Book Review: Saving Zoe by Alyson Noel

Meet fifteen-year-old Echo, a typical teen trying to survive high school without being totally traumatized by boy trouble, friend drama, and school issues.

As if she didn't have enough on her plate, Echo is also still dealing with the murder of her sister Zoe. And although it's been over a year, Echo is still reeling from tragedy that changed everything.

Beautiful and full of life, Zoe was the glue that held her family together, and although the two sisters were as different as night and day, they still had a bond that Echo can't let go of.

When Zoe's old boyfriend Marc shows up one day with Zoe's diary, Echo doesn't think there's anything in there she doesn't already know. But as she gives in to curiosity and starts reading, she learns that her sister led a secret life that no one could have guessed--not even Echo.

Review:

I really enjoyed reading this book, but I would not say it was a light read. Not very many books can portray the things you feel after a siblings death (or disappearance) creatively and artistically, but I think that Saving Zoe did this wonderfully. I personally thought that it was hard to understand Echo in some parts of the book, like how she was feeling or why she was doing something, but it got easier to understand Echo later on.

The book is very good, with just a touch of romance, a ton of love, and a splash of hope. Although i would definately recomend this book to a very wide audience, you shouldnt read this unless your looking for an emotional ride. Don't get me wrong, the book was funny at some parts and you could see the bond Echo had lost through the entire book, but this book can make you cry just as much as it can make you laugh; make you smile just as often as it will make you frown.

Some of the feelings in this book were so thick that you could cut it with a knife, but at other times the emotions of Zoe and Echo were difficult to decipher, though if you actually tried it became easier to do. Noel did an amazing job of putting Zoe's entries in her diary and Echo's daily life together, and made the story flow in a way that some authors have trouble doing. Overall, i loved this book, and it is going up on my shelf of favorites.

I have not read many books involving death, but I can tell you that this book ranks high, along with Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, but is not as high as My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Also, some other books that fall under the same sibling relationship/disapearence catagory are Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten and The September Sisters by Jillian Cantor.

Grade: A

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