Official Review: A World So Bright and Dark

[Miller56]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A World So Bright and Dark" by Sara Ellie MacKenzie.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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What is it like to be fourteen again? For Lizzie Colleen MacDougal, it is a time of change. Changes in her body, changes in her memories, changes in her desires for life, and changes in her surroundings. The only stability is her most trusted friend, her journal. A World So Bright and Dark by Sara Ellie Mackenzie, takes the reader through the journal of Lizzie.

On the surface, Lizzie seems to be like any normal teen. She spends time at school and with her friends, although her friends are often mean to her. Sometimes it was difficult to get a clear mental image of Lizzie. She seemed to be in her early teens, overweight and had acne. She did not like herself very much and didn’t seem to think she deserved anything good. She also felt that bad things happened because of her. As a result, she began cutting herself. The book talks about Lizzie through her eyes as she puts her thoughts into her journal. The book also talks about the “shadow man” who seems to be someone from her early years who molested her.

This book contained many grammatical and spelling errors. The book would change tenses in the middle of sentences or from one sentence to the next making it difficult to read. When I started reading the book, I thought some of the errors were intentional since the story is a journal written by a thirteen/fourteen-year old. However, the journal author, Lizzie, appears to be a child who is advanced, and would not make these types of errors in their writing. Therefore, I believe these were careless errors on the part of the book author.

The characters lacked development in the book. There were a lot of characters that were probably normal teens. They were petty and mean to each other. They picked on each other and made fun of one another about appearances and behaviors. They spread rumors about each other. However, regardless of how good of friends some of them were supposed to be, none of them took the time to figure out that Lizzie was cutting herself. I would hope that if you have a best friend, who is also a cousin, that you would be kinder to each other. Lizzie’s parents seemed to be struggling in life. Her mom and dad fought all the time. They seemed to have financial problems. Her dad had high expectations for his children, but he was mean to them. However, Lizzie still seemed to idolize her father. It was difficult to discern what the relationships within the family were.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars because of the lack of editing and the poor character and story development. The story jumped from past to present and sometimes it was difficult to tell what was going on. This book needs edited. There are many spelling errors that detract from the book. I am not sure what the focus of the book was about. I thought it was going to be about Lizzie using her journal to realize that she was molested and work through issues with this. This was touched on, but it seemed like a side note to just thoughts of a kid in a diary.

This book is hard to recommend to anyone until it is edited, the characters are developed, and there is an actual story line. It is probably an okay book for young teens who are not really looking for much substance. It touches on dark subjects like sex, molestation, and cutting. It superficially looks at teen life.

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A World So Bright and Dark
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[That Reviewer]

Lizzie must have been through a lot that she wants to erase from hey memory. How can you call people friends, and yet they are mean to you?

[Nisha Ward]

It seems really unrealistic to me that so much misery can exist in one book with no clear sign of any joy, even in something small. Also, how can her best friend be her cousin but not know that something is wrong?

[AvidBibliophile]

What a hard life for any young girl to have to experience, but I’m sure these issues of struggle are more prevalent than most people realize. When I worked on the adolescent psych ward, I remember hearing stories of how kids battling demons would take the razor blades out of the little handheld pencil sharpeners for their cutting behaviors. You make some helpful points about this title, and the impression it makes in its current state. Thank you for the review!

[Prisallen]

This sounds like a very depressed adolescent who has gone through tough times. Everyone needs friends they can depend on. I hope the author reworks the book as it seems to need it. Thanks for your wonderful review!

[Miller56]

Lizzie must have been through a lot that she wants to erase from hey memory. How can you call people friends, and yet they are mean to you?

She didn't seem to believe she deserved anything so maybe these so-called friends were more than she had hoped for. It is really sad.

[Miller56]

This sounds like a very depressed adolescent who has gone through tough times. Everyone needs friends they can depend on. I hope the author reworks the book as it seems to need it. Thanks for your wonderful review!

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your comments.

[Miller56]

What a hard life for any young girl to have to experience, but I’m sure these issues of struggle are more prevalent than most people realize. When I worked on the adolescent psych ward, I remember hearing stories of how kids battling demons would take the razor blades out of the little handheld pencil sharpeners for their cutting behaviors. You make some helpful points about this title, and the impression it makes in its current state. Thank you for the review!

My daughter is in high school and she talks about the number of kids who are depressed. I am not sure if it is more prevalent now or if as a society we are more aware of it. Whatever the case, I think there are more troubled teens and young adults in the world than people think. Thanks for your comments.

[Miller56]

It seems really unrealistic to me that so much misery can exist in one book with no clear sign of any joy, even in something small. Also, how can her best friend be her cousin but not know that something is wrong?

I struggled with that myself. I would hope that my family would know me well enough to know when something isn't okay.

[Ogoskino]

Does she get any form of an improved self esteem in the end? I hope she does!

[Miller56]

Does she get any form of an improved self esteem in the end? I hope she does!

Unfortunately she seems to have a life of ups and downs with more negative than positive.