December 12, 2015

[Review] Things I Can't Explain - Mitchell Kriegman

Now living in New York, Clarissa is in a middle of a crisis now she has lost her dream job at the Daily Post, her entrepreneur and charming boyfriend–okay, it is more like she wishes she had lost that stalker–and can't even pay her back rent or find a job or at least update her parents of her predication. This will catch up to her the very day she musters courage to seduce CCG, a.k.a. the Cute Coffee Guy who works at her former job building, and the Darlings appear for a visit to the Daily Post, prompting her to introduce CCG as her boyfriend and... there is no need to say more.


I have to confess despite being a fan of the TV show, I haven't watched it for a long time and couldn't remember anything despite how cute Sam was. Thus, I was mostly excited for the book to do what couldn't be done on the series, plus I'm all for chick lit with a quirky MC, and Clarissa would be perfect. From the reviews, however, I had already the warning she wasn't.

My first complaint is how irritating Clarissa's narration turned out. I could forgive her obnoxious tone because, poor girl, life really hadn't been easy on her, and the mere fact she could still think that way was something. But did she have to derail so much and so many times from the story? And why was her old boss so important? I expected him to come back from the dead so much space he received. I confess I took on skipping whole paragraphs of blah-blah-blah as I reached a third of the book. I saw what the author did there but it didn't work. Luckily, I could go past it.

But what about Sam? Why? Why? Why? The fact he was mentioned on the summary had my hopes up. The fact Clarissa herself mentioned him all the time confirmed such hopes. *SPOILER*But he never showed! We get this letter by the end without much conclusion on what he has done to Clarissa, it was hard to even consider Nick when my heart still hurt for my sweethearts. If your idea was a sequel, I preferred an open ending.*END SPOILER*

Nick was another problem but here I do confess it has to do with taste. I don't think he changed from the wimp he showed to be the whole book.

And one final issue was structural. I loved the dynamical way the author chose to tell us both what went on in Clarissa's life before the beginning and what was going on in the present of the narrative. However, the past part seems to be missing a few more explanations. I won't go into the Sam deal. Maybe because I can't remember the ending of the show–was I required to, in order to start this story? It was quite the standalone novel, in my opinion–I didn't get some of the high school drama. But what about her unemployment period? I wasn't sure of how long it lasted. *SPOILER*And her parents knew it all the time, thought she was mentally sick but took that long to do an intervention?*END SPOILER*

That said, I had a lot of fun. I couldn't stop laughing at all of her friends, as well as wonder what will be of them in the future. The book is a quick read, though more of a standard chick lit than a sequel to Clarissa. I actually wish I could read more Clarissa sequels, if the author has a series in mind. I did see indications, and I hope this will go right.

Could I ask for more Sam?

Rate: 3 out of 4

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