Title: Flawed
Author: Cecelia Ahern
ISBN: 9781250074119
No. of Pages: 336
Genre: Young Adult; Fiction
Origins: Macmillan’s Children’s Publishing Group
Release Date: 5 April 2016
“Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.
But then Celestine encounters a situation in which she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found Flawed.
In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society in which perfection is paramount and flaws are punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.”
My Thoughts: I have loved Ms. Ahern’s past novels, so I was both excited and a bit nervous about her foray into the world of young adult fiction. I want to report that my fears were unfounded, but alas, Flawed is a bit…well…flawed.
Don’t get me wrong. Ms. Ahern takes a lot of chances with this novel, and some of them work quite well. Her writing is as exemplary as it usually is. I believe that the issues lie with the age of her heroine and a difficulty in selecting just the right voice for Celestine. Unfortunately, she comes across as completely clueless in all her self-righteousness. This should sound authentic because a teenager is nothing if not self-righteous and clueless, but instead it strikes a false note.
Then there is the problem that Celestine is supposed to be this brave heroine akin to Katniss, but she rarely, if ever, takes action on her own initiative. For most of the novel, events happen around and to her even though she does nothing. She is not a leader by example or by action. She is not a motivational speaker. She is just the wrong girl at the wrong time who is so caught up in the rules and their logic that she fails to see the larger picture unfolding around her.
There are other issues throughout the novel which bothered me but which would spoil the plot were I to discuss them in detail. That being said, however, I do think Flawed has potential as a series. In spite of all my issues with it, they will not prevent me from reading the next book in the series, for the message within the story is timely and extremely pertinent, and I do appreciate the chances Ms. Ahern takes throughout the story.
BOTTOM LINE: Not the greatest example of young adult fiction but it has promise as a series.
It’s sad to hear Ahern’s work didn’t quite live up to expectations- but I suppose if you’ve got a resume as lovely as hers, you can get away with not quite hitting all the nails on the head when you venture into new territory- hopefully the series will pick up, as I really enjoy her adult novels!
Exactly. Plus, with her resume, she could easily have rested on her laurels. Instead, she took a huge chance and branched out not only to a different target audience but into a completely different genre as well. So she didn’t get it quite right. She took a major chance. That is impressive in and of itself!
It’s always interesting to see how authors do with genres different from their usual writing. I do admire them for trying something new, though!
I definitely give her props for stepping out of her comfort zone!
I didn’t realize this author had so many books but I have recently added Marble Collector to my TBR list. I try my best to stay away from YA, I only choose the one’s I actually think I will love, maybe 2 a year.
I am definitely sticking with her adult fiction. I liked it better.
Thanks for such an honest review. I’ve seen this book floating around and actually just entered a giveaway for it. Good to know you weren’t completely turned off by it 🙂
http://www.quiteanovelidea.com
You are welcome! I hope you win the giveaway and enjoy it more than I did!
My son got an ARC of this one at the book festival we attended in February, and I’ll probably preview it during the Readathon. I admit, I’m not really taken with the premise, because I’ve read too much dystopia over the years now, so it’ll be entirely up to the writing and characters to hook me!
I would just stick with her regular fiction. I can see you having major issues with this one.