Summary from GoodReads: IN THE END WE ALL FADE TO BLACK.
Pink-haired Hilda and oddball loner Benji are not your typical teenagers. Instead of going to parties or hanging out at the mall, they comb the city streets and suburban culs-de-sac of Los Angeles for sites of celebrity murder and suicide. Bound by their interest in the macabre, Hilda and Benji neglect their schoolwork and their social lives in favor of prowling the most notorious crime scenes in Hollywood history and collecting odd mementos of celebrity death.
Hilda and Benji’s morbid pastime takes an unexpected turn when they meet Hank, the elderly, reclusive tenant of a dilapidated Echo Park apartment where a silent movie star once stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors. Hilda feels a strange connection with Hank and comes to care deeply for her paranoid new friend as they watch old movies together and chat the sweltering afternoons away. But when Hank’s downstairs neighbor Jake, a handsome screenwriter, inserts himself into the equation and begins to hint at Hank’s terrible secrets, Hilda must decide what it is she’s come to Echo Park searching for . . . and whether her fascination with death is worth missing out on life.
My Review: Are the characters too flawed in this book? Perhaps. But they are memorable and that's what makes them great.
Hilda is obsessed with dead celebrities. Her and Benji find an odd relationship in tis similarity. However, as this book progresses, each learns that they have their own battles that may not always be apparent on the surface.
Although geared toward young adult, this book will pull in most any reader. A great escape when you're looking to escape your own real life for a short time and see what another is doing.
Hilda is obsessed with dead celebrities. Her and Benji find an odd relationship in tis similarity. However, as this book progresses, each learns that they have their own battles that may not always be apparent on the surface.
Although geared toward young adult, this book will pull in most any reader. A great escape when you're looking to escape your own real life for a short time and see what another is doing.
RATING: ♥♥♥
Pages: 309
Softcover
Review copy of this book provided by the author/publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. In no way did the provision of the book affect the outcome of my review.
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This is the second review I've read of this book, and honestly, it does sound like a very good read. Though I'm far from the YA age group, I'm going for this one. High school might have been much better for me if I'd known Hilda and Benji.
ReplyDeleteJenn "Madame Perry's Salon" Perry
Sounds interesting..I'm always interested in the afterlife/macabre aspect of things & this one sounds cool. After all Hollywood is full of its tales & ghosts & celebs
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very interesting book. I love the strange and unusual type books so this may end up on my shelves also. :D
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great review!
LaQ
The characters are as flat as the pages they're printed on!!! I found this book waaayyyy to predictable for my liking and it just didn't seem to have any real substance. It took me forever to finish it because I just didn't feel motivated to start a new chapter once I got to a stopping point. There was nothing there to really "dig" myself into. I suppose for some high school kid this book would be considered "Epic"; but to me its less than stellar. I should have known not to pick it up once I saw that MTV had a hand in its publishing. On the bright side, at least I didn't pay the original retail price of $14.00, I only paid $3.00, but for a book this lackluster even that is a bit much.
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