Today, part two!
ON PARIS AND STUDYING ABROAD:
Donna: As silly as it sounds, you really feel like Anna enters a world that has already fully been existing before she came on the scene. That's strong world-building.
Sara: Definitely.
Janine: Paris makes everything better.
Sara: And I love how Paris becomes more than a setting, it's almost a character too.
Frankie: So does French kissing! And the food--I told Janine that if we ever get to Paris, I might have to go non-vegan for a bit.
Janine: She really captured the essence of Paris, I think, without being too or over descriptive. I really felt like I was there, but it was truly a feeling, not an image in my head.
Sara: It was a taste in my mouth.
Frankie: In my heart!
Sara: Every page FEELS like Paris.
Donna: Anyone can research details of a city (she hadn't even BEEN there when she wrote this!), but she got the heart of the city -- from the perspective of an outsider who becomes an insider. What I also loved was that, though Anna was in Paris, it wasn't like her pre-Paris life ceased to exist. She still had complications at home, and when she went home for break, life hadn't stopped without her.
Janine: Paris makes everything better.
Sara: And I love how Paris becomes more than a setting, it's almost a character too.
Frankie: So does French kissing! And the food--I told Janine that if we ever get to Paris, I might have to go non-vegan for a bit.
Janine: She really captured the essence of Paris, I think, without being too or over descriptive. I really felt like I was there, but it was truly a feeling, not an image in my head.
Sara: It was a taste in my mouth.
Frankie: In my heart!
Sara: Every page FEELS like Paris.
Donna: Anyone can research details of a city (she hadn't even BEEN there when she wrote this!), but she got the heart of the city -- from the perspective of an outsider who becomes an insider. What I also loved was that, though Anna was in Paris, it wasn't like her pre-Paris life ceased to exist. She still had complications at home, and when she went home for break, life hadn't stopped without her.
Frankie: Oh yes, that feeling of coming home again after you've been away--and you're heart and soul feel like they're somewhere else and nothing feels right anymore!
Janine: The aspects of adjusting to international life--and life back home--were very realistic.
Donna: Yes! All four of us have been there, and I agree.
Sara: The reverse culture shock over Anna's Christmas break was perfect.
Janine: It's very disorienting, and I could relate to what Anna was experiencing.
Sara: Me too. It reminded me so strongly of my winter break during my Junior year abroad in England.
Donna: And when I came home from my semester in Australia.
Frankie: It just reminded me of every break I had at Cornell. I was a state away and still...
Sara: How you think your home life was on pause for the past three months because you weren't there.
Janine: I found myself thinking of my first flight home from Japan and parting with my traveling partners at the airport. I was so happy to see my family, but they had no idea what I had experienced.
ON CHARACTER GROWTH AND BRITISH-ACCENTED BOYS:
Sara: Oh, and can I say how much I love that a) Anna has interests outside of pining over a boy and b) that college was totally brushed over and not a big deal?
Donna: The novel really was about her YEAR in Paris, not just the OMG CUTE BOY part of her year. Like Frankie said, she and Etienne were real friends.
Janine: And that Anna, as much as we loved her from the beginning, she really does grow as a character from beginning to end, and Paris and Etienne were a part of that growth.
Frankie: I'd want to be friends with him, too!
Janine: "Friends"?
Frankie: Lol--well....no. But yes. But he was also just a NICE guy!
Janine: It's okay, Frankie, we all crushed on him, I think.
Frankie: And funny, and easygoing, and someone you felt you could talk to and trust with all of your secrets and problems.
Sara: Oh, and I felt like Perkins really captured Etienne's British-ness.
Frankie: She did! His voice sang off the page, you never forgot he was British, but she didn't overdo the slang, she got it right.
Donna: He just FELT British.
Janine: Perkins knew when to put the British touch in. Not too little, not too much.
Sara: How does she do it?!
Frankie: I want to go to the Stephanie Perkins School of Writing.
Hi, Stephanie! We think you're wonderful. |
Janine: Can I come too?
Sara: Can we make it our next road trip?
Frankie: Hahaha! Stephanie...we're coming over.
ON FINAL THOUGHTS:
Janine: I was relieved to learn there will be more of them, and I like that they will be companion books rather than sequels.
Sara: Anna, je t'aime!
Janine: Oui!
Sara: C'est tres bien. (Go high school French, go!)
Donna: Te amo, Ana! (I took Spanish.)
Janine: I love this book. My heart is still racing a little from finishing it yesterday. Read it! Read it!
Sara: Right. Now.
Donna: Buy it for your friends, too, because they'll steal your copy.
Sara: It's the perfect Holiday gift! Hanukkah is early this year!
Frankie: Anna Oliphaunt, I like you very, very much. Were you real, you'd be my friend. Were Etienne real, sorry, my heart belongs to him. Etienne St. Clair, you short little man, I LOVE you!
Sara: It's the perfect Holiday gift! Hanukkah is early this year!
Frankie: Anna Oliphaunt, I like you very, very much. Were you real, you'd be my friend. Were Etienne real, sorry, my heart belongs to him. Etienne St. Clair, you short little man, I LOVE you!
FIN!
So... have we convinced you to pre-order ANNA yet? Anyone else out there read it already?
LINKS!
- ANNA on Amazon
- ANNA on IndieBound
- ANNA on Goodreads
- Stephanie Perkins' website
Tweet
I'm convinced =)
ReplyDeleteAnna is definitely a book I will be getting just as soon as it comes out.
Thanks for the hilariously wonderful review ladies!
Donna, Frankie, Janine, & Sara,
ReplyDeleteI love you ladies so, so much. Best. Review. EVER.