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Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Rules of 50/50 Chances by Kate McGovern {Review}

Published November 2015
ARC via NetGalley
Goodreads // Amazon

A heartrending but ultimately uplifting debut novel about learning to accept life's uncertainties; a perfect fit for the current trend in contemporary realistic novels that confront issues about life, death, and love.

Seventeen-year-old Rose Levenson has a decision to make: Does she want to know how she’s going to die? Because when Rose turns eighteen, she can take the test that will tell her if she carries the genetic mutation for Huntington’s disease, the degenerative condition that is slowly killing her mother. With a fifty-fifty shot at inheriting her family’s genetic curse, Rose is skeptical about pursuing anything that presumes she’ll live to be a healthy adult—including going to ballet school and the possibility of falling in love. But when she meets a boy from a similarly flawed genetic pool, and gets an audition for a dance scholarship in California, Rose begins to question her carefully-laid rules.
 



This book is about a girl dealing with living and dying and her struggle to see the good things in life. With her Mother’s mind crumbling more everyday, she struggles with her own chance of getting the disease that is slowly killing her mother. Because of this, she doesn’t know what to do with her life. Whether she wants to know or not know, love or not love, dance or not dance. THE RULES OF 50/50 CHANCES is a story of questions, sometimes left unanswered, but always thought of.

Maybe it was because my expectations of the book were practically at the moon, due to the loveliness of the cover. (I adore the cover.) Maybe it was because the …. No it was the cover. It was totally the cover. And the fact that this book seemed like it would be, I don’t know, not like the rest. Yeah, it seemed like it would be not like the rest.

She was whiney. Sweet baby cheezus she was whiney. There are a few things that get on my nerves (okay more than a few) and people who don’t look at the bright side, or are constantly making everyone see all the worrisome things in life as opposed to all the sunshine where there is sunshine is so one of them. Sorry for the lengthy sentence. But it drives me bonkers. Yes, y’all, I know that this life isn’t all sparkles and rainbows. I know there are gloomy days. I mean, goodness, I did Self Worth Week to combat the hard times we all face. It’s a part of life. But when someone freaking refuses to ever take a little look at all the potential this life has to offer. . . *proceeds to pull hair out*

This girl, so has so much to be grateful for: her dad for one, her mom’s good days, her best friend, trains, her talent, a certain boy, the fact that she is still in fact breathing. The fact that her mom didn’t let fear take away the possibility of having a baby- of having her. She’s got a bunch of things to be thankful for. And she seemed to choose to be annoyed with sunshine.

Onto something else that I think should be addressed. I do like like the way race was presented in this book. It’s not like I found it horrible. I think the author was attempting to combat the stigma in the way she knew how, but it came across as a little brute-ish to me. *le sigh*

Again, so much wasted potential.


What I am trying to get across is this book- it’s okay. It wasn’t fantastic, but it wasn’t horrid.



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