Please Ignore Vera Dietz Review

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by AS King

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Release date: October 12, 2010

Source: Publisher

Other books by this author: The Dust of 100 Dogs

Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.

So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?

Review:

I have heard such great things about her debut, The Dust of 100 Dogs, but, unfortunately, have never had a chance to read it. After reading her fabulous sophomore novel, Please Ignore Vera Dietz, I definitely need to pick it up ASAP!

Please Ignore Vera Dietz was an intense and addicting read. I was drawn into Vera's story right away and I had a hard time tearing myself away from the book once I'd gotten a few chapters in.

Vera was an extremely unique character. She was spunky, outgoing, and just dealing with a lot. Her character was extremely complex and I loved reading about all her different sides. Pizza girl, only child, victim, and more. Vera's life has been one crazy ride from the day she was born to her seventeen year old mother. Vera had so many secrets that were just dying to come out, and my heart truly went out to her. Vera was just a normal girl trying to find her place in the world. One of the things I liked best about this book was that Vera was so... real. I couldn't necessarily relate to her (except for her love of animals), but there were so many sides to Vera that made her so believable.

The alternating perspectives and chapters of Please Ignore Vera Dietz was one of my favorite parts of the book. It was a great way to present Vera's story. The reader got to read about her in the present and past without too much in between to slow things down. I never got confused, the chapter headings kept me in the know of who was narrating and when. It was a great way to get to better understand all the characters and parts of the story.

Other than Vera, there was another main character. Her best friend, Charlie. I loved reading about Vera and Charlie's relationship, even though at times it broke my heart. They were so perfect for each other, but Charlie ended up making some bad choices that drew him away from Vera. Charlie was another multi-layered character. His family was in shambles and he was getting involved with a bad crowd. After his death, Vera is one of the only people who knows what really happened that night and is still carrying around the secret.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz was also part mystery. The reader is wondering all along what happened on the night Charlie died. A few clues are revealed, but the reader doesn't get to completely uncover the truth until the end.

This is a hard book to review because there is so much going on, character and plot wise. Please Ignore Vera Dietz was one of the most original and well written books I've read in awhile and I definitely recommend picking this up! I can't wait to read her debut, The Dust of 100 Dogs!

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars