Nell knows a secret
about her perfect, beautiful sister Layla. If she tells, it could blow their
world apart.
When Nell and Layla
were little, Nell used to call them Nellaya. Because to Nell, there was no
difference between where she started and her adored big sister ended. They're a
unit; divorce made them rely on each other early on, so when one pulls away,
what is the other to do? But now, Nell's a freshman in high school and Layla is
changing, secretive. And then Nell discovers why. Layla is involved with one of
their teachers. And even though Nell tries to support Layla, to understand that
she's happy and in love, Nell struggles with her true feelings: it's wrong, and
she must do something about it.
My review is going to have some mild spoilers. While I hate
to do that, I really must talk about the ending here. I’m not going to tell you
the ending; rather, I am going to talk about the literary device used at the
end of this book -- the zero ending. For those of you who did not major in
literature, the zero ending is one where the climax of the story occurs off
screen after the last page. In other word, the narrative ends before the climax
of the story. Short story writers like Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway and
Anton Chekov used this type of ending with great success. But that was for
short stories. I just don’t think the zero ending works well in a novel.
Especially a young adult novel.
I guess I just think if I am going to invest the time and
energy into reading a whole novel, I want more of a pay-off at the end than the
whole choose-your-own-ending. And if the zero ending irritates me, I think
teens are going to whip the book against the wall in blind rage.
Before you get the wrong idea, it wasn’t a bad book. Well,
the point of view was a little annoying, and Nell and Layla were both too naive
for words, but other than that... um... I know! I loved the best friend, Felix!
He needs his own book. The scenes where he and Nell are speaking in faux Shakespearian
were hilarious.
Overall, I give We Are
the Goldens...
Plot - 3 bookmarks (a little predictable)
Character Development - 3 bookmarks (might have felt like
more of a character arch had there been an ending)
Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading)
- Elle Fanning (Nell), Dakota Fanning (Layla)
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