Birthright #1
by Gabrielle Zevin
Published on September 6th 2011
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 354 pages
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidentally poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.
Engrossing and suspenseful, All These Things I've Done is an utterly unique, unputdownable read that blends both the familiar and the fantastic.
- Goodreads.com description
There are no words for how excited I was for All these things I've done. I loved the title and the premise of the book. But I must say it was very disappointing.
Anya was a great character. She was brave and sarcastic and real. I love the way she always quoted her Daddy. And the way she cared for her family. She was also very pragmatic, which was very cool. Sometimes though she was very impulsive which I didn't really like. There were some situations that I would have expected from her to handle them better.
Win. He was a sweet guy. But the romance fell flat. There was no chemistry, no butterflies in the stomach, no nothing really. I couldn't really feel how they fell in love. Honestly I couldn't see the love between them.
Which brings me to the main point, this story just fell flat. There was nothing really happening, there was no action whatsoever considering this was a mafia book filled with death and threats. I didn't feel any fear, surprise, or excitement. And most of the time it's written in recaps, which bothered the hell out of me. I mean, I want to read about hte events happening! Not reading a recap of the events. I felt very detached from the story because of that. The secondary characters where flat as well, annoying, and sometimes plain pathetic. Like her brother. And the repetition that occurs all the time. We understood the first 3 times that he had an accident that left him at the stage of 9 years old mentally. And brother Leo, we understood that you think you are not stupid. Thought, your actions at the end didn't really support your case.. Meh.
The religion part in the book bothered me as well. I get that Anya was religious, but geeez all the I am a good catholic girl and will not have sex before marriage because I will go to hell was UGH. And the slut shaming of other girls.. What kind of message was the author trying to make, really?
And really, what are all these things Anya's done?
I also felt that there was no peak in the story. Everything was just happening but in reality nothing was really happening. There was really no major event. Which sad cause in the end this story really had potential. That said, I don't think I am gonna read the sequel.
