Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls

by Julie Schumacher

Random House Children's Books

publication date 5/8/12

genre: YA, fiction

 received this book from NetGalley for review

   A unique and insightful story.  We begin in Delaware during summer vacation.  Adrienne Haus had planned to spend vacation with her best friend Liz, but due to an accident involving her knee, she is stuck at home.  Her mother enrolls Adrienne into a mother daughter bookclub consisting of the two of them and three other girls with their mothers.  CeeCee is the popular cheerleader type.  She likes to lead everyone around. She is not happy about the bookclub but tries to make the best of it.  Jill is an adopted Asian girl.  She is the 'smart' one.  She has her entire life planned out and is not afraid to tell everyone her plans.  Wallis is the enigma.  She is a loner who enrolled herself into the club.  Her mother is never able to attend meetings, and is never seen in the story.  You can imagine what kinds of things the other girls think about Wallis's mother never being around.  Is she in the witness protection program?...You get the idea.   These four girls are individuals who would most likely never interact with each other while in school.  They are from four different 'groups' and would rarely even cross paths in school.  They become closely entangled in each others lives, for better or worse.

This book is very well written.  It is not a fast paced novel, but it did manage to capture and hold my interest.  I was not able to identify with any of the characters.  I kept waiting for something big to happen.  If you are a fan of action stories, this is not for you.  All the action happens at the very end of the story. 

I did enjoy this book and would encourage others to read it.  The author put a great deal of thought into the story.  It would be a shame if it was missed because it lacks vampires, zombies or witches.

I give this book 3 stars, it held my attention but was a bit too slow for my tastes. My advice-- Get it from the library.