Call It What You Want alternates between two perspectives, Rob's and Maegan's, which is something Kemmerer does so insanely well. Rob was a typical, popular lacrose player at his high school, before his father had been caught embezzling funds from members of their town. Months later, Rob's life has changed dramatically from going to a well-loved guy who has it all, to someone slowing going crazy from his own lonliness. Maegan on the other hand, was caught cheating on the SAT last year, bringing hundreds of other students down with her, but she didn't need to cheat. Her sister has just came back from college, pregnant and now her family life is coming crashing down. Maegan and Rob get paired together for a calculus project and they soon realise they share a lot more in common.
I don't want to ruin too much of the book, but that is the general plot. It seems pretty typical if you like, for a contemporary, but there were lots of elements to the plot which I found interesting and unique, something I will get into later.
What I really loved about this book were the underlying themes that show up. Like a lot of Kemmerer's books, there is always a character that you can understand to an extent. Even though your life is nothing like the character's, they are going through something or feeling something that you can resinate with which I love. For instance, in this book, there is a lot of discussion about guilt and judgement. With the two main characters being very disliked by the majoirty, you see what they make of other people's judgement, how it affects them, how really no one knows what they are going through, and as those things get revealed in the book, people's perspectives and attitudes change. This happens a lot in the book, for the better and for the worst, across family, friends and strangers. It is really interesting to read, as I think a lot of people can relate to feeling misunderstood and frustrated when they are not believed or trusted. You then have a lot of other themes that are more common, like friendship, family and relationships but they are executed so well in this book as nothing seems to be instant and all of it feels fairly natural. What I found really interesting about this book was the debate between what is right and what is wrong. It is something that all of the characters seem to discover, and although they believe different things and some of their opinions alter, it is a really interesting debate that you see unviel. Is it theft if you give it to someone who deserves it? Why are they more worthy of that than you? and so on. All of these questions are dealt with in the book, but it is interesting to see how the characters develop to answer them. Questions also appear like, if a member of the family is a criminal, does that make the entire family criminals? Does that make them suspicious? Should we view them with more suspicion? Should we take our anger out on them? Particularly in Rob's case, these questions appear a lot. You see his life change dramatically from having loads of friends to having none, to being social to being alone, to feeling normal to being constantly misunderstood. That is what I think makes this book so interesting, all of the underlying questions that you can then develop your own opinions on, and I think that is what makes this book so unique to anything I have ever read before. Although it is a YA contemporary, it has a lot of intense underlying themes in it and I think everyone can learn something about this book. Probably my favourite theme in this book is about how a mistake doesn't define you and how there is always room for redemption and forgiveness. My favourite way this happens, is at the very end of the book between Rob and his father. I don't want to give anything away, but if you have read the book than please comment below as I'd love to discuss. Anyway, after the Rob's father is convicted and defined as guilty, Rob hates him, completely hates him and everything he did, but near the end of the book, things begin to reveal that Rob was unaware of, altering the view of his father and of other people he believed we innocent. It all returns to this idea of judgement and how you don't know what someone else has done or is going through, but it is really interesting to read about in this book.
What Kemmerer does so well is dual perspectives, I have not found an author to do it better. What I love about her books are that they are short, easy to read and fast paced, you will never read them and feel bored. When it comes to books, I love short chapters, it helps me read quicker and it keeps my attention for longer and that is how Kemmerer writes her books. The chapters very quickly change between Rob's perspective to Maegan's perspective in less than ten pages, but the writing is condense, and nothing is missed out. I think dual perspectives are so good in a book like this, as you get to see two people go from knowing nothing about each other to knowing the most about each other. It is interesting to see how their thoughts develop in the book whether it be about each other or something they are going through.
The characters in this book I really loved. Each of them go through their own personal developments, each unique to themseleves. Rob and Maegan made great main characters to me, they were both very thoughtful and their perspectives were very insightful. I think they both go through a lot and learn a lot as people but you also see the people around them change. There was not one character I didn't like in this book which I guess is a good thing, because you go from disliking some to liking some and vice versa, so you can't really hate one of them. I love too many characters to be able to name any specifically, but I think the friends and family in this book really made me love it even more.
I would honestly recommend this book to anyone who wants something unique and quick to read over the summer. It isn't your typical light, summer romance book but it is definitely a contemporary I think is worth ready. There is something everyone can relate to in this book as well as something everyone can learn from this book. It is funny, yet sad, but thought-provoking and an all round great book.
Let me know if you plan on reading this book or if you have read it! I would love to discuss!
Grace xx
Definitely going to look into this! This for the recommendation
ReplyDeleteCandice || natalyaammour.com
Aw, I hope you like it!xx
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