Review: The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

With all the hype around this book, I finally picked it up and read it. I actually got the audiobook version, which I really didn't like, and I don't think I'll be listening to another book anytime soon, because it's just weird for me. Anyway, I didn't like this book. I know that a lot of people did, but to me, it's just so overrated. It was so stereotypical. You have this golden boy, Ezra Faulkner, whose athletic future gets destroyed in a car accident. After that, all of a sudden, he starts questioning his life and his friends and sees the error of his ways and realizes how meaningless it all was. He finds that his jock group of friends and his popular girlfriend don't really care for him and how they are leading such profoundly pointless lives. Obviously, in light of this devastating realization, he joins the so called "nerd" group, and sees how they are all awesome people and friends. And of course, add a new, mysterious, quirky, beautiful girl and there you have it, a perfect YA story.

I expected more from this story, really. I found that I only liked the ending, which was realistic enough, but I also found that it was to show how things aren't always perfect in life, which I find a given.
Also, this book seemed to be trying too hard at times. For example, Cassidy quoting Foucault, talking about escaping the Panopticon, and how she had this secret, a tragedy that explained all of that, that damaged side of her. Like she needed a reason to think about such profound things, and like she needed a reason to be moody and just feel down sometimes.
I thought this book was going to be better when it started, and not fall under such stereotypical categories, but in the end, it did, and I just didn't liked it, even though I really wanted to.