Animal Dreams

Oh Animal Dreams, how conflicted I feel over whether I enjoyed you or not. There are definite parts of this book that I enjoyed, and it definitely wasn't the worst book I've ever been forced to read (that honor would be a tie between The Jungle and The Grapes of Wrath). The best part of the book was that I could follow the story pretty well, and it actually kept me interested because I wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters. I also liked the different cultural experiences the audience got to experience along with Codi. However, there were definitely tedious parts to read. I don't mind when books make me think some, but when they use so much description or philisophical phrases, it becomes difficult for me to stay focused. I liked how Codi was a complex dynamic character that we got to see change over the course of the book, but she also annoyed me at certain points in the story. I got really sick of her always comparing herself to her sister, and at times i wanted to yell "just be your own person." So i was glad to see that those parts about her changed. The ending I thought was well done because I felt like Hali needed to die for Codi to really change, and I was glad that Codi found the home she had been looking for all along. Overall, I think I liked this book because when you cut straight to heart of it, it had a narrative that was interesting and kept me engaged. Although I could have dealt without some of the fluff in the story, I guess I have to admit that I enjoyed the book more than I disliked it. There I said it!