I read this book after all of the controversy with the National Book Awards and Lauren Myracle being asked to remove herself from the finalist list after being accidentally put on the list. If you haven't heard anything about the controversy - here's a brief article.I went into reading this book with high expectations since so many people said it was National Book Award finalist material. I enjoyed it though at times I found the middle dragged a bit (a common problem for me with a lot of books l...

3.5 starsI only know Lauren Myracle's name in connection with her ttyl books. I haven't read that series, but it's pretty safe to say Shine is nothing like those stories about girls texting each other (or whatever they do). Shine is most and foremost a story about small-town bigotry. Cat's childhood gay friend Patrick is brutally assaulted - hit with a baseball bat, tied to a gas pump with a fuel nozzle stuffed in his mouth, with words Suck this, faggot written on his bare chest in blood. Small

Cross-posted at Outlaw Reviews and at Shelf Inflicted I became curious about this book after it was mistakenly nominated as a finalist for the National Book Awards, instead of another similar-sounding title. It also appealed to me because it is about teenagers growing up in the rural south, the problems kids normally deal with, and the bigotry, poverty, drug addiction, and provincialism that affects everyone.17-year-old openly gay Patrick lies comatose in a hospital bed after a brutal beating th...

3.5 starsI'm always a little guilty and anxious when I give books a lower rating than all my friends. I'll be wondering, why didn't I like it, did I miss something there? With Shine, it was double the anxiety, since both Ceilidh and Tatiana loved it, and I respect their opinions quite a bit! But somehow, this book fell short for me, maybe because I expected too much of it. Shine is about sixteen year old Cat, a girl from a small Southern town whose friend falls victim to a hate crime. When it be...

The first time I heard about this book was when the author was pressured to withdraw its National Book Award nomination which had been given in error and intended for the book Chime. What rhymes with Shine? Chime apparently. Good grief. Really people, you can't be any more professional than that? The author talks about the emotional whirlwind that followed, but there was a silver lining to the crushing disappointment -- the controversy brought much needed awareness to this quiet, unassuming book...

Guys, I survived reading my first young-adult book as an adult! No English teachers or professors pelted me with stones and no one called me out in the middle of the street! Whew.Anyway, Shine details the story of sixteen-year-old Cat and the hate crime against her former best friend Patrick. Cat stopped talking to Patrick - along with everyone else at her high school - after an incident involving another boy two years ago. But when Patrick is found brutally beaten to the point of comatose and t...

I'm surprised by all the attention the book received. For me it just didn't work. I was expecting a story about homophobia, but it doesn't really explore that theme. It's really about Cat, her issues, and finding her courage to stand up for what is right. I can get on board with that. Justice! Still, I was disappointed at every turn. Stereotypes abound so much that I can't think of a single character that had any depth. Not to mention that most characters were unlikable, including Cat. I also ha...

This review has been revised and can now be found at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

Set in a small town in the South, this book is about bigotry, and friendship, and love. It's about seeing the best in people, and seeing the worst. It is a beautifully written story about a brutal hate crime. Cat's best friend, Patrick, is the victim of a gay bashing--smashed in the head with a bat, tied to a gas pump with the nozzle shoved in his mouth, and the words Suck this faggot written on his chest in blood. He is in a coma, and they don't know if he's going to make it. The small town cop...

Love it just as much on the re-read, if not more. Original review (from 2010):I love Lauren Myracle's books. Like, LOVE them. In reading Bliss last year, I was struck by how Myracle had seemed to shift her focus to darker themes. She's always dealt with serious topics, often laced with heavy doses of lightening humor, but with Bliss, and now Shine, she's certainly moved over into the seedier side of human experience. Cat lives in a small, rural North Carolina town, where everyone knows everyone,...

This review may also be found on A Thousand Little Pages.An article recently came out in the Wall Street Journal that generated quite a buzz in the young adult book community. It basically slanders every YA novel out there that is “dark” by their standards and indirectly blames the books for familiarizing and possibly prompting trauma, violence, and profanity within the average teen. Shine received an honorary place in the article and was complained about quite a bit. So, dear Ms. Gurdon, author...

This is the first of Myracle’s books that I’ve read, since her popular Internet Girls series is well outside the realm of my interest. However, after reading Shine, I may have to take a look at those books after all. I managed to secure an advance reader’s copy after hearing some other librarians rave about this book, and while initially skeptical, I was surprised at how quickly this book grabbed me. While it has its oddities and weak spots, Shine is a powerful, well-written book that does an ex...

I didn't love this book. It contained one of my pet peeves. I'll get there in a minute.The mystery element is adequate, despite one character that feels forced & the telegraphing for the last 3/4 of the book of the major clue revealed at the climax. I'm not a fan of mysteries as a genre, partially because I usually see the answer coming & rarely find them compelling. It takes a great one to hold me & this wasn't that book for me. That's just a matter of personal taste, mind. A mystery fan might

I took this book out of the library in righteous indignation, shortly after the NBA debacle. I was poised to love it and hoped that I would, if only to add to my fury. However, I never warmed up to Cat, the main character, which is a huge problem for me. I also didn't like most of the other characters, except for Patrick, who was in a coma and we learned about mostly through flashbacks and dialogue. Cat spent much of the book dwelling on an incident from the past, and once the incident was final...