Review: The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

Publication Date: August 27th 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen
Pages: 335

Source: Purchased

Rating:
 ★★★

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.

But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: if one’s singular tragedy has already hit and everything after it has mattered quite a bit, what happens when more misfortune strikes?

Robyn Schneider’s The Beginning of Everything is a lyrical, witty, and heart-wrenching novel about how difficult it is to play the part that people expect, and how new beginnings can stem from abrupt and tragic endings.

First I just wanted to say that I love the cover. The roller coaster isn't that impressive but the brightly yellow color is really beautiful and unique. It's just so nice to have this book on my shelves and it'd be perfect if I loved this book but too bad, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought. I dived into The Beginning of Everything with a lot of expectations and I almost gave up on reading this book because the first six chapters bored me to death. There was barely anything happen and so few dialogs.

The writing is nice and contains meaningful messages about life and tragedy. So just a head up, the tone of this book is sad and kind of depressed. Ezra is struggling a lot about who he wants to be after the accident, it's kind of like the journey of self discovery. And by the end of the book you can see how Erza has grown up from his old self and his goal in life has somewhat become clear. Cassidy, I didn't like her. Yes she's smart but that's all I can say. She's just not a memorable character. The romance is MEH, sorry but I felt nothing, no chemistry not whatsoever,  just nothing. That's why I really liked the ending, open and full of possibilities. One thing about this book that bothered me was the dog. I just don't get why it has to be that way, isn't this book full of tragedy already? why more?

As a final thought, I don't know if I read this book as the wrong time because when I told my friend that this book was just okay, she said to give it another chance, to reread it again. But I think once is enough, contemp isn't my strong suit and it's hard to find a contemp book that I absolutely love. So if you're a fan of contemp you may want to check this book out and if you come to love it then let me know what I missed out on.