Between The Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer

 

RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon and Schuster)

Published: June 26, 2012

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 353

 

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“The act of reading is a partnership. The author builds a house, but the reader makes it a home.”

SYNOPSIS:

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.

And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

A romantic and charming story, this companion novel to Off the Page will make every reader believe in the fantastical power of fairy tales.

REVIEW:

Last year or early this year, this book makes a fuss in the book community because the companion novel, Off The Pages, has been published. To be honest, I haven’t heard about this book since then. I’ve known Jodi Picoult because I have seen most of her books in the bookstore. However, I haven’t gotten around to picking up her books because her genre is not my cup of tea. But I make this book an exception because of the colored illustration so I bought it.

After reading the book, a mixed emotion has dawned on me. It saddens me that this book is underrated. The plot is quite simple and the readers could somehow predict the events that would happen in this book. Nonetheless, there is a unique air to it that the YA genre hasn’t offered yet (or I haven’t read it yet). The characters are not perfect but I am so attached to them that I somehow felt the same way and neglected their flaws. It is an extraordinary love story that entails sacrifices and helping each other out.

While reading the book, especially Oliver’s points of view, it makes me think philosophically regarding the matter of the fictional world. This line of thinking only dawns on children for it sounds silly. Yet at some point, no matter how silly it may look it leaves me wondering the ‘what ifs’ of a fictional world that exist not only in the reader and the author’s imagination. Moreover, reading the book is like reading two books in one. The first story is Oliver’s story as a cowardly prince and the second is his and Delilah’s story.

The ending and the climax of the book feel right to me. It is the kind of open ending story that one would truly be agreed upon as a perfect ending. And after finishing the book, I do not want to read the sequel or companion novel Off The Page because I feel  like it is right to left the story of Oliver and Delilah the way this book ends.

The book is a mixture of fantasy and contemporary. I highly recommend it to everyone who loves to read and loves their fictional boyfriend/girlfriend.