Monday, January 2, 2012

Review: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour

Title: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
Author: Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages: 344 (Hardcover)
Published: May 4th 2010
Days to Read: 3
Rating: 5 !!!





Description: Goodreads
Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew—just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road—diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards—this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.


My Review:
I knew, from the minute I found and read about this book, that it was going to be something that I enjoyed. Amy and Roger's Epic Detour is the first road trip novel that I've read, and I have to tell you that I was not at all disappointed.

The whole aspect of traveling cross country, and going on a long 'detour' like Roger and Amy, is such a fun idea. It's definitely on my bucket list, and by reading this book, it's almost like you get a little taste of what it would be like. Amy and Roger's trip started out originally as a planned one that her mother had set up for them. With destined travel spots and hotels with rooms that were already there for them to arrive to. However, it is the two's ideas that instead they do something more adventurous, and thus, the epic detour is born!

I think that one of my favorite things about this book is that Matson didn't make it just a book filled with 'text'. What I mean by that is that throughout the entire novel there are pictures of postcards, notes that Amy has written, doodles by the oh so talented Roger, and even a couple pictures of where they visited. It just adds to the whole trip and traveling aspect of it, and it makes it that much more fun. It also helps that Morgan Matson, the author, has traveled cross country before, making her descriptions of the highways, towns, and states so realistic and beautiful. Matson is an amazing author in the first place, but I really liked that throughout the entire novel, she actually knew what she was talking about.

To be quite honest, I wasn't a hundred percent on board with the characters until I was a little ways into the book. I didn't understand the full extent to why Amy was always so upset, and driven to sadness, but after reading them for a while, and reading their experiences, I did find myself liking them a lot more. I loved Roger as the story went on. He is such a great and sweet guy, and his own story in the novel was great to read about.

In the end, I was happy to have this be the last book I read in 2011. It's a nice and adventurous read from start to end. Ever page filled with a story and well filled text. Morgan Matson sure brought one heck of a trip when she wrote this book. Two thumbs up from me!

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you liked this one! I read it over the summer & it was such a treat with the pictures, playlists & such. Matson definitely knew what she was talking about which is awesome because there is nothing worse then an author writing about something he/she has no idea about.

    I agree that the characters grew on me as I read on. I liked it since I hate when from page 1 the author reveals everything about the characters & the story, no element of mystery or room for you to guess whats wrong or whats going on & in this case, Amy's dad's death & her brother in rehab. Great review:D

    Racquel @ The Book Barbies
    -thank you&come again.

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  2. I loved this one as well! The ticket stubs, playlists and other goodies were such a unique thing to add to a story, which made it wonderful. I'm excited to see what the author has in store for us in future books. :)

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