Touch

By: Francine Prose
Release Date: June 16, 2009

Summary (from Amazon):
What really happened at the back of the bus?
Did they, or didn't they?
Did she, or didn't she?
Something happened to fourteen-year-old Maisie Willard—something involving her three friends, all boys. But their stories don't match, and the rumors spin out of control. Then other people get involved . . . the school, the parents, the lawyers. The incident at the back of the bus becomes the center of Maisie's life and the talk of the school, and, horribly, it becomes news. With just a few words and a touch, the kids and their community are changed forever.

Review:
Character Development: 7/10
Originality: 8/10
Plot/Storyline: 10/10

Ending: 8/10
Voice: 8/10
Recommendation: 9/10

Total Score: 50

Grade: A

Age Appropriate Rating:
Cussing: 3/10
Drugs, alcohol, etc.: 1/10
Sexual Content: 7/10

First Words I think of when I think of this novel:
Traumatic
Uncomfort
Intense
Honest
Suspenseful
Real
Emotional
Gripping

Written Review:

This novel was really well written but at times felt stale. It has a very good flow and was very enjoyable. It hooked me from the beginning. TOUCH's theme centered around relationships but not necessarily dating relationships. More friendships. About losing them and how they can change over time. It has more family drama in it too than I would have expected. That's kind of how this whole "situation" in the novel came about. But mostly this is a novel about trust and how to manipulate it. Maisie learns to trust others but first she learns to trust herself. It does a lot of back and forth talk, like what's a lie versus what isn't and who's right and who's wrong. But really the hardest thing was figuring out what the reality was. What really happenned in the back of the bus.


The friendships are totally believable too. I wouldn't call the character development great for anyone but Maisie but the friendships were written to be believable and honest and left me feeling empathy for Maisie. This is a pretty emotional novel. It's not enough to make you cry, but true emotions do pass through these pages. It's very real. TOUCH is very intense and suspenseful. I finished it in about a day not just because it's a quick read but because I wanted to know for sure what really happened and how it would be resolved.

I wish I could have known the boys' perspective. As much as I love first person novels I think this one would have been better suited in third person so we can get a sense of how the boys felt about everything that happened. Other than that this was an awesome novel that made you question the truth with every sentence. Written with a great but typical teen voice TOUCH is a very original, intense, and powerful novel about the challenges of growing up.

thanks.

Jill
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O by the way look forward to a new and huge contest starting tomorrow! It should be really fun and I'm not the one sending out the prizes so you should actually get them at a decent time. Ha! It will finish off the blog tour for Samira Hodges you might have been seeing around here (it will help you if you've been keeping up. Hint Hint...) and I'm super excited.