Sarah Darer Littman sure knows how to make you sympathize
with her
characters. She is going to pull you right in and never
let you go.
Obviously, you'll sympathize with Lara. She's treated
absolutely horribly by
Christian and, even worse, by people that she thought were
her friends.
BACKLASH is told from four perspectives, or two sets of
siblings: Lara, her
younger sister Sydney, Lara's former friend Bree, and
Bree's younger
brother Liam. My heart was breaking for all four of them
as they describe
what was going on in their lives.
I finished BACKLASH in one sitting as I just couldn't stop
flipping the
pages. I had to know what was going to happen and was so
emotionally
invested in all the characters. It is filled with so many
emotions. There is
love, anger, sadness, healing, forgiveness, and learning
how to let go of the
past. What happened to Lara would send anyone over the
edge and you
learn how it not only effected her but her family as well.
There is also the
bully and their family as well. It's so sad to see how
one stupid prank can
change so many peoples lives. My heart broke not only for
Lara but for her
family as well as the family of the bully. It wasn't fair
what they went
through because of what the bully did. I'm trying hard
not to give anything
away, but be prepared to feel all the feelings that I did.
I have never heard of or read Sarah Darer Littman but I
love her now. She
writes beautifully and with so much passion and feeling.
I can't wait to read her
previous stories. I have already recommended BACKLASH to
many
readers and I know they are going to love it just like I
do. BACKLASH is just that kind
of story. We've all heard of cyber bullying but to have a
birds eye view of
what happens to the people involved, really makes you
wonder how you
would react if it happened to you or someone in your
family. BACKLASH
would make a great book club or classroom read. I can see
great
discussions about bullying and cyber bullying happening as
teens,
teachers, and parents read this book together. A must read
to show words
can hurt and there are consequences to our actions.
She thought
that
Christian liked her, that he was finally going to ask her
to
his school's homecoming dance. It's been a long time since
Lara's felt this bad, this depressed. She's worked really
hard since starting high school to be happy and make new
friends.
Bree used to be BBFs with overweight,
depressed Lara in middle school, but constantly listening
to
Lara's problems got to be too much. Bree's secretly glad
that Christian's pointed out Lara's flaws to the world.
Lara's not nearly as great as everyone thinks.
After
weeks of talking online, Lara thought she knew Christian,
so
what's with this sudden change? And where does he get off
saying horrible things on her wall? Even worse - are they
true?
But no one realized just how far Christian's
harsh comments would push Lara. Not even Bree.
As
online life collides with real life, the truth starts to
come together and the backlash is even more devastating
than
than anyone could have imagined.