anastasia
Written on Oct 24, 2018
An engaging and heart-warming 'two voice' story of an East Coast/West Coast digital friendship that begins when Elizabeth emails her soon-to-be college roommate, Lauren. On the cusp of freedom during their last summer before starting a new independent life away from home, they discover the catharsis that an anonymous email friendship can bring as they chronicle the tension, excitement and anxiety of leaving their homes, falling in love, and finding the right mini-fridge.
- ISBN10 1444780158
- ISBN13 9781444780154
- Publish Date 2 January 2014 (first published 1 January 2013)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 28 July 2023
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Hodder & Stoughton
- Format Paperback (UK Trade)
- Pages 288
- Language English
Reviews
Rinn
Written on Aug 7, 2014
Thanks to the likes of John Green, Matthew Quick and Rainbow Rowell, I’m finding myself more and more interested in Young Adult contemporary novels. I thought I’d give this one a shot, particularly with university fast approaching – although I won’t be sharing a room, thank goodness. I’m also a particular fan of stories set during university or college, as it’s a period of my life that I really loved (and hopefully I’ll love my upcoming experience just as much!), so it resonates well with me.
Told from the point of view of two girls, Elizabeth (or EB) and Lauren, who find that they are going to be roommates at UC Berkeley, the story uses both first-hand accounts and emails. Although obviously hesitant to tell each other much at first, the two future roommates find each other confiding more and more as the summer comes to a close, things they can’t tell anyone else in their lives. I liked how the relationship built up that way, all online – because actually it can be really easy to open up to someone you only know online, and it was nice to have a book that addressed that, even if EB and Lauren knew they would meet eventually. As the protagonists learnt more about each other, so did the reader. One of my favourite parts was how EB used the father of Lauren’s boyfriend as a sort of moral code in her life – when she did anything, she asked herself whether his dad would approve. I just found this pretty cute for some reason!
Despite the fact that the book covered all different parts of growing up and moving on, I really felt like it centered on Lauren and EB’s respective boyfriends too much. Sure, it wasn’t all boy talk – but there was a LOT. I’d loved to have read more about their families, particularly EB who gave more of an impression of her mum being this cold, unknown figure than anything else. Actually more than anything, I’d like to read a young adult book WITHOUT a romance. And regardless of the different fonts used for each girl, I had to keep reminding myself whose chapter I was reading – I felt like their voices were a little too similar (despite each girl being written by someone different?).
This book flitted between a three and four star rating, but eventually I settled on three. The ending felt a little rushed and was actually quite disappointing in a way. However, I thought it was a very sweet book, and a great read for anyone making that same huge transition in their life.
bumblingbookworm
Written on Feb 24, 2014
I follow a lot of book blogs, and it is for that reason that I feel the need to start this particular review with a disclaimer: before I read this, I read A LOT of blog posts about Roomies. Many of these posts were raving about how AWESOME Roomies was, and I allowed this to build up my expectations of Roomies. I was really excited and pumped to read Roomies because in my mind it was going to be the best book ever... Because of this, I was ultimately disappointed when I read Roomies, because it didn't live up to those extreme expectations. It is for this reason that I have now decided not to read a lot of reviews for books I want to read, especially right before reading said book. Hopefully, I won't fall victim to the hype machine again!
Check out the rest of my review here!
Joséphine
Written on Nov 30, 2013
Oh the liminality of the summer between high school and college! Sorry, I just had to use the term liminality outside of school. But it is an apt definition of where Elizabeth and Lauren are. A stage of in-between, of neither here nor there. It is also those in-between stages that tend to go unnoticed, so I was delighted when I read that this exactly what Zarr and Altebrando set out to tackle in their co-written book Roomies.
For most students, after admissions are confirmed, the next worry, of course is, who is going to be my roommate? For Elizabeth, who goes by EB, this is no different. When roommate allocations are out, EB sends an email to Lauren to introduce herself. She has no idea what she is in for. Lauren is less than excited finding out that has a roommate. She wanted a single room. Still, she decides to put up with EB, answers the email, and so launches into an email exchange with her.
Both the girls have stories to tell. Stories of heartaches, of family problems, of friendships and also of their uncertain futures. Neither knows what to expect, and that is what makes their stories so exciting. They speak of cheating, of being rejected, of responsibilities, of summer jobs, and also of potential boyfriends. With so much packed into those pages, another question that surfaces is how much is too much when sharing your life with a stranger? Sure, they will meet each other but until they do, that have not technically met. Can emails establish a friendship? Or is it necessary to meet in real life?
With technology cementing their relationship, I thought that Roomies truly embodied what it means for youths to live in the 21st century. The Internet is such an integral part of our lives, most of us can't even remember what it was like before it became so ubiquitous, and some never even have experienced life without it. Roomies addresses many modern day issues that we are faced with, from "stalking" on Facebook versus "stalking" in real life, to the reliance on mobile phones to stay connected with friends. On that front, I think there is a need for more books to address issues such as these, so I'm glad to say that this is a more than worthy book to fill that void. I'm hoping that more contemporary books will deal with that reality, so I'm also really looking forward to #scandal by Sarah Ockler (which comes out next year).
Between the two of them though, I thought that EB was more of the whiny one and Lauren more the mature one. At times that dynamic did get a little tiring because it made me want to mute EB, and just continue with Lauren. Come to think of it, I think if anyone chooses to read only EB's or only Lauren's side of the story, it would still come off as an almost complete book. I say almost because the emails are embedded in the narratives, so the email exchanges at least integrate their stories. And while the main focus is on their email relationship left me a little disappointed because we never get to see them meet each other.
In a way, I thought Lauren's life came off as a bit more realistic than EB's, especially when it came to their romances. Lauren and Keyon gave me such a warm and fuzzy feeling too while presenting the mature aspects of their relationship as well. EB's was more of a whirlwind, with a whole lot of drama. Maybe that stark difference does bring some balance into the story though, since both of them deal with overlapping problems but in different ways. It's a good thing too because reading the ebook format made it difficult at first to differentiate the two points of views until I was well into the book and had a better semblance of their voices. I got all confused at first, wondering why the first two chapters made very little sense, until I noticed that the chapter titles of New Jersey and San Francisco were meant to indicate locations, and by extension, whether it was EB's or Lauren's turn.
Despite my little gripes here and there, I did come to enjoy Roomies as much as I had expected, and I heartily recommend to anyone waiting to start college, or anyone looking back on their experience. I remember very well how I obsessed about finding rookie to apply with, or opting for a random one without any control who I might end up with. Back then, I applied with a friend of a friend, so even though it wasn't all that random, we didn't know each other, so I was faced with many of EB's worries.
This review is also available at dudettereads.com.
tweetybugshouse
Written on Oct 17, 2013