Review : Someone Like You

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
Pages : 281
Genre : Young Adult
My Rating : 

Halley and Scarlett have been best friends for years, sharing secrets, clothes, and crushes. People know Scarlett as the popular, flamboyant one; Halley is just her quiet sidekick. Then, at the beginning of their junior year, the balance shifts. First, Scarlett’s boyfriend Michael is killed in a motorcycle accident; soon afterward, she learns that she is carrying his baby. For the first time, Scarlett really needs Halley. Their friendship may bend under the weight, but it will never break–because a true friendship is a promise you keep forever.

Someone Like You was my first Sarah Dessen, and when I turned the last page, I knew it wouldn’t be the last. Dessen’s writing was great and created a vivid portrait of teenage years, and her characters were true to life.

What I loved about Dessen’s story was the balance between good and bad, happiness and sadness. Nothing is black or white. Scarlett’s pregnancy wasn’t described as a joy ride, nor was it as a completely horrible event. Instead, it offered a realistic view of the event through teenagers eyes.

The same goes for the other storylines of the book, or its characters. They are all painted in shades of grays, some lighter and some darker, but none in a one-dimansional way. I did find most of the second characters more interesting than Halley, the narator, but her personnality offered a more neutral view of the events around her, so I thought she was a good narrator.

There were many things to like about this book, but what I really loved was Dessen’s use of words. Halley’s life and difficulties were more standard to teenage years than Scarlett’s, but they were also an occasion for some beautiful writing. Dessen uses the Grand Canyon as a metaphor to describe Halley’s relationship with her mother, and how she is suddenly pulling apart from her as she becomes her own person. This part of Halley’s story really hit home as it reminded me of my relationship with my mother at the same age, and I can’t remember the last time I read words that described growing up so well :

When I pictured myself, it was always like just an outline in a couloring book, with the inside not yet completed. All the standard features were there. But the colors, the zigzags and plaids, the bits and pieces that made up me, Halley, weren’t yet in place. Scarlett’s vibrant reds and golds helped some, but I was still waiting.