Review: The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev's band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she's abandoning their plans - and Colby - to start college in the fall.
But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie- Colby struggles to deal with Bev's already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what's next?
Morris Award—finalist Nina LaCour draws together the beauty and influences of music and art to brilliantly capture a group of friends on the brink of the rest of their lives.

Review:

Ever since reading and loving Nina's debut, Hold Still, I've been anxious for her next release. I've been in a contemporary kick lately and this one did not disappoint. I loved The Disenchantments! 

I've noticed a few other people make this comment, but I also thought this before I started reading- that Colby was a girl! Luckily, it turned out he was most definitely not a girl! Books with male narrators are awesome and, unfortunately, rare, so I was glad to see that The Disenchantments was told from Colby's POV! 

Road trips, romance, friendships, music... this book had it all! I loved every minute of it. After graduation, Colby sets off on a road trip with the all-girl band, The Disenchantments. Bev, Alexa, and Meg were all awesome and I am so glad the reader got to know them each extremely well by the end. All of the characters were wonderfully developed and were dealing with their own issues. Colby and Bev have been best friends for years and he was shocked when Bev announced that she was ditching him on their planned European trip and going to college that fall. The band road trip still had to happen, though, and things would never be the same for any of them. 

The plot was awesome and it made me want to go on a road trip and/or join an all-girl band! There were various plots weaving together to form the main story and I loved seeing the different people the main characters met on their road trip and seeing how their different experiences shaped them. 

Alexa, Meg, Bev, and Colby were a great team and each of them was unique. Seeing them through Colby's eyes also made the story that much better. Colby was dealing with his own personal struggles, but he also had to face the fact that Bev was no longer coming to Europe and he had no where to go to college. This was much more than a book about a road trip, but a heartbreaking tale of first love, growing up, and finding yourself. 

I am a music person, but I have to admit I hadn't heard of many of the bands mentioned in The Disenchantments, so I'm glad it opened my eyes to some fantastic groups! The music aspect wasn't the biggest part of the book either, but it still had a large role. Without The Disenchantments Bev and Colby wouldn't have met Meg and Alexa, two awesome people. 

All of the characters left an impression on me. Even people they only talked to once, each of them was fascinating in their own way. 

I am so glad I read this book and will certainly be recommending it to as many people as I can. It was a unique and wonderfully written novel that will certainly impact anyone who reads it. 

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars

February 16, 2012/Dutton Juvenile/304 Pages/Young Adult

Source: Publisher

Other books by this author: Hold Still