The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I admit; when I read the synopsis, it DID catch my eye, but the first few chapters bored me. I would read it, but then would quickly lose interest and put it down, and find something else to do; which very rarely happens with me.

I found that the book only got interesting when Matt got to know that Joanie was going to die, because then I found myself 'pulled' towards how Matt handled the situation. Though I must say, the fact that he had to 'rehearse' almost everything he was going to say at the beginning was slightly annoying to me.

And then we have Sid. I couldn't stand the boy's guts, but then softened up to him as the story went on. He wasn't as bad as he was portrayed at the beginning after all. And Brian Speer... OH GOD, I HATED that man's guts when they confronted him at Kauai. I was expecting him to be more... expressive, I guess? I think I kinda understood Matt's feelings at that point; here was Joanie, head over heels in love with Brian, when he didn't love her and was just leading her on. I kinda understand Julie's feelings too, but to say that to Joanie and Matt at Joanie's deathbed was... a tad bit disrespectful, in my opinion.

But if there was anything that I liked about this book, it would be how Kaui described the sadness in the family. It wasn't sappy and all 'oh-the-calamity' kinda thing, and even Scottie was being very strong and brave about it. I liked how they each allowed themselves moments of sadness where they would cry, but they didn't go moping around about it, because frankly, there's nothing they'd be able to do anyway. You can't stop death.