Dented Cans

by Heather Walsh

[pagingserenity]

DENTED CANS is about a girl named Hannah, who lives in a small town with her dysfunctional family. Her family IS quite weird. Her father enjoys scavenging the clearance section of supermarkets for dented cans because they are cheaper than regular price. Her mother collects pictures of the family, spends time creating a scrapbook to put them in, and them doesn't let anyone look at the book. Her oldest, younger brother, Ryan, doesn't care at all about school. At all. While her youngest brother, Ben, prefers to make sound effects than to speak words. Their parents decide to take them on a vacation to Disney World. Oh, what could go wrong?

I thought Heather Walsh did a fantastic job in writing this book. I really enjoyed reading it and found it difficult to stop. Her characters were pretty well developed and interesting to read about. The pacing was nice, it wasn't too slow, or too fast, and the plot was centered more around the family, and the way they are different from everyone else.

I really enjoyed reading about all the characters in DENTED CANS. Especially, Hannah. I could really relate to Hannah and how she felt. She's 16, and thinking about college and getting out of her small town, tired of being tied down by her parents and weird brothers. Her parents aren't exactly normal. Her dad collects dented cans and her mom has a scrap-booking privacy problem. They are always bothering her about the way she treats her brothers and they usually make her do things to help them. Like the trip to Disney for example. Hannah doesn't really want to go, neither does Ryan. But her parents insist on going for Ben's sake. And then at Disney, she can't go the all the rides she wants to because her parents put her in charge of taking Ben on the rides he wants to go on. It reminded me about my family, a bit. My parents are always doing things in his favor. And they usually guilt trap me into doing it too. I also loved Hannah's sarcasm. It was witty and often got interesting reactions. Besides Hannah, the rest of her family also provided some type of comic relief.

The whole novel is basically about Hannah coming of age. About her understanding what makes being an adult different from being a teen. That adults carry and lot more responsibilities and understanding about the world. That adults often see the bigger picture compared to the teens who usually are focused on one thing. In DENTED CANS you can kind of see her transition mentally from thinking like a teen to an adult. She goes from rebellious about the family trip to understanding why it was important.

NOTE: I received this book from the author for free. This in no way effected my review.

Originally posted on Icy Cold Reads.