Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Michelle Hodkin
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Adults 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Goodreads | Bookdepository

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.

She’s wrong.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS

• The writing is very easy to read and makes you fly through this book in no time. Of course it was essential to write Mara's story in first-person narrative, so that you can truly see and experience what she is thinking and how she sees things that are happening around her. I'm usually not a big fan of this particual narrative style, but in this book it worked so I actually really liked it. 
• There were definitely some scary moments there! And at times I got very sucked into Mara's perspective (because of the writing) and I was equally confused when thinks just turned out to be hallucinations and stuff like that. And that's even scarier than blood and people in mirrors and stuff. You're reading one thing, you believe it, and then suddenly you have to believe something else. I can't even imagine how freaked out I would be if I were in her shoes. 
• ROMANCE AND PERFECT CUTE FROWNING ARROGANT NOAH WITH LONG LASHES AND BRITISH ACCENTS. Need I say more? Noah, if you exist in real life, let me just give you my address and you can come fix me.
• I also loved the relationship between Mara and her brother Daniel. I need a brother like that. 

NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

• Sometimes I was having some difficulty to understand Mara's way of dealing with things. Of course I have never been truly paranoid like she is, but hey girl, it's okay to accept professional help! I sometimes got a bit annoyed at how she thinks "Everybody thinks I'm crazy but I'm NOT crazy and everything I see is real and I don't need medication or therapy blablabla..." Hate to break it to ya, girlfriend, but you are fucked up and you need help. Obviously. But of course that wouldn't make the story all that fun and adventurous and it would also sort of end the romance between her and Noah. You see, I get it, but still, it's annoying to listen to her complaining about it over and over again. 
• Oh and, Noah, my dear boy, you know I love you but I'm just a bit pissed at how perfect you are. Is there even ONE thing about him that isn't perfect? Let me think. Oh he smokes. Seriously, that's it. I would have appreciated it if these fictional boys who fall in love with crazy protagonists weren't always so perfect. 

Have you read Mara's creepy story yet?