All You Never Wanted is a realistic fiction novel about two
sisters who find themselves suddenly rich after their mom marries a very
wealthy man. Arthur is a very sweet guy
who tries to be a good dad to the sisters but really doesn’t know what he’s
doing. He buys the eldest sister, Alex, an
internship with a fashion company because she mentions it one day at dinner. It ends up being a nightmare for Alex. The people there do not like her because they
think she’s a little rich girl who had her way bought into the internship when
someone much more deserving could have gotten it. In some ways they are right, but Alex didn’t
ask for it. She is treated very badly
and has a mental breakdown because of it.
She stops eating and barely leaves the house. She gets ‘stuck’ in places and has to have
either her sister or boyfriend come and help her get out of them. She believes all the venom that the person in
charge of the internship threw at her and feels that she is worthless and
undeserving of what she has. Alex is a
senior in high school and was doing extremely well in school until this
happened. Her little sister, Thea is a
junior in high school and after getting the money, has reinvented herself. She has become someone she really isn’t so
that she can fit into the ‘in’ crowd.
She changes everything about herself so much that she has an alter-ego
named Gia that she pretends to be, asking herself in certain situations what
Gia would do. She makes up vicious lies
about anyone and anything she thinks will raise her status at school. Parts of the book are confusing because the reader
will be reading along and then realize that Thea is actually making up a story
in her mind. This does help with the plot;
however it also disrupts the flow of the novel.
Thea is trying to become the old Alex, she tries to steal Alex’s best
friends, and boyfriend by trying to step into Alex’s place in their lives while
Alex is not there or is sick. This
causes even more problems for both sisters.
**** SPOILER ALERT*****
All You Never Wanted was very sad to me. Both sisters had so much going for them
before the marriage to their step-dad.
Their mother wasn’t around very much after the marriage so that could be
part of the problem, she seemed to be drifting away from the girls and they
really needed someone to talk to. I also
did not like the ending. I felt like
Alex abandoned Thea, although in some ways it needed to happen so that Thea would
see her mistakes. Thea really needed
someone to talk to and since Alex left her, there is no one. The characters
were very well thought out and that made it even sadder when things went belly
up for the sisters. All You Never Wanted was well written and a
good read for those who like drama and realistic life stories. I’m not really one of those people. I have friends who would adore this book
though so it really depends on what you like.
I can’t give it more than 3 stars myself. I will be ordering it for my library for
those who do like this kind of story.
No comments:
Post a Comment