Review: Belzhar (SPOILERS)

If life were fair, Jam Gallahue would still be  at home in New Jersey with her sweet British  boyfriend, Reeve Maxfield. She’d be watching  old comedy sketches with him. She’d be kissing  him in the library stacks.

She certainly wouldn’t be at The Wooden Barn, a therapeutic boarding school in rural Vermont, living with a weird roommate, and signed up for an exclusive, mysterious class called Special Topics in English.

But life isn’t fair, and Reeve Maxfield is dead.

Until a journal-writing assignment leads Jam to Belzhar, where the untainted past is restored, and Jam can feel Reeve’s arms around her once again. But there are hidden truths on Jam’s path to reclaim her loss.

I had really high hopes for this book, but sadly, for me, Belzhar didn't live up to its hype. The writing was very good but the characters fell flat and the main character especially irritated me.I think the idea of going to "Belzhar" (a place the characters would go when writing in their journals) was very unique and intriguing and I'm happy the author went into detail about all the characters different experiences.I especially enjoyed how writing in the journals helped the characters develop and figure out their issues. However, Jam's character was hard for me to deal with because I've been in a similar position as her (at least I thought I had until I read the end of the book) and it was just ridiculous how she got so depressed over a boy she barely knew. Turns out that the guy who was her "boyfriend" wasn't really her boyfriend and he hadn't actually died. Jam had created a story about all that to make herself feel better about getting rejected. It was kind of an insult to me because I was with my ex for a year when we broke up and it destroyed me (I myself had to be admitted into a hospital for treatment (which is why I haven't blogged for awhile, sorry guys!!)).

Anyway, I would recommend waiting to get this in paperback or to check it out from the library. I think most people will either love it or hate it, but I'm sorta in the middle just because the idea was cool and the writing wasn't that bad.
3 Stars!

Source: ALA 2014