Saving Zoe

by Alyson Noël

Meet fifteen-year-old Echo, a typical teen trying to survive high school without being totally traumatized by boy trouble, friend drama, and school issues. As if she didn't have enough on her plate, Echo is also still dealing with the murder of her sister Zoe. Although it's been over a year, Echo is still reeling from tragedy that changed everything. Beautiful and full of life, Zoe was the glue that held her family together, and although the two sisters were as different as night and day, they still had a bond that Echo can't let go of. When Zoe's old boyfriend Marc shows up one day with Zoe's diary, Echo doesn't think there's anything in there she doesn't already know. But as she gives in to curiosity and starts reading, she learns that her sister led a secret life that no one could have guessed - not even Echo.

• ISBN10: 1417828072
• ISBN13: 9781417828074
• Publish Date: 1 September 2007
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 7 April 2021
• Imprint: Turtleback Books
• Edition: Turtleback School & Library ed.
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kim Deister]

A touch of thriller, a touch of YA, this was a page-turner. I loved the dual POV of Echo in the present and Zoë in the past. And the end had me crying ugly tears!

[Jane]

DNF @ 150 pages. It's a whole lot of absolutely nothing. Echo feels more like an unreliable narrator with a big imagination than the clever daughter of two scholars. I've known people and had friends who were scholarly, in high school. They've a maturity and diction that doesn't match that of Echo's, with the vocabulary, philosophy and overall intelligence to back it up.

The movie is better.

[clementine]

Hmm. I really liked this book when I was younger, and I think there's something there, but ultimately it's a bit shallow. I feel like there wasn't enough emotional depth for a book about such an emotional issue, and Echo wasn't the most compelling or sympathetic protagonist. None of the characters really clicked with me or felt real.

This book isn't irredeemable, in my mind. It's not boring or painful to get through - but maybe it is a bit TOO easy, considering the subject matter. It's also a bit cliché/after school special, but it doesn't feel horribly contrived.

I mean... it's okay. I liked it, or at least didn't hate it. But I don't think I'd buy it again, and I'll probably get rid of it next time I go through all my books, because it's not one I particularly want to read again.