Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan
- Ali Mark
- Mar 8, 2016
- 4 min read
Story Line - 4.5
Writing Style - 4
Characters - 5
Excitement Factor - 4
Believability for type and topics - 5
Similarity to other books - 5
Cover art - 5
Title Relevance - 3
Goodreads users gave this book a 3.74. I think it was more deserving of a 4.38.
Published in 2009.
Pages: 236.
Number of books by author: 3.
Genre: YA Fiction.
A true coming of age story for a boy named Blake. Everything is going pretty good - he's got good grades, a cocky older brother, good home life, a great girlfriend, and a few good friends. But when he's challenged with understanding and fulfilling different aspects of his life, will he be able to balance all that is thrown his way?
You may like this book if you like the following sub-genres:
Coming of Age/Teen Story
Relationships/Dating
Friendships
Photography
I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I'm not entirely sure what drove me to read it (okay, I just re-read the synopsis, I'm sure I was drawn to it because addiction plays a role; although, I wouldn't have called it the main role of this book), but I'm glad I did. It was an incredibly easy read - the writing style wasn't advanced, nor was it child-like. We still saw the teenaged-lingo set in and things that were relevant to a teenager in 2009 were mostly applicable here as well.
I thought the author did a really good job with the character exploration. (Especially since the main character was a male, and the author is a female... which I didn't see coming!) I really enjoy books where the characters feel real - and a lot of that plays into my need to see a book be played out in my reality, or at least someone's reality. And they did a great job with this. I was really pleased not to read a book where mommy and daddy were the devil. So many YA books start there, and I'm just glad that the main character, Blake, didn't have mommy/daddy issues. Blake is your typical teenaged boy with a hobby (in this case, photography, and we get some details about photography as a whole as it's the largest component of his life), decent grades in school, and a girlfriend. He wasn't overly annoying with talk of "guy" things, but he wasn't a metro teen, either. He was basically an average teenaged boy from the late 2000s. He's probably someone I would've been friends with if I enjoyed socializing in high school (I graduated in 2008, so this felt pretty accurate to the types of guys I went to school with). But with any guy, there's two sides - the male/macho boyfriend side who likes a girl for -in this case, I think it's her looks and general sense of humor; and the guy who's got a girl friend who totally gets him - they understand one another on a level that he and the girlfriend don't. Which really set this book into motion for me.
We have Shannon, the girlfriend - and they have this good connection. We see a lot of (potential) firsts play out for them, but I think we see that there's something lacking between their dynamic as well. Which I liked because I could feel it as well. I didn't just read the distance, I felt it. And that's not always easy to do in YA. The girl that's a friend, Marissa - I think their dynamic is really well established, but we see a lot of growth between them because of their friendships' journey (and I can't give too much detail, but it's something you'll feel as well).
The end to this book, it was disappointing, because I was dying for a happy ending. Not even happy, so much as different. But, after sitting with it for a little bit, I realized that the end is really symbolic of all the build-up, all the actions that became consequences, for everyone, not just Blake. And I think that says a ton about the story line, about the characters, about the believability of this story. It felt so real. I could've seen any one of my friends in high school having this life (and some of them probably did). I wasn't overly-moved by the honesty in this book, but I was nostalgic for knowing that I was once in Blake's shoes, Shannon's shoes, Marissa's shoes - and I grew from my high school experiences, and I think our generation (the boomerang generation that is) is moved by nostalgia because so much happened in our generation (this is a scientific fact, too,) - but it is nice to know that these characters - their journey won't end here, it's really just beginning. And it was a nice close out to this chapter in their lives.
The title, I thought, however, was the worst part about this book. I see where it came from, but I don't understand why. I don't know why this was the most significant moment for the author (sometimes, the author doesn't select the title... I know, so maybe it was a poor choice on the side of the publishing company), and I don't need to know. It worked - it was satisfactory if you want to look at it in that sense. But it wasn't great. It's not something I'll probably remember if you ask me about it at the end of the year. The cover art was perfect. It captures so much about the characters state of being at that moment in time, and it is all encompassing, I feel.
This book was really good; I wish that the author had more publicity in her other books (one in 2013 only has 5 reviews on GR), but for now, I'll happily place this simple read in my 4-star category.
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