Buy The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Special: $12.74 (Regular price: $16.99)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover
Reviewer: Melissa on Sept 13, 2011
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
When Mara Dyer wakes up in a hospital room, she has no idea how she got there. She can explain neither how her friends and boyfriend were killed, nor how she walked away from the accident with only minor bruises. In The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, debut author Michelle Hodkin, weaves an engrossing tale about a teen girl suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Life is strange enough already, but little does Mara know that it’s about to get even more unusual.Will she be able to remember what happened and get the answers she needs in time? Will she be able to fall in love, despite being broken?
While I’d heard a lot of buzz about The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, including excitement over the t-shirts that Simon & Schuster were distributing at Book Expo America (BEA), I didn’t really know what to expect before I started reading it. (The book blurb wasn’t very revealing, which was refreshing.) Once I started it, however, I completely understood why it is getting so much love in the blogging community of late. This novel has it all — heavy subject matter, a Gothic storyline you won’t completely unravel until the end, star-crossed lovers, comedic elements, and a conclusion that will leave you breathless. I, for one, can’t wait until the next installment in the Mara Dyer series is released, and I have a feeling that most of the people who pick it up will feel the same way.
Since Hodkin’s novel deals with both mental illness and Gothic subject matter, my eyes were glued to the page, so to speak, and I finished this long book in record time. Having read a lot of novels and theoretical books on PTSD, I can say without a doubt that Mara’s symptoms, such as reliving tragic events and losing time are realistic, but at the same time, they contribute to the creepy atmosphere for which the best Gothic fiction is known. Mara’s relationship with Noah (and the events that follow from it) also contribute to the uncanny elements that the author builds into the plot. When these elements are placed in conjunction with the rest of her structural decisions, readers of Gothic novels will find a novel that blows their mind when all is said and done. (Or in the case of myself…left me feeling paralyzed for a few moments.)
As many Gothic novels do, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer explores difficult questions. Whether you’re interested in the nature of madness and other related pathologies, what attracts and repulses us from the monstrous, or trauma scholarship, there will be a lot into which you can sink your teeth here. However, if you’re just looking for a great start to a series, you won’t find anything amiss when you pick up this novel. That said, there is one plot element which you may see coming if you are well versed in Gothic literature, but not all of them and definitely not the conclusion, which was completely unexpected and yet, completely believable as well.
Pick up The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer on September 27, 2011 and see why it’s getting so much buzz for yourself!
Buy The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer today and benefit from free shipping and 25% off the regular price!
