Review: The Marbury Lens

Title The Marbury Lens
By Andrew Smith
Genre YA Contemporary/Supernatural
Pages 358

First Sentence I guess in the old day, in other places, boys like me usually ended up twisting and kicking in the empty air beneath gallows.

Synopsis
Still reeling from a horrific kidnapping and escape that ends in murder, Jack escapes to London to check out a school with his friend Conner. With everything unresolved Jack is torn but when a man shows up with a mysterious pair of glasses that transport him to another dimension, a world called Marbury, Jack becomes obsessed with it. But when Conner finds out Jack starts to question his sanity. Does Marbury really exist or is Jack just finding a way to cope?


What it has going for it
Honestly, I don't remember why I picked this one up a few years ago. I remember thinking the story sounded interesting and maybe another blogger out there loved it and I decided to read it. All I know is that I bought it and just recently picked it up. It took me forever to read! My reading streak came to a screeching halt. While this book is riveting and both in this world and Marbury exciting things are happening, It was a painful book to read. So much awfulness is happening and you really just don't want to keep reading...but you sort of want to. Oh, um, I think I was supposed to be telling you things I liked. Um, well, I guess the fact that I did finish the book and couldn't quite look away was a good thing. I also was invested enough in the story to see what was going on. I did not relate to any of the characters but I did feel for them and that's something, right?


What's lacking
My biggest problem with this book wasn't the swearing and painful subject matter, believe it or not, but the fact that nothing was resolved. Yeah, there's a sequel but that's not what I'm talking about. The whole, is Jack crazy or not, thing was never really answered. Maybe it was and I just missed it??? Maybe you're not supposed to have any resolution??? All I know is I'm still unsure what the hell was real or not and that bothered me. I also was irritated with the underlying theme of despair in this book. There wasn't a single shred of hope at all! I guess the author had a similar trauma in his past and while I'm so, so sorry when I hear about this sort of thing happening in real life, I'm not sure he should be writing books for young adults. At least not books that offer no help, comfort or hope.

Yea or Nay?
If you're a masochistic and enjoy being very confused, yeah go ahead, otherwise, I don't think you're missing anything if you skip this one.