Title: Watch Me Disappear
Lizzie Richards isn’t excited to be starting over at a new school for her senior year, but she’s trying to take her mother’s advice and make the most of it—the only way she can: By disobeying her strict parents’ rules. Lizzie’s father has moved the family around every few years to advance his career, so she has never had a chance to develop the kind of “BFF” relationships she thinks most kids have. She’s bracing herself for another lonely year at her third high school when her neighbor Maura gets sick of watching her little brother when she could be partying. Thanks to Maura’s plotting, Lizzie becomes everyone’s new favorite babysitter. Seeing her opportunity, Lizzie decides to break her mother’s rules by using Maura’s computer to create a secret Email address and Facebook account. She is quickly friended by Missy, a fellow transfer student as eager for a friend as she is. Things are looking up for Lizzie until Maura’s ex-boyfriend Paul sets his eye on Missy. Caught between her new best friend and the neighbor whose friendship promises instant popularity, Lizzie doesn’t know what to do—because she’s fallen for Paul, too.
Watch Me Disappear is heavily based on its characters and their relationships with one another. I have to be honest, I didn't really like Lizzie and there's bound to be some problems if I didn't like the narrator of the book. I thought she was very vain, jealous, petty, up herself and most of the time, she wasn't even aware of doing it because she was so sheltered by her parents and I guess she doesn't know any better. Not only that, I can't really pinpoint my feelings towards all the other characters. They do something that makes me think, "Hey, good for you. You're awesome." Then there are moments where I just go, "Oh, shut your trap." There was Paul. He was cool for most of the time. He became good friends with Lizzie because he wanted to be closer to Lizzie's friend who he's got a crush on. That's definitely douche-y but they really did become good friends and it's not like she didn't know about his intentions. And he was really nice and sweet and funny. Missy is Lizzie's first best friend but once she got herself a boyfriend, she dropped Lizzie faster than a hot potato. Maura is Lizzie's neighbour and she's quick to judge her as a mean- vapid and mean. But she soon learns that everyone has got their own story and their own hard battles to fight. I didn't like the all the characters all the time but they were flawed with realistic faults that can be easily found within ourselves and in countless others.
Watch Me Disappear shows the desire we all have to have be normal, to fit in and to have friends. It shows the mistakes and bad decisions we have to go through to learn ourselves. Sometimes, those mistakes cost you a lot more than you realise and you can't undo them. All you can do is live through those mistakes.
I'm hosting today's stop on the Watch Me Disappear blog tour with a review. Watch Me Disappear is Diane Mulligan's debut novel.
Author: Diane Mulligan
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: 01 September 2012
Date Read: January 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Thanks for hosting a stop on my virtual book tour and for your thoughtful review.
ReplyDeleteLizzie doesn't sound like a character I would enjoy! I'm glad even though the characters were flawed, they felt realistic. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI definitely get that Lizzie isn't a character who will appeal to everyone--just as Holden Caulfiend is a character who won't appeal to everyone--but I have to say, my intention in the book is to show how Lizzie grows from being a sort of shy, self-pitying character in the beginning to be a more mature, compassionate, and out-going character in the end. Now, maybe I didn't succeed in that task, but I do hope that she becomes more likeable as her story progresses.
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