Monday, 7 March 2011

Review: Plan B by Charnan Simon

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Is this happily ever after? Lucy has her life planned out: she'll graduate and then join her boyfriend, Luke, at college in Austin. She'll become a Spanish teacher and of course they'll get married. So there's no reason to wait, right? They try to be careful. But then Lucy gets pregnant. Now, none of Lucy's options are part of her picture-perfect plan. Together, she and Luke will have to make the most difficult decision of their lives.

Review:

Plan B was an interesting book. I read it because I wanted to learn more about teen pregnancies and the consequences. However, at only a hundred pages, it didn't have much room to delve into the issues at a great length.

The story was quite typical and there weren't any great shocks or surprises. Pretty much all the characters reacted how I thought they would. I didn't like how quickly some of the characters got over their feelings or changed their mind. Realistically, it would've taken them longer to be accepting. Plan B needed more depth.

I did like all the characters because they were interesting and I sympathised with them, especially Lucy. They would be memorable characters if they had been more complex. Perhaps the author intended it this way so that all readers would be able to relate to the characters and find similarities, but it didn't work for me.

This would be a great book to read in a Health class because Plan B is a template to work from. The ending was open and left many questions. Discussing the possible answers would be helpful in a class environment. The reader never finds out what Lucy will do past the first doctor's meeting. This uncertainty was a theme of the book and I wasn't surprised that it ended in this way, however, I prefer closed endings and thus would like to have known what happened next.

Overall, Plan B was an enjoyable book to read as it highlighted some questions on the issue of teen pregnancies. The story takes place before the start of Lucy's pregnancy and ends around the two month mark.While it did discuss many of the issues, like if Lucy would get to go to college, it wasn't with any great depth. I really did want to know what happened next. Plan B is worth a read.

Rating: 3/5
Concept: 3/5
Cover: 3/5
Author: Charnan Simon

-With thanks to Netgalley!

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