“Flawed” by Cecelia Ahern • Book Review
Published: Apr 5, 2016 by Feiwel and Friends
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages, English
“To be courageous is to feel fear within, every step of the way...It takes courage to overcome, but it takes extreme fear to be courageous.”
★★★ (2.8 / 5 stars) Maybe because dystopian novels are my favorite, I'm more critical of them. I am hoping the sequel, Perfect, redeems this duology, but to put it bluntly, Flawed left me bored and disappointed. Celestine North, our main character and narrator, was hard for me to connect with from the start, and while she suffered traumatically, she did very little for me to like her.
summary.
Celestine North lives in a world where all leaders make moral and right decisions to benefit civilization as a whole. At any point, if someone acts unethically (or against the society's rules), he/she is deemed "Flawed" at trial and branded with a maroon "F" in one of five places: (1) Forehead, (2) Tongue, (3) Right palm, (4) Bottom of right foot, or (5) Chest. As we enter the story, Celestine believes in the system completely since it is run with logic, something she relies on herself. But after she commits her own misdeed, her life is sent into a tailspin, and she becomes the poster girl for a long-brewing revolution.
give me a hero.
I could not connect with Celestine for most of this plot. She is a mathematician and rational being, which is all well and good, but this didn't make me want to root for her. Plus, when she compared herself to her sister Juniper, the emotional one who could never bite her tongue, I couldn't help but think, "I'd rather see this story through her eyes." Juniper felt like who I would have been in this world, so I struggled to identify with our bound-to-be hero.
What's worse is that there was almost nothing that Celestine did for the rest of the story to actually make me root for her. Most of the scenes that made me pity her or want to rally for her were because horrible people were doing horrible things to her. To me, that's not enough to be a hero. And I can only think two instances where she actually stood her ground for something and said something with real substance: (1) when she refused to lie during her trial (2) when she stood up to the police officer at the supermarket.
break my heart.
Because I had a hard time relating to Celestine and didn't want to hear how "perfect" she was supposed to be in everyone's eyes, the pacing dragged horribly, and I honestly feel like there were a lot of wasted pages. What's so conflicting, though, is that its Ahern's drawn-out writing style that made the tragic scenes so heart-wrenching.
Celestine's branding scene, in particular, TORE. ME. UP. Her pain, suffering, and determination not to make a sound went on for pages and pages, and it honestly made me shed tears—something I NEVER do while reading. Also, because her time in captivity and the branding scene were so extended, it made Celestine's connection with her cell neighbor actually make some sense. I knew it was the build-up to a cliche love triangle right away, but the depth of these moments make it feel worth it.
final thoughts.
I could go on and on about the reasons for my dislike of this novel, but I'll just give you some quick hits on the best and worst moments I found in Flawed. Hopefully, the next book Perfect will surprise me in the best way and make these pages worth it.
THE BESTS
Carrick: his eyes, his support, and his destiny to fight in the rebellion alongside Celestine
Pia Wang and her new crusade for justice
Judge Crevan's tragic inspiration for all his evil deeds, particularly taken out on Celestine
Granddad: he's got spunk!
THE WORSTS
Art: basically everything about him. His cheesiness, his ignorance, his jealousy. It was all too much for me.
Every mention of "perfect" and that damn anklet
That awkward conversation with her teacher
That other awkward conversation with her teacher's husband