April 27, 2011

Here Lies Bridget

Here Lies Bridget - Paige Harbison
Bridget Duke is the uncontested ruler of her school. The meanest girl with the biggest secret insecurities. And when new girl Anna Judge arrives, things start to fall apart for Bridget: friends don't worship as attentively, teachers don't fall for her wide-eyed "who me?" look, expulsion looms ahead and the one boy she's always loved - Liam Ward - can barely even look at her anymore.
When a desperate Bridget drives too fast and crashes her car, she ends up in limbo, facing everyone she's wronged and walking a few uncomfortable miles in their shoes. Now she has only one chance to make a last impression.

 The tagline for this book is perfect, 'Can death be a fresh start?'. The prolouge opens with Bridget thinking about who would actually miss her if she were to die, who would be at her funeral, who would be at her bedside in hospital. She decides that they only way to find out is to crash her car. As you can tell, the only person Bridget thinks about is Bridget.


The main problem I had with this book was Bridget as a main character, I understand that we needed to hate her so that the ending would become apparent, but I kind of wanted a little time to get to know the real Bridget. It seems that this book was wrote so that the reader would gain an insight into the world of Bridget and feel her emotions and suffering and her eventual renewal of herself. I personally don't think Bridget had any emotions, other than self centtredness. I actually enjoyed the book more when Bridget had no one to boss around and no one was talking to her, I feel that, that moment was the only time we saw the real Bridget.


The story is split into three parts, before the crash, the events leading up to it. In limbo, where she got to feel what others were feeling because of her actions and after the crash, where she tries to make it alright. Before the crash I wanted to scream at her for the lies she told, the way she treated her so called friends and step mom. She seemed to have no idea how she was effecting others around her, she put her defences up straight away when she thought others were going to turn on her. This was her eventual downfall! While in limbo she has to step into the shoes of all the other people she has hurt in the past few weeks, the time frame for this ranges from her being young up until a few days before. This was the part of the book I enjoyed the most, I loved the way she what was happpening and she could see why these things were affecting those around her, yet she was powerless to do anything. In my opinion this was the best written and most entertaining part of the book. The last part I felt was rushed, there was only a few pages of after the crash in which she is given the chance to change all that has happened. I would have liked to have seen more and then maybe seen a little into the future to see if she had kept up her promise.


The book was well written, you can not deny that, however it would have been more enjoyable if Bridget was a more likable character. The book is fantasic for a debut book, and I look forward to reading more from the autor in the future. I hope there is a follow-up, maybe in a novella just to see what happened after the story ended. I think that the book does make an interesting read, it is fun and quick and won't bore you. However be warned you may end up hating Bridget!!!

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