

    I haven't seen this cover before - very cute, though I think I prefer the wild and crazy one.

    I can't wait to start this one!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice review! I want to read this The commas might be used for effect e.g. breathless person. Although it depends on who said it and in what context. You'll know better than us if that's the case :)

    Kate

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fun is a terrific word to describe this one!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nice post. I agree, it was a hilarious book:-D
    The us cover is waaay prettier though..
    -amy

    ReplyDelete
  11. Amy and The Epic Rat, I totally agree with you. I love the new US cover, but this UK one is too boring.

    ReplyDelete
  12. That punctuation is positively freakay. I noticed it while reading through the US copy too. I don't know if that's pertinent as I'm not sure where you are based out of. All the same I love music books. Have you read Nick and Norahs?

    ReplyDelete
  13. My copy is a UK copy, so that's doubly weird. Maybe it was deliberate, though I can't imagine why. At least someone else noticed it too!
    I haven't read Nick and Norahs but I want to. It's one of those books that I have to get around to buying some time soon!

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is definitely at the top of my reading pile! I'm really glad you had such a good review of it. Now I'm even more excited!

    I nominated you for an award. You can check it out here:
    http://thebookgirlreviews.blogspot.com/2009/04/nominations.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Your right, they did go comma crazy ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  16. This book looks really fun and really cute! I'll try to read it soon.

    ReplyDelete