Review: Exposed

Title: Exposed

Author: Kimberly Marcus

Series: None

Release Date: February 7^th, 2011

Number of Pages: 255

Publisher: Random House

Source: Bought

In the dim light of the darkroom, I'm alone, but not for long.

As white turns to gray, Kate is with me.

The background of the dance studio blurred, so the focus is all on her

legs extended in a perfect soaring split.

The straight line to my squiggle,

my forever-best friend.

 

Sixteen-year-old Liz Grayson is photogirl—sharp, focused and ready to take the world by storm with her camera. But Liz's entire life is called into question when her brother is accused of a crime—and the accuser is Liz's own best friend. As the aftershocks from that accusation rip through Liz's world, everything she thought she knew about photography, family, friendship and herself, shifts out of focus. And for the first time in her life, Liz finds herself unable to trust her own point of view. Told in stunning, searingly raw free verse,  Exposed is Kimberly Marcus's gut-wrenching, riveting debut and will appeal to fans of Ellen Hopkins, Laurie Halse Anderson and Virginia Euwer Wolff.

This book disappointed me. The thing is if you take away the format, which is in verse, you probably have around 100-150 pages, which I think is far from enough to talk about this kind of subject.

I was intrigues when saw that it was written in verse. Yet, the fact that it was written that way didn’t add anything to me. I didn’t find any rhythm in the verse that could add something to it. It felt like it was just trying something different to stand out.

There wasn’t enough punch in the words for the story to really get me. I just didn’t get into it. It is far from being as good as some Laurie Halse Anderson, Ellen Hopkins or Jenny Downham. She tries to presents a subject that is hard in a poetic way, but it comes out as if it is presented in a superficial way.

I get that she wanted us to connect with the narrator, which I did. Yet, there story was more than that, and I felt cheated that she only gave us a little teaser of what was really going on with her brother and her best friend.

I was simply hoping for me, expecting more from it. I felt let down by a promising book that just didn’t give me enough. I would probably read more from Kimberly Marcus, as long as it isn’t in verse. I just felt like the verse didn’t have enough to really have their place in the book.