May 27, 2011

Book Review of "The Karma Club" by Jessica Brody

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Title: The Karma Club
Author: Jessica Brody
Classification: YA Fiction, Contemporary
Source: The library!

Overall Grade: 
C+
Would I read it again? 
No.
Would I recommend it? 
There are other Contemporaries better worth your time.

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Summary (from Goodreads):
 
Madison Kasparkova always thought she understood how Karma works. Do good things and you'll be rewarded, do something bad and Karma will make sure you get what you deserve. But when Maddy’s boyfriend cheats on her, nothing bad comes his way. That’s why Maddy starts the Karma Club, to clean up the messes that the universe has left behind. Sometimes, though, it isn’t wise to meddle with the universe. It turns out Karma often has plans of its own.
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My Thoughts:
 
I have mixed thoughts about The Karma Club. I heard so many good things about this, but in light of other awesome contemporary books I've read recently, (Anna and the French Kiss, Perfect Chemistry, and The DUFF) this one was a disappointment.

For starters, the concept was both a pro and a con to this novel. I loved the idea of girls bonding together over their broken hearts, playing funny pranks on those hated stereotypes: the cheating boyfriend and the popular school slut. However, the very nature of this concept guaranteed that the protagonist and her accomplices would need to "learn their lesson," making a majority of the end portion of the novel very preachy.

Another divided aspect of The Karma Club was the main character, Maddy. I found her to be at times funny and heartwarming, and at times shallow and fake. I guess if you think about it, this is probably a good representation of how most teenage girls are at certain points in their life.... huh. Maybe Maddy was a better character than I thought!

However, the things that annoyed me about Maddy were her inability to understand that manipulating people isn't exactly karma-licious, her obsession in the beginning of the novel with being popular, and the way she almost screwed things up with an awesome guy because of the antics of The Karma Club.

However, I will admit that we definitely saw character growth, and Maddy's friendships with Jade and Angie were also tested.

There were many moments in the novel that were cute, funny, and very entertaining! It made for a fast, fun read that, while not the best Contemporary I've read recently, was definitely worth the time.
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Overall Grade: 
C+
Would I read it again? 
No.
Would I recommend it? 
There are other Contemporaries better worth your time.
 

2 comments:

  1. jessica brody is an author i've been meaning to check out because i'm a big fan of contemporary YA. thanks for the review. hmm... i guess i'll skip this one.

    -michelle

    p.s. thank you for stopping by our blog. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michelle, I bet that Brody's other work is probably just as fun and light as this one. It just didn't really match up with the other Contemporaries that I've read recently!! :)
    - Alyssa

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