Frost

by Marianna Baer

[rakesandrogues]

I was not quite expecting FROST to be so psychological or so scary. There’s a reason why I wasn’t sorted into Gryffindor. I lack courage. FROST was one of those books I just couldn’t read at night. I know that fear is a very psychological emotion, and Baer was able to trigger my illogical fear just as well as she had with her characters Leena and Celeste.

Leena and I would probably not get along if I knew her in real life. Her character just rubbed me the wrong way. It is pointed out by the Dean that Leena is sometimes skewed with her beliefs and opinions. She gives advice as if she thinks Leena Knows All, and the Dean shuts her down by saying that sometimes what Leena thinks is best is not the best for everyone. I guess her know-it-all mentality and constant urge to meddle with other people’s – ahem, Celeste’s – business just didn’t agree with me.

I love David Lazar and it is completely understandable how Leena can take an instant liking to him. I love that he cares deeply for his family and he would go out of his way to help out his sister. I love some of his quirks such as his obsession with spoons. David was a refreshing love interest to me. He actually felt like a guy that I could meet in real life. He’s not a one-dimensional love interest, which made it frustrating to me at times that Leena increasingly grew neurotic. He probably could do a lot better, and it drove me crazy to see Leena doubt his affections or character.

I would have loved this book more if it wasn’t riddled with so much high school drama. It’s one of the main reasons why I loved my nontraditional high school setting; I escaped unnecessary cat fights for four years. I was not jumping for joy when Leena’s drama with her friends were stirred up. Mostly it comes back to the fact that I know that Leena was at fault and I failed to sympathize with her. She would complain about how her life is a mess, but most of it was her fault to begin with. On the other hand, I feel like drama is inevitable in stories that are set in a boarding school. Still, I wish that there was less of it, even if I can see that it’s important for the development of Leena’s character. FROST would have been stronger minus the excess drama and more focused on the supernatural aspects.

Is this a ghost story? Funny how I can’t exactly answer that. FROST leaves off a little anti-climactic because it fails to answer this question. After 400 pages, I still don’t quite know what happened at the Frost House, and I doubt the characters know either. The ending is open for interpretation so if you like that kind of ending, you’ll probably end the book on a better note than I did.