Monday, October 11, 2010

Impossible

ImpossibleImpossible by Nancy Werlin

AR Reading Level: 4.6
On the library stacks: YA Fiction
Awards: SLJ Best Book; Booklist Editors' Choice; Kirkus Editors Choice
Recommended for: High School +

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Lucy Scarborough is a 17-year old girl who lives with her loving foster parents. Her biological mother is insane, but does occasionally appear in Lucy's life, usually singing her own rendition of Scarborough Fair.  On prom night, Lucy is date raped. As time moves on, Lucy realizes that this singular defining event is part of a centuries-old curse.

All Scarborough girls give birth at age 18 and go insane, unless they complete three tasks as outlined in Scarborough Fair. She must made a shirt with no seams without using needles. And she must plow an acre of land with a goats horn located between the ocean and sea strand, and then sow it with a grain of corn.

I like the idea of using an old folk song as the basis of a book. I thought the author's interpretation of the song was clever. I also thought the romance element in this book was really sweet, and it definitely kept me turning pages. I appreciated that Lucy had a support network of people who believed in her, and that her parents were involved in helping her accomplish her tasks. I didn't love how the ending was executed. It seemed awkward, clunky and anti-climatic. But overall this was a fun and entertaining read.

Also reviewed by: J'adorehappyendings ~ Fuzzy Cricket ~ Stark Raving Bibliophile ~ Books & other thoughts ~ Capricious Reader ~ Becky's Book Reviews ~ In the Pages... ~ Teen Lit Review ~ Your link here?

Book 93 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge, Book 42 of 50 for the RYOB Challenge, Book 41 of 50 for the YA Reading Challenge
Source: Purchased

2 comments:

Veens said...

Well this does sound intriguing. Interesting take on the folk song indeed!

Nina said...

Thank you for mentioning my review. Sorry to hear that you didn't like the ending very much. The cover is beautiful!