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Book Review: What I Want You to See

What I Want You to See

by Catherine Linka

Pub Date: 04 Feb 2020

read courtesy of Netgalley.com 

As a YA School Librarian, I try to read books from the perspective of my students. Although I've given this story a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for its story, I can only see it being a 3 ⭐⭐⭐ for my high school students. I loved the story and the style of writing, but I'm just not sure it's the type of story my students would enjoy. It's hard to say what about it does this: perhaps part writing style, part narrow character/plot appeal. The ability of a reader to relate to the world of an artist might affect how receptive the reader will be to this story. If it weren't for an art teacher in my current school who works with encaustics (hot wax painting), I might have been more lost in the story. 

Personally, I liked the writing style; although, it did take a bit of getting used to; but once I did, I flew through the rest of the story. It isn't a "great literature" style, more like both sophisticated and terse at the same time. The juxtaposition of style matches the main character's, Sabine's, duality, a teenager who has to grow into adulthood alone.

Linka fleshed out believable characters with realistic dialogue. Her characters don't feel cookie cutter or stereotypical. She didn't have to exaggerate or embellish and thereby kept her characters true to themselves. Linka also accomplished something I find that quite a few of the authors I read have a problem doing: she provided a satisfying and not forced ending to the story.

I appreciated the internal dialogues Sabine has with herself regarding morality. She ended up doing something that was morally correct and personally difficult. I found myself questioning myself as to what I might have done and when I might have done it. I can ask no more from an author than this: I was engaged in the story!



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Every writer, in order to excel in paper writing, must note that writing is not just a mere activity that requires knowledge and critical thinking, but an action that demands attitude. There were writers who often fail and end up disregarding their own works. A person, no matter how insightful and smart, can still end up in a fiasco if there is an undesirable attitude associated with the task. To be a successful writer, one must remember these:1. Patience is a virtue. This cliché covers every human activity. Especially in paper writing, patience builds up a writer to accomplish the works started. A writer may be tempted to reject a written work after a couple of mistakes. Impatience leads to anger, and anger subsequently leads to nothing. It could just ruin the writer’s entire mood and cause distraction. To be patient, a writer must have a vision, that at the end of the day, there should be an output.One prominent technique associated with patience to prevent rejection of works is counting one to ten immediately after a writer commits a mistake. Holding the composure and emptying the mind for a moment contributes to patience.2. It is now or never. If a writer can do it now, then do it now. Do not defer an action should there be a chance in accomplishing it. Procrastination is a virus that is fatal to ever career. Have discipline. Deferring paper writing not only jeopardizes the deadline, it develops a degrading psychosis to the writer as well. Procrastination is an easy habit but is also a disease.Focusing on the writing task is a good motivation to finish it. A writer may use a pen and paper or a computer, but all the same, holding these tools sets up the mood and focus. The tools also build up the vision (like “Why stare at the screen?” or “What is this pen and paper for?”), a goal, or a finish line.3. Be involved. To effectively come up with a good write up, a writer must have involvement in it. The topic must be at least associated with personal interests, or there must be willingness to write about it. Paper writing is not solely about research and the obligatory working towards the finish line; it is also about acquiring new lessons and experiences, and broadening the writer’s personal interests.No topic is irrelevant. Every topic, whether outside the writer’s discipline, is significant. A writer must have the want and need to discuss a subject.Research and essay writing skills go hand-in-hand with favorable writing attitudes. The two are complementary in a way that in the absence of one, a writer cannot be totally effective. There must be balance in the writer.
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