Melissa’s Letter Essay #8 – Someone Like You

 

For my eighth letter essay of this year, I decide to review the 281 page, realistic, young adult fiction novel, Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen. I chose this novel because I had just finished a very difficult novel and I was looking for an easy, simpler, book. I had already read this book so I figured, why not? Sarah Dessen has written 13 books and lives in North Carolina with her husband and daughter. She started writing when she was 9 when she got a typewriter for her birthday.

In this novel, the main character Halley (named after her grandmother, who was named for the comet) has been best friends with Scarlett since the day Scarlett moved in. But, when Scarlett’s summer boyfriend Michael Sherwood dies in a car accident the night she finds out she’s pregnant with his baby, Halley has no idea what to do. Scarlett’s always been the strong one with the shoulder there to cry on and now Halley has to take the responsibility and strength.

When thinking of a quoted passage I wanted to show how Halley is lost without Scarlett and how Halley has always admired Scarlett’s strength.

“I wasn’t used to seeing her this way. Scarlett had always been the stronger, the livelier, the braver.

The girl who punched out Missy Lassiter, the meanest, most fiendish of the pink-bike girls that first summer she moved in, on a day when they surrounded us and tried to make us cry.

The girl who kept a house, and her mother, up and running since she was five, now playing mother to a thirty-five-year-old child.

The girl who had kept the world from swallowing me whole, or so I’d always believed.” Chapter 1, p. 20

In this passage, I liked how she gave examples of Scarlett’s strength and how she has always had to be strong but now she can’t be. Out of 10, I would rate this book a 5. I rated it this because it had a good storyline, good characters, emotional scenes that made this 5, but the writing was simple. It was a fine book, but nothing to get all crazy about.

I wish that the author gave more insight into Scarlett and her life because for most of the book we heard little about Scarlett and her pregnancy the struggles of a teen pregnancy and more about Halley’s rebel boyfriend. The main character was good and entertaining in the beginning but then turned stubborn and kind of annoying, I’d compare this author to Tim Green, not for content but both of these authors have a lot of books that all are similar and carry a theme. Tim Green’s is sports, Sarah Dessen’s is romance-y teenage books.

So, that is all!

—Melissa Colasante

 

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3 thoughts on “Melissa’s Letter Essay #8 – Someone Like You

  1. Melissa-
    Good job on your letter essay! I too read Someone Like You although it was a while ago. I remember feeling the same way about the story and in fact the same way about all of Dessen’s novels – they’re just meh. The story lines aren’t all that original and the writing is very basic. I’m glad someone feels the same.
    Good job again!

  2. Dear Melissa,

    I liked your letter essay! I remembering reading this in 6th grade when everyone started telling me about Sarah Dessen. I agree with you, the writing is very simple and honestly, her books were never ones to leave a lasting impression on me. I never thought about how Tim Green’s books were similar until know. Both authors, at some parts, use some very cheesy content that, well, pain me slightly but, also gives me a good laugh. Can’t wait to read more of your writing!

    Nicole XD

  3. Dear Melissa,
    I remember you reading this one a while ago! The cover looked interesting, plus every time I saw the title I got that one Adele song stuck in my head, but I guess you really can’t judge a book by it’s cover! It seems odd that an author would write a book about a pregnant teen, but then not actually write about the pregnant teen. Authors are weird like that sometimes I guess. Anyways, great letter essay. I loved your selected passage, it really brought out how much the two girls cared for each other.

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