Reading Response #1: Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

   

     I was ciphering through all the books at Parkview's library wondering which one to get. I was standing next to Michelle and she pointed out this book and said it was amazing. I decided to check it out without even reading the description because she is a book person and would know a good book. After checking it out at least five people told me on my way back to the classroom that it was an excellent read so I was pretty pumped to start the book. I thought the title and the book cover made it pretty obvious what this book is about but to throw it out there I'll tell you! This book is about a girl named Amy who's father recently passed away. Since then her brother went to rehab in North Carolina and her mom moved to Connecticut because she had a new job and bought a house down there. Amy decided to finish up her junior year at her high school in California while their old house was on the market. Amy's mother calls her after school ends and tells her that the cost of air fare to get her to Connecticut plus the amount it would cost to get the car there, since Amy no longer drives, would be too much and she couldn't do both. Her mom decides to have her brother's old friend, Roger, drive her there and she had a perfectly planned out route. As you probably already know from the title of the book they take a detour, one epic detour.

     There is so much adventure and sadness to this book. Amy can barely speak about her father without having a meltdown and always seems to run into altercations where she has to talk about him. One incident occurred on the first stop of the trip, Yosemite. After they had been leaving she ran into an old friend that her, her dad, and brother used to run into every time they went to Yosemite.  Amy had a mental breakdown after the old friend said "Your dad was always such fun to have at dinner! How's he doing? He's well?.(66)" Roger being the nice gentleman he is stepped in and spoke for her after she ran off. This is one of the first signs you tell Roger cares about Amy. Another sign towards the end of the book is when he comforts Amy about her fathers car accident by saying "I don't lie. I promise you, it wasn't your fault (314)" and Amy believes him.This book is also filled with lots of sad flashbacks of Amy's memories of her father. The most heart breaking one is the one where the car accident happened. With a short detailed heart wrenching description that goes like "But my father had stopped moving and my forehead felt like it was burning, and someone was screaming and they wouldn't stop. (311)" This to me, even though it is short, is the saddest text in this entire book.

      I overall think this book was fantastic! A lot of people who recommended this book to me didn't like the ending but I thought it was really good and bittersweet. It isn't some fairy tale ending which makes this book better and more realistic. If you like romantic books I think you would very much enjoy this. It isn't a cheesy romantic book its almost an unexpected romance that you expected the whole time. The only downside to this book is it seemed to have quite a few typos and I'm pretty sure someone told me this as well. On a more positive note it received an outstanding review from the New York Times that said "This is an incredible book- heartbreakingly funny and utterly un-put-down-able. (cover)" If you can look past the typos then you will see an amazing love story with tons of adventure and witty characters! Plus the author of the book actually took a reverse road trip (Connecticut to Califorina) which inspired this book but halfway through writing she decided to take the road trip in the book so it felt genuine. Morgan Matson you're a genius!