Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin

In the book Umbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin, Mara Dyer was in a tragic accident that only she survived, leaving her with no memory of the night it occurred. Guilt ridden and traumatized, she is plagued with nightmares and hallucinations that make her family worry for her mental health. In order to giver her a fresh start, they move to Florida hoping that things will get better. Unfortunately this is not the case, as the hallucinations and nightmares continue to haunt her wherever she goes. However some good comes of it, as Mara meets Noah Shaw among the mayhem, and finds unexpected solace in the odd boy that seems to relate to Mara in ways nobody else can. However, he cannot stop the chaos unfolding around her, as tragedy always follows in her wake. Together they try to piece together what happened that tragic night in order to full understand what it is that is happening to her. They seek answers to questions that seem to frightening to ask, as Mara deals with the sinking feeling that she may have had more to do with that night than everyone thinks.

Michelle Hodkin's debut novel follows many familiar tropes in fiction, that has begun to make it feel like we are all reading the same book with different names. There is the typical teenage boy heart throb, that is too perfect to be remotely realistic, the mean popular girl who torments the main protagonist, mental illness that is actually paranormal abilities, and so forth.The plot, however, does allow for the reader to keep interested as Mara struggles to discover what happened the night of the accident. However, under further inspection Mara Dyer has many problematic aspects that make it an unworthy read. Noah falls in love with Mara because she's "different than the other girls". Following the overused myth that all the "other girls" are people you do not want to be. There is nothing wrong in being like the "other girls" because to imply as such would be to imply that there is something wrong with being a girl and is yet another form of ridiculing them. Despite having a female lead, most characters are in fact male, and when women are put into the picture they seem to only cause trouble. This under representation is seen often in media and fiction, and it is woeful to see it once more. Overall, I would not recommend this book for anyone to read.

Reviewed by Anonymous, Grade 12

Glendale Central Library