I had the mad idea to write my own summary this time. My goal was to inform you of the book, but make sure you came out of the experience completely uninformed.
Scarlett Fever, like its predecessor, follows the strange daily escapades of Scarlett Martin, daughter of a crumbling hotel somewhere in New York, employer of an unconventional acting agency and possibly the most normal person in this mess. Of course, the hotel didn’t actually give birth to her (her mother was responsible for that), she’s actually in the employ of one Mrs. Amberson (although whether she is actually married or not is a subject of debate), and to say she’s normal seems to be a bit of an overstatement (indeed, she seems constantly spaced out.). That’s not to say that she doesn’t participate in normal activities occasionally; in the previous book, she was left by her irritating southern boyfriend, in this book, he returns, with a vengeance and a flood of iced tea from the South. Oh! And since relationships that savour of triangles have been the acceptable thing since the stone ages, it’s only natural that a second guy was introduced, unfortunately, the forces at work did not anticipate that Scarlett would find their handsome bad boy detestable. Also, Spencer killed someone fictional and now the world hates him. No, sadly, it isn’t Edward Cullen, although he does deserve to be staked sometime soon. I do hope his fangirls didn’t catch that.
Suite Scarlett, like its predecessor, is sweet and charming. It’s funny and peculiar; it’s gripping despite having no real conflict. Maureen Johnson’s writing is witty, and it flows like the soul of a passed on fish through the River Styx, succeeding in avoiding collision with the debris that the other dead things had thrown into the river. Which means that yes, the fish is dead, which is rather depressing, but the book flowed well, which should appease you enough to forget about the dearly departed fish. Also, have I mentioned that this book is funny? Funny in the Maureen Johnson several mad people trapped in a box with one cup of lukewarm tea and a polka dotted sock way. Which means really funny. The setting, while not a particularly unique as settings go (if you fail to pull up at least one example of New York being used a centre of creative energy in books, movies and other such things, then you might as well be dead. The rest of the world certainly considers you to be so.), does very well to support the novel in all of its endeavours. And on a contradictory note, what other madcap YA comedy/romance/type thing takes place in a crumbling twenties hotel? If you cannot pull up one instance, then I like you. The people who can present me with one more example, you are the scum of the earth.
This book’s joy lies in its characters. That’s not to say that this book would be about as fun as being spat out the back end of a whale without them, but yes, it might resemble and experience like that. Scarlett proves to be an interesting character, if only through her dialogue. However, sometimes she feels rather bland – since we are not privy to most of her thoughts, she comes across as being rather … distant. Maybe third person wasn’t exactly the best format for this book. Spencer, on the other hand, is a force that not even the rabid fangirls themselves can subdue. He’s so flamboyant and amusing, yet he’s not so idealised that he doesn’t do the realistic thing. Like get terribly moody and angsty in times of great stress, because he does that, he exceeds at that, and he uses it to his advantage. Mrs. Amberson, on the other hand, is portrayed as being perpetually positive, generally eccentric and mostly fabulous. Well, Scarlett considers her to be something of a sadist, but I consider her to be the funniest person in this book. She’s a person full of mysteries. I do hope she spits out her backstory before the end of the series. Anyhow, she, like Scarlett, and most of the other characters, but mostly Scarlett, Mrs Amberson has definitely developed as a character.
Now, I may have mentioned that all of the characters are likeable and rather strange. However, I was mistaken – there was one character that I dislike. His name is Eric, and I wish that he would drown in the floods of iced tea that he presumably drinks, because he is southern, and this is what the internet tells me they do. (I mean no offence to you southern people. I’m sure you’re all lovely, even if the only liquid available there other than swamp water is iced tea.) Anyhow, what astounds me about Eric is the fact that he refuses to develop, refuses to stop smiling and acting all bashful, and also refuses to throw himself of a bridge. Strangely enough, I do rather like Max, however cynical and antagonistic he proves himself to be. AT LEAT HE DOESN’T BATHE IN ICED-TEA.
Perhaps you may have gathered, perhaps from the quality of this review, perhaps from the points that it brought up, that Scarlett fever isn’t a particularly challenging book, but it is most definitely an enjoyable one. It’s quirky, it’s amusing. It doesn’t concern itself with the heavy issues of the real world, only the issues of its idealised world, for those issues can be twisted into something charming and funny that the population will be willing to read about. Overall, it was a nice little distraction from all of the other heavy and highly political stuff that you can imagine me to be reading, because I’m sure that you all perceive me to be a deep and political sophisticated person. You ought to.
☆☆☆☆
Scarlett Fever, like its predecessor, follows the strange daily escapades of Scarlett Martin, daughter of a crumbling hotel somewhere in New York, employer of an unconventional acting agency and possibly the most normal person in this mess. Of course, the hotel didn’t actually give birth to her (her mother was responsible for that), she’s actually in the employ of one Mrs. Amberson (although whether she is actually married or not is a subject of debate), and to say she’s normal seems to be a bit of an overstatement (indeed, she seems constantly spaced out.). That’s not to say that she doesn’t participate in normal activities occasionally; in the previous book, she was left by her irritating southern boyfriend, in this book, he returns, with a vengeance and a flood of iced tea from the South. Oh! And since relationships that savour of triangles have been the acceptable thing since the stone ages, it’s only natural that a second guy was introduced, unfortunately, the forces at work did not anticipate that Scarlett would find their handsome bad boy detestable. Also, Spencer killed someone fictional and now the world hates him. No, sadly, it isn’t Edward Cullen, although he does deserve to be staked sometime soon. I do hope his fangirls didn’t catch that.
Suite Scarlett, like its predecessor, is sweet and charming. It’s funny and peculiar; it’s gripping despite having no real conflict. Maureen Johnson’s writing is witty, and it flows like the soul of a passed on fish through the River Styx, succeeding in avoiding collision with the debris that the other dead things had thrown into the river. Which means that yes, the fish is dead, which is rather depressing, but the book flowed well, which should appease you enough to forget about the dearly departed fish. Also, have I mentioned that this book is funny? Funny in the Maureen Johnson several mad people trapped in a box with one cup of lukewarm tea and a polka dotted sock way. Which means really funny. The setting, while not a particularly unique as settings go (if you fail to pull up at least one example of New York being used a centre of creative energy in books, movies and other such things, then you might as well be dead. The rest of the world certainly considers you to be so.), does very well to support the novel in all of its endeavours. And on a contradictory note, what other madcap YA comedy/romance/type thing takes place in a crumbling twenties hotel? If you cannot pull up one instance, then I like you. The people who can present me with one more example, you are the scum of the earth.
This book’s joy lies in its characters. That’s not to say that this book would be about as fun as being spat out the back end of a whale without them, but yes, it might resemble and experience like that. Scarlett proves to be an interesting character, if only through her dialogue. However, sometimes she feels rather bland – since we are not privy to most of her thoughts, she comes across as being rather … distant. Maybe third person wasn’t exactly the best format for this book. Spencer, on the other hand, is a force that not even the rabid fangirls themselves can subdue. He’s so flamboyant and amusing, yet he’s not so idealised that he doesn’t do the realistic thing. Like get terribly moody and angsty in times of great stress, because he does that, he exceeds at that, and he uses it to his advantage. Mrs. Amberson, on the other hand, is portrayed as being perpetually positive, generally eccentric and mostly fabulous. Well, Scarlett considers her to be something of a sadist, but I consider her to be the funniest person in this book. She’s a person full of mysteries. I do hope she spits out her backstory before the end of the series. Anyhow, she, like Scarlett, and most of the other characters, but mostly Scarlett, Mrs Amberson has definitely developed as a character.
Now, I may have mentioned that all of the characters are likeable and rather strange. However, I was mistaken – there was one character that I dislike. His name is Eric, and I wish that he would drown in the floods of iced tea that he presumably drinks, because he is southern, and this is what the internet tells me they do. (I mean no offence to you southern people. I’m sure you’re all lovely, even if the only liquid available there other than swamp water is iced tea.) Anyhow, what astounds me about Eric is the fact that he refuses to develop, refuses to stop smiling and acting all bashful, and also refuses to throw himself of a bridge. Strangely enough, I do rather like Max, however cynical and antagonistic he proves himself to be. AT LEAT HE DOESN’T BATHE IN ICED-TEA.
Perhaps you may have gathered, perhaps from the quality of this review, perhaps from the points that it brought up, that Scarlett fever isn’t a particularly challenging book, but it is most definitely an enjoyable one. It’s quirky, it’s amusing. It doesn’t concern itself with the heavy issues of the real world, only the issues of its idealised world, for those issues can be twisted into something charming and funny that the population will be willing to read about. Overall, it was a nice little distraction from all of the other heavy and highly political stuff that you can imagine me to be reading, because I’m sure that you all perceive me to be a deep and political sophisticated person. You ought to.
☆☆☆☆
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