Don’t think or judge. Just listen.
Annabel Greene has everything. Or rather, she used to have everything. Hanging out with the most popular girl in school, having part-time job as a model, and living in a big glass house with strikingly beautiful sisters. But everything is not what it seems.
Last year, her second sister was almost dead of starving herself. Her longtime friend and the most popular girl in school, makes school a hell because she thinks Annabel is making a move on her boyfriend. Annabel is sick of modeling and she wants to quit, but she knows that her mother loves modeling too much. And that thing, a really terrible thing that happened in the beginning of summer. So Annabel does the only thing she’s very good at… she keeps everything inside, and run away from people.
At first everything’s okay. She’s just fine, pretending that everything’s okay. But when Owen Armstrong comes to her life, something cracked up in her heart.
Owen introduces her to music. The true essentials of music. Owen always listens to her, and he’s always honest. He’s always honest to people. The one thing Annabel is really jealous of.
Slowly, Owen changes her life. And Annabel learns that she has to start listening to the voice of her heart, the voice that keeps calling for her…
“Plus there’s the fact,” he went on, making it clear he didn’t need me to reply anyway, “that music is a total constant. That’s why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment. Which is pretty amazing, when you actually think about it.”
It was pretty amazing. As was this conversation, so wholly unlike anything I could or would have ever imagined. “Yeah,” I said slowly. “It is.”
Just Listen is one of many amazing realistic fiction books by Sarah Dessen. Not only is this novel interesting but I couldn¿t put it down. I related so much to the main character, Annabel Green.
ReplyDeleteThis book takes place at a high school and a small town in America and is in modern day time. Annabel has been undergoing many difficult situations; her sister¿s anorexia problems and her mother¿s depression. But, the worst yet would be that her best friend Sophie will not speak to her, except the occasional blurting of cruel words. In the beginning of the school year, Annabel was a loner and had no friends. She focused only on school work and modeling, which she now wanted to quit. It was like this until she met Owen, who taught her how to be honest and rely on music when you have problems. The author had an appealing style. She used descriptive language; not leaving out any details so I knew what was going on. She also used flashbacks constantly. I found the flashbacks exciting and I got to learn many helpful things about Annabel.