Review | 'The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer'

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Michelle Hodkin
452 pg., U.S. Hardcover
Simon & Schuster
4 stars | A-



From Goodreads:

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.

I first started reading this novel (in depth) back in November, but put it down because I was reading so many other books, and this one didn't have precedence over those others. I picked this one up again on Monday, April 16, and then finished it on Saturday, April 21. The book is astoundingly well-written, I'll give Hodkin that. I really have not been able to sit down and enjoy a story from a female perspective in so long, so I really am grateful for this one being so dark and engaging. I do like the element of danger and suspense that is spread out over the course of the book, mixed in with a bit of romance and normal life. I'm glad the horror of the story wasn't rushed like so many other stories are, so I was very impressed in that regard.
My favorite character was, actually very surprisingly, Mara. I usually like minor characters and the easing roles they play, but I really loved Mara, and I appreciated the way she handled her "gift"--one that I thought was very original and cool. I thought the other characters were very well-developed too, but I felt like there wasn't any closure with the bullies, although I can see where things are going with them after finding out Mara's secret and such.
What I felt was missing from the book was the sense of more clarity about why these things were as terrible as they were. I mean, I understood that issue, but I feel like some readers wouldn't catch on, at least not until the very end.
Overall, I'm incredibly glad that I dove back into this book! It was tremendous, and I cannot wait for the sequel (Wow--that's the first time in a while that I've said that and actually meant it--the last time I remember is the sequel to Legend)
The sequel is called The Evolution of Mara Dyer.