Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Autofocus by Lauren Gibaldi | Book Review


Reading Group: High School+ 

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Synopses: From the author of The Night We Said Yes comes a fun and heartfelt YA contemporary tale. When Maude decides to search for information about her birth mother, she finds out more than she expected. Perfect for fans of Stephanie Perkins and Susane Colasanti.


Family. It’s always been a loaded word for Maude, whose birth mother died after giving her up for adoption. With her best friend, Treena, in college in the same town where her birth mother grew up, Maude decides to visit and explore her past. But when Maude arrives, she quickly discovers that Treena doesn’t seem to have time for her—or for helping with her search. Enter Bennett, a cute guy who lives in Treena’s dorm. He understands Maude’s need to find her mother. And as Bennett helps Maude, she starts to realize that her mother’s past doesn’t have to define her own future.

Cover: The cover of this book has a bunch of polaroid style photos that make up Maude's profile.  I think this is representative of the story because Maude is trying to find a missing piece of herself that has to do with her birth mother.

My Review: I think it's only natural to want to know where/who you come from.  Even I wonder about my grandparents and what their childhoods were like, but because all of my grandparents have passed away, I can't ask them.  Maude goes through this too, but it's more because she was adopted and doesn't know anything about her birth mother or father.  And it's not that Maude doesn't love the parents or life she has, she's just curious about what she didn't have.  So she takes it upon herself to find some answers, and unfortunately, some of the answers she gets aren't what she wanted.  There's a saying that says you should never meet your idols because they'll disappoint you.  Maude didn't set out thinking her birth mother was an amazing person, but hearing that she wasn't even a nice person was a little heartbreaking.  She then finds out that her mother may not have been the greatest friend to some, she was to others.  She was a free spirit who did what (and who) she wanted.  

While Maude is discovering all of this information she's also struggling with her best friend who seems to only want to hang out with a boy.  Also, Maude has something going on with Bennett and although I was a little bummed when the story ended and it wasn't clear if Maude and Bennett were together, it seemed fitting with the ending.  Maude didn't want to label anything with Bennett because she was only visiting for a little while and it was unclear whether she would be attending that college in the fall.  Maude discovered good and bad things about her mother and herself on her search and the book ends in a way that kind of gives the reader a chance to decide.  Knowing everything Maude discovered, would you choose to go to the school your mother went to and your friend and interest attends?  Or would you want a completely fresh start for yourself?  I don't think even Maude knew which option she was going choose. 


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