Twenty-five years ago, a group of ninth graders produced a Saturday Night Live–style videotape to cheer up their ailing friend. The show’s running time was only ninety minutes, but it had a lasting impact: Becca laughed her way through recovery, and the group―Jordana, Seth, Holly, and Lex―became her supporting cast for life.
On the silver anniversary of Becca Night Live, the friends reunite over the Fourth of July to celebrate Becca’s good health―but nothing goes as planned. The happy holiday card facades everyone’s been hiding behind quickly crumble and give way to an unforgettable three days filled with complex moral dilemmas and life-altering choices. Through humor, drama, and the alternating perspectives of five characters, The Cast explores the power of forgiveness, the importance of authenticity, and the immeasurable value of deep, enduring friendships to buoy us when life plays out differently than expected.
So I joined this book club through Lacuna Loft, a young adult cancer support community that has made an incredible difference in my life, especially during this stupid quarantine. You may have read some of my original pieces, which have been inspired by the writing group, but there is so much more to it. I've made some incredible friends. I feel like this has given the cancer a meaning that I never expected.
Anyway, I digress.
I started the first chapter of this book, and I'll be truly honest, I was not hooked. It felt too busy too quickly for me, and there were too many characters introduced rapid-fire for me to keep up. Also, with the story starting with 9th grade students, I felt like it was a little younger of a YA book than I was ready for. Overall, I was critical straight off the bat, and struggled to get through that first chapter. I read plenty of YA fiction, but I started to worry that maybe this was a bad idea because it was just not my type of book. I'm sucker for science fiction, dystopian fiction, philosophy, a little bit of everything in between. This was somehow not what I was expecting
Chapter 2 caught my attention and I started to have a lot of feelings about the situation. I don't want to spoil anything yet, but I will say that there were a few well placed cliffhangers in this chapter that had me questioning my initial judgment of the book in the first chapter. In one margin, I wrote down "WHAT?!?" I didn't know how to react, and then I just had to push on through.
I am now about 6 chapters in, and I need a minute to contemplate what in the what is happening. Whoo, I can tell this is going to be a roller coaster. So who wants to join in on this wild ride?
No comments:
Post a Comment