This+Lullaby

//** Reviewed by a middle school student
 * //This Lullaby


 * Author**: Sarah Dessen
 * Genre**: Romance, Coming-of-Age
 * Length**: 345 pages
 * Recommended** **Grade** **Range**: 8th - 10th
 * Year Published**: 2002

__Summary__

Wouldn’t it be a dream to be immortalized in music? Remy Starr strongly disagrees. When Remy was only a few days old, her father left her, her brother, and her smitten mother, leaving her with only a song, written by him, to remember her dad by. Now eighteen, out of high school, and off to college in only three months, Remy and her three best friends just want to have a relaxing summer brimming with boys. Nothing can stop her with her cynical attitude, bad reputation, and her belief that she has everything down to a science when it comes to relationships.

Enter Dexter, a quirky, smiley musician, who sees Remy one day across the room at her soon to be stepfather’s car dealership. According to him, their “natural chemistry” (11) is impossible to deny, and he just //had// to come over and talk with her. Remy, however, is hot, tired, and planning her mother’s umpteenth wedding, in short, a bad combination. Things aren’t looking so good for their natural chemistry, but as days pass, the pair coincidentally run into one another on numerous occasions, and in the summer, anything can happen. Relationships blossom and dissolve, take off running, and then explode. But how could Remy change her views on dating and open up her heart after watching her mother tear through husband after husband after husband… Remy Starr is about to learn to take a chance.

__Review__

How many reincarnations of one teen romance novels can the world handle? //This Lullaby//, a book featuring a girl against the typical bubbly teen stereotype, could be easily type casted. The irony was not appreciated. The basic plot is as follows: boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, girl denies boy, miraculously, boy and girl overcome their problems, and, well, I’ll spare you the “surprise” ending. Heard it before? So have I, and however cute, I would prefer not hearing it again as I would expect from Dessen’s other novels.

If there was one high point, there were many, however. Remy’s quick and unintentional humor is quite amusing, as are her ridiculous co-workers, her brother’s 100% mismatch of a relationship, and Truth Squad’s, Dexter’s band’s, infamous original, “The Potato Opus.” Add this humor with Remy’s crazy spontaneity, and you have readers coming back for more and more. By the end of //This Lullaby// you will be cheering for Remy to realize what you have known about her the entire time.

In conclusion, though long, this book encompasses basic sentence structure, average vocabulary, and mature content producing an average novel with a moderate level read. The slow pace is countered by the spectacular humor, and though in the back of your mind you know you have met someone just like her in the past, you befriend Remy Starr as she prepares for the best four years of her life. If you enjoy //This Lullaby//, you might also want to try That //Summer// or //Someone Like You//, both by Sarah Dessen//,// and if you didn’t enjoy this novel, I would simply suggest another genre.


 * Final Rating: 6/10**