Title:
Kook
Series:
N/A
Author:
Chris Vick
Genre:
Young Adult, Contemporary
Publication:
April 7th 2016, HarperCollins Children's Books
Pages:
400 Pages, Paperback
Rating:
2.5/5 Cupcakes!
Source:
Thank you to Lovereading4Kids and HarperCollins Children's Books for
sending me this book in exchange for an honest review. This has not
affected my opinion of the title I'm reviewing.
A heart-pounding love story that grips like a riptide, and doesn’t let go…Fifteen-year old Sam has moved from the big city to the coast – stuck there with his mum and sister on the edge of nowhere. Then he meets beautiful but damaged surfer-girl Jade. Soon he’s in love with her, and with surfing itself. But Jade is driven by an obsession: finding and riding a legendary huge wave no one has ever ridden. As the weeks wear on, their relationship barrels forward with the force of a deep-water wave – into a storm, to danger … and to heartbreak.
When
I got offered to review this book, I didn't even hesitate before
accepting the offer. The premise sounded positively intriguing, it
was set by the sea and I was promised a “heart-pounding” romance
that would sweep me away. I was not swept away. I started off
enjoying this book but as I turned the pages my love and excitement
for the book dwindled to nothing. I had so many issues with this
book, this will be a rant
review, just a warning.
SO,
Kook is about fifteen year old Sam who has moved from London
alongside his mother and little sister, Tegan, to the Cornwall's
coast to be near his cancer-stricken grandmother. From the very first
day, Sam is awestruck by the enigmatic Jade who lives next door to
him and is ecstatic as she takes him under his wing and invites him
into the obscure and somewhat magical world of surfing. As Sam begins
to surf and falls in love with it – and Jade – she confesses to
him that she wants to ride the Devil Horns, a legendary massive wave
that no one has ever been able to conquer. Although Sam knows this
obsession with a monstrous wall of sea could lead to injuries or
worse, he'd do anything in order to help Jade achieve her dream –
even if it submerges him and Jade into a rip tide that they won't be
able to escape from.
It
sounded good. It started good. But by the end of Kook, I felt
absolutely nothing for this book except annoyance, slight disgust and
the feeling that I had squandered my time reading it. Perhaps
it was me who was the problem in this case - as I'm quite
conservative about certain activities that were explored in this book
– I'm not sure, all I know is that the love I was expecting to have
for this book crashed and burned shortly after starting it. It had
potential, but it failed to impress me.
Kook
started off promising. I loved the Cornish setting and, at first, I
absolutely adored Sam. Despite his pride and his
impressionable nature, he was an excellent brother to his little
sister, he seemed a quiet, geeky sort of character (my favorite kind
of character because I can relate to that), a goofy, sweet fifteen
year old boy that I thought I would love more with each turning page
but I'm sad to say by the end of the book, I was so frustrated and
disappointed in him. I think my main issue with Sam was how gullible
and spineless he was. He was offered drugs, he was offered alcohol,
he was asked to engage in activities that could lead to his potential
paralysis or death but he always went along with it in bids to impress
Jade and her friends and it frustrated me to no end.
I've never understood the need to have to prove yourself to people by
doing irresponsible, reckless, illegal things
and I don't even know why you want to be “friends” with people
who would shun you for turning down the uncomfortable activities they
pressurise you to engage in. I could blame Jade and her posse for
tempting Sam with the hazy, careless lifestyle that they
lived but the thing is, you have a choice to turn around and say no.
I think at some point everybody is faced with peer pressure and you
always have the opportunity to turn your back on the things you know
are dangerous, the things that you know could only bring a tidal wave
of trouble and Sam never did, he just went along with everything.
Not
only did he take drugs and drink, he also lied to his mother and
showed extreme disrespect and blatant cheek. His dad died
drowning off the Cornish coast and Sam repeatedly puts himself in
situations that could potentially lead him to have the same fate as his
father. Not only that, but he doesn't tell his mother what he's
doing, where he's surfing or anything,
it's like he had no consideration for her sanity. If she lost both her son
and her husband to drowning I can't even imagine the amount of turmoil that
would play on her mental and physical health. It just seemed so
disgustingly selfish to do things that not many people would do
because they knew it could lead to death and he went and did it
behind his mother's back with lies about being at school or
stargazing instead. How could you know you might not come back from
something and not even tell your mother you love her and kiss your
sister goodbye? How could you be so selfish?
This
brings me to my next point which involves the syndrome of disappearing parents that many YA books suffer from. It's actually worse in Kook
as the parents are there but there lack of guidance and discipline is quite simply frightening and appalling. There were several
times throughout the book where Sam comes home high, drunk, or
worse. There was one part in the novel where something he did got him
involved with law enforcement and his mother lectures him and then
Jade appears at the door and Sam's like “Yo, mom, Ima be on my way”
and he just starts walking out the door and his mother is just like
“Yo, Sammy-boi, don't go too far” (not what's actually said in
the book but THAT WAS BASICALLY THE CONVERSATION) and I was literally
gawking and slapping my forehead repeatedly because how can you allow
your fifteen year old son to treat you with no respect and just
control you like
that?! LIKE, SERIOUSLY?! And then there was Jade's father who was a
drunkard and who didn't seem to care about her activities most of the
time and if I'm being honest, it seemed like a ploy to have Jade do
whatever the heck she wanted with no parental restrictions.
That
brings me to Jade. I did not like Jade, I couldn't connect to her and
she's exactly the sort of person I would avoid at all costs if I were
to meet her in real life. She was manipulative, rude, careless,
stubborn and didn't think of anyone but herself. I know she was
“broken” and “troubled” but I don't feel as if she was
written well enough in order for me to really feel for
her. She didn't feel fully fleshed out and I always felt as if we
were skimming the surface of her life and never really getting to
know her. Perhaps that's what people in the book who knew her were
supposed to feel, but as a reader, I need to know more about a
character, I need to feel a connection to them and I need to form an
emotional attachment to them Perhaps it was just me and not the way
she was written, but I always felt like there was a brick wall
between Jade and I preventing me from ever getting to know
her or even to care that much about her. I think I could've liked
Jade if we were given more of an insight into who she was and if she
wasn't such an awful person. Even after spending 400 pages in her
company, I feel like I barely knew her but what I did see of her and
learn of her I just couldn't bring myself to like her. She was
disrespectful, she seemed quite self-absorbed, she was incredibly
rude and she swore all. the. freaking. time. She dragged people into
harmful situations, she never thought things through, she was just
such an unlikable character.
Not only was she all of those things, but she was
constantly smoking weed, taking heavier substances or swigging back
alcohol. There was a scene where she takes a class A drug and thinks
absolutely nothing of it, in fact she wants more
(which isn't surprising as it's classified as a dangerous and
addictive substance) and what shocked me further, was that Sam and
the other characters were amused
at the state she was in. It was as if no one had been taught about
drugs and the severe physical and mental impact it has on the human
body. Surely Sam and Jade's other friends would've felt worried about
her? Or perhaps it was because they were too intoxicated to think of
the implications of what she'd just done?? Either way, it sickened me
to see drug usage taken so lightly and for not one single person
(except Sam's mom) mention the toll these substances can take
on somebody, especially a developing teenager.
The
other characters weren't much better. There was Big G, Rag and Skip.
I could've liked them if they weren't drug-users or people with foul
mouths as they seemed to feel more real,
especially Rag and Skip who I felt actually cared about the other
people in their friendship group instead of just focusing on
themselves. But unfortunately, the rare times I liked them wasn't
enough to make me enjoy this book more.
I
also couldn't bring myself to care about the romance. It seemed as if Sam was always doing stupid things in order to prove himself to
Jade, always getting into trouble to accompany Jade in her
shenanigans, always doing something to make him feel like he meant
something to her – if you feel like you have to keep proving
yourself, surely that isn't love? I just didn't ever believe the
romance, it felt more like an obsession from Sam's side and
Jade...well, Jade didn't seem to view Sam with much respect or
importance. Especially towards the end when Sam was trying to do
something that would help Jade immensely and she told him, I quote, “You
don't fucking own me” - it was practically a life or death
situation and she wouldn't let someone help her because she wanted
her own way. She was one of those characters who is supposed to
appear “tough”, “free” and “brave” but just comes across
as irresponsible, self-centered and stupidly reckless.
Something
else that further angered me about this book was the excessive amount
of swearing, drug use and language. Practically every sentence that
Jade or the others spoke contained quite harsh swear words and
blasphemy. I'm aware that most people swear, especially teenagers,
but I feel like there was too much in Kook. I really don't like it
when people use such awful language but if it's a couple of times in
a book, I don't mind that much, but when it's almost on every page,
well, it gets boring quickly.
Another thing I wasn't expecting
when I started Kook was the amount of drug and alcohol consumption
this book contained. You've probably sussed that out already from the
rest of this review (if you're even reading this, I apologize for the
length of this review!) but I am extremely against drugs and reading
this book really upset me because there was just so many
times drugs were taken. Weed,
spliffs (what is that even??), class A drugs and other things were
referenced. In fact, half of the plot of this book consisted of the
characters getting high and drunk and the other half of the plot was
about surfing. It was quite tedious reading about the characters
slowly spiral into self-destruction and what upset me was that
they didn't even realise the havoc they were wreaking on their
bodies. I feel like the author should've included the dangers of
drug-usage and under-age drinking because this book made certain
substances seem like something harmless, something that isn't deadly.
I really wish the author had highlighted the dangers to teach people
about the fatal consequences of taking these substances.
Now,
this book wasn't all
bad. The writing flowed smoothly and the dialogue wasn't awkward or
cheesy. There were some stunning descriptions laced throughout this
book, especially of the waves. I used to live by the beach when we
returned to South Africa and the author did a brilliant job of
describing the sea and I definitely felt transported to the coastal
town of Cornwall as I read this book. I also liked the relationship
that Sam had with his sister, you could see he cared about her and
loved her, and although these moments were rarely seen later on
through the book, the first few glimpses we got of that was adorable!
I also liked the theme in this book that “fear makes the wolf look
bigger”. Despite having many reasons to fear the ocean and the
power of the sea, Sam tackled his fears head on and I admired him for
that. Although I felt like there wasn't much substance to the plot,
the last 100 pages were intense and as I read them I felt the
crushing darkness the characters were thrust into. Chris Vick is
definitely a talented writer and I might pick up his future books
provided they don't contain as much profanity as Kook did. That
ending was also quite emotional and although I didn't form a strong
attachment to any of the characters, it did make me feel slightly sad
and had me reflect on life and how quickly it can be unexpectedly
ripped from us.
Kook
was a novel featuring first love, heartbreak and a unquenchable
thirst to be amidst the ocean waves. Although the book had some
stunning descriptions and I enjoyed the theme of conquering ones fear, it
wasn't enough to save me from the swirling rip tide of my
disappointment. Kook was a book I had high hopes for but I was
unfortunately let down.
I give it: 2.5/5 cupcakes
- Scene of near drowning
- An almost scene of child abuse
- Extreme swearing and blasphemy
- Excessive amounts of smoking weed, taking class A drugs, dealing drugs, underage drinking and implicit sex scenes
- Mild violence in the form of fights between teenage boys