Love is Not the Only Trainwreck
Love and Other Trainwrecks
Leah Konen
Love is not the only trainwreck involved in this book. Love and Other Train Wrecks by Leah Konen is a realistic fiction book that follows the story of two teenagers, Noah and Ammy, on a train to Hudson, New York. They’re forced to sit next to each other for the entirety of the hour and a half ride. When they start talking, they realize they are complete opposites: Noah is kind-hearted and a complete hopeless romantic, whereas Ammy is cold and doesn’t seem to believe in love at all.
The main reason why Ammy doesn’t believe in love is because of her poor experience with it. Her parent’s marriage didn’t go well, and she grew accustomed to pain and betrayal being associated with love. Noah is on the opposite end of the spectrum; his reasoning for going to Hudson is to attempt to revive his relationship with his ex-girlfriend by proving that he can be “exactly who she wants...[him] to be”(Konen 62).
Ammy also has many problems in her life: the entire reason she is traveling to Hudson is to be apart of her dad’s wedding. She doesn’t want to hurt her mom’s feelings, which she inevitably does when she decides to attend and give her dad a second chance.
Their situation escalates when the train breaks down in the middle of nowhere during a bad snowstorm, leaving them stranded with no way to get to their destination on time. They decide to abandon the train and walk through the woods to a nearby bus stop together.
This book was just okay. There were certain parts I really enjoyed, but others were subpar.
The main reason why I can’t completely recommend this book is because of Ammy. I found myself getting irritated as I read her chapters and dialogue. She comes across as very pretentious, saying things like, “I’d bet a kajillion bucks that my book is about a kajillion times better than some whiny kids-are-killing-kids crap, anyway” (Konen 23). This specific instance makes her very unlikeable to me. Personally, I don’t like it when people view themselves as better than others, and this entire section of the book contained Ammy doing exactly that just because she believes she has better taste in books than Noah. Another instance of Ammy being an unlikeable character is when she can’t admit that she was wrong and apologize. Instead, she makes excuses, saying “Sorry, it’s just that I’m hungry and I’m hot, and I’ve had the worst day….”(Konen 22) If she had just not been so rude in the first place, or apologized properly afterward, she would’ve been a much better character in my eyes. I kept waiting for her to have some development, but it just wasn’t there.
The plot was another weak point of the book. It was very predictable. At the end, the author started foreshadowing a pivotal moment, but I had already figured it out before the author started writing the hints into the story whereas I should’ve been surprised.
One part of this story I actually really liked was how every chapter switched point of view. I got to see two sides of the same story from two completely different characters and I really enjoyed that. It helped me a lot to stay engaged and keep reading, despite the problems I had with the book.
I would recommend this book to someone who wants to read something quick and mindless. It isn’t profound or life-changing in any way, but I understand that not everybody wants that in a book. It has a similar style to The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, both being love stories that take place over the course of 24 hours, although I didn’t like that book either. If you’re looking for a 24-hour story that’s more unique, Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between also by Jennifer E. Smith has a more unique plot. If you’re more into the young adult romance, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han is a much better book that I would recommend. If you’ve read any of those books and really enjoyed them, Love and Other Trainwrecks might be enjoyable for you, but I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it.
Leah Konen
Love is not the only trainwreck involved in this book. Love and Other Train Wrecks by Leah Konen is a realistic fiction book that follows the story of two teenagers, Noah and Ammy, on a train to Hudson, New York. They’re forced to sit next to each other for the entirety of the hour and a half ride. When they start talking, they realize they are complete opposites: Noah is kind-hearted and a complete hopeless romantic, whereas Ammy is cold and doesn’t seem to believe in love at all.
The main reason why Ammy doesn’t believe in love is because of her poor experience with it. Her parent’s marriage didn’t go well, and she grew accustomed to pain and betrayal being associated with love. Noah is on the opposite end of the spectrum; his reasoning for going to Hudson is to attempt to revive his relationship with his ex-girlfriend by proving that he can be “exactly who she wants...[him] to be”(Konen 62).
Ammy also has many problems in her life: the entire reason she is traveling to Hudson is to be apart of her dad’s wedding. She doesn’t want to hurt her mom’s feelings, which she inevitably does when she decides to attend and give her dad a second chance.
Their situation escalates when the train breaks down in the middle of nowhere during a bad snowstorm, leaving them stranded with no way to get to their destination on time. They decide to abandon the train and walk through the woods to a nearby bus stop together.
This book was just okay. There were certain parts I really enjoyed, but others were subpar.
The main reason why I can’t completely recommend this book is because of Ammy. I found myself getting irritated as I read her chapters and dialogue. She comes across as very pretentious, saying things like, “I’d bet a kajillion bucks that my book is about a kajillion times better than some whiny kids-are-killing-kids crap, anyway” (Konen 23). This specific instance makes her very unlikeable to me. Personally, I don’t like it when people view themselves as better than others, and this entire section of the book contained Ammy doing exactly that just because she believes she has better taste in books than Noah. Another instance of Ammy being an unlikeable character is when she can’t admit that she was wrong and apologize. Instead, she makes excuses, saying “Sorry, it’s just that I’m hungry and I’m hot, and I’ve had the worst day….”(Konen 22) If she had just not been so rude in the first place, or apologized properly afterward, she would’ve been a much better character in my eyes. I kept waiting for her to have some development, but it just wasn’t there.
The plot was another weak point of the book. It was very predictable. At the end, the author started foreshadowing a pivotal moment, but I had already figured it out before the author started writing the hints into the story whereas I should’ve been surprised.
One part of this story I actually really liked was how every chapter switched point of view. I got to see two sides of the same story from two completely different characters and I really enjoyed that. It helped me a lot to stay engaged and keep reading, despite the problems I had with the book.
I would recommend this book to someone who wants to read something quick and mindless. It isn’t profound or life-changing in any way, but I understand that not everybody wants that in a book. It has a similar style to The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, both being love stories that take place over the course of 24 hours, although I didn’t like that book either. If you’re looking for a 24-hour story that’s more unique, Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between also by Jennifer E. Smith has a more unique plot. If you’re more into the young adult romance, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han is a much better book that I would recommend. If you’ve read any of those books and really enjoyed them, Love and Other Trainwrecks might be enjoyable for you, but I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it.
Comments
Post a Comment