Friday, February 21, 2014

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly: A Review *Spoilers

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break. 
PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn't escape.
Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.
Beautiful. If I had more words to describe this book it would be: Beautiful. If I had more, I'd say: raw, gorgeous, touching, heart-wrenching. This book was a journey in itself to read. I felt each chapter could have been taken and turned into its own little short story and stand alone perfectly fine. This book left me breathless at the end of every chapter. I literally would stop and pause to reflect at the glory of the words in the previous chapter before moving on. The ideas, feelings, and thoughts expressed in Revolution are highly connectable. I feel everyone could identify with at least some idea in this novel

I am so ashamed that I did not read this earlier. How many times have I walked past this book and not realized what I treasure I had been missing out on. It was only because I passed by a copy of Revolution with a different cover did I pick it up to read this time round at the library. I had blankly no idea it was the same book I had walked past on the shelf for the past three years of my life. The shame of truly judging a book by its cover. *sigh I thought I was better than this.

This book harbored a simple uniqueness to it that I found highly appealing and interesting. The set/ presentation of the story simply flowed together. There was no rush for the plot to occur, it just magically laid itself out. Going through the book, I felt no forced plot line just a natural coherence and blending of all the ideas presented. The book was also set in three parts. It paralleled Dante's work the Divine Comedy as its sections were named: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. These three sections, clearly reflect the goings in the novel as the main character Andi goes from lost to found.

The main character Andi is a smart and real character. I was very glad she along with the rest of the book's cast was not dumbed down to the usual Young Adult, romance, genre. Just because I would like to read a book of the YA romance type, does not mean I seek brainless chick lit. I appreciate the success and appeal of a well developed cast of characters in a novel. Each character of Revolution could have been pulled out and written into their own separate story. I felt Andi's interaction with each of them was merely, her touching each of their lives while they move forward in their own separate tales.

I am a history fanatic and the amount of accurate history and facts in Revolution was astounding. It made me very satisfied. Sometimes novels screw up historical fact, and other factual information  (unintentionally of course) which instantly irritates me. I like my history accurate and my facts clean. I think the accuracy in the research of an author reflects how much heart and effort she or he has put it. I feel writing a book is like raising a child. If you truly want the child to succeed you would make all best attempts to give the child the best possible foundation to set off in the right direction. This reflects to one's dedication in achieving the most accurate factual base for a historical fiction to build off of.

Also, the story of Alex's entwined fate with Louis Charles was killer. I could almost say her story was the most beautiful part of the book. The grace, passion, honor, and dignity shown in her character rings the word revolution. Alex was a character representation of what revolution is. I could cry every time I read the words Jennifer Donnelly placed into her mouth.

I also really appreciated the fact that Donnelly did not condemn the royal family: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and their two children. She represented them as earthly people, who made human mistakes. It was simply fate and life that led to their destiny. They were not villains, just innocents blinded by luxury. And the poor, poor dauphin Louis Charles! A little boy whose heart lives on in a jar. *sigh, I tell you, history is but a big book of romanced tragedy.

The best part, however, of this book was defiantly it's beautiful flow of words. It could be easily called not a novel but a collection of many glorious quotes. These quotes reflected humor, life, truth, melancholy,etc. and are all heartrendingly beautiful. Reading this book, I  wished that I owned it instead of it being a library copy because I desperately wanted to highlight and annotate this book. I ended up pulling all my favorite quotes and placing them on a separate post as there were so many. I highly encourage anyone to go check it out. The word's tragic honesty will rip your heart out. click here

Revolution conveyed a perfect story. It told so many stories apart from Andi's journey and touched upon many issues that could easily be reflected into the lives of a growing teenager. I would consider this book a painting crammed with the essence of the writer: of the world. I highly recommend this read. It's not heavy, like a classic novel, yet it harbors depth in meaning and beauty in literature.

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