(ARC) YA Book Review: The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

Release Date: 16 February 2012

Publisher: Penguin
Format: ARC
Source: LibraryThing Early Reviewers

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Goodreads description:

Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev's band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she's abandoning their plans - and Colby - to start college in the fall.

But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie- Colby struggles to deal with Bev's already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what's next?

My Thoughts...

I was originally going to wait until January to post this review, but I honestly wanted to tell you all about it right now so you can get excited for its release! The Disenchantments is easily one of the best books that I've read in awhile (which is saying a lot considering (a) I read a lot and (b) I'm not usually a huge fan of contemporary reads).  The characters really tugged wormed their way into my heart and I feel like it would have been impossible NOT to fall in love with them.  Their story is a kind of "coming of age" story set in a backdrop of friendship, betrayal, redemption, and (bad) music.

Bev says when she's onstage she feels the world holding its breath for her. She feels electric, louder than a thousand wailing sirens, more powerful than God.

-p3, ARC

The Disenchantments opens with an end and a beginning.  Colby and Bev are graduating from high school and setting off on a once-in-a-lifetime journey, starting with a band tour road trip and ending with an epic European vacation. Things don't go quite as planned however, when Bev announces that she is actually planning on attending art school in the fall.  Colby's whole world seems to fall apart at the seams at that moment and the ensuing story is his journey to discover what direction he really wants to take his life.

The problem was that while I knew how it felt to be in love, I knew ever better how it felt to hid it. Because Bev and I were friends and that's the way it had always been. ... Because I feared the unraveling of everything that we had become to one another from the time we were nine years old.

-p46, ARC

Colby was a very likeable character that I found I had no trouble connecting with (once I got over my initial shock of "Whoa, wait. Colby is a boy?!").  My heart went out to him instantly when Bev announces her plan.  Even early on in the book you can tell that Colby has strong feelings for Bev that aren't returned quite the way he would like, but he's gotten comfortable in their roles with each other. Bev was another story for me as I felt like she was distant and hard to connect to throughout the story.  I get why she is doing what she's doing but not the way that she went about it.  It was really hard to watch her hurt Colby the way that she did.

We all want to feel something, we want to be someone to one another.

-p271, ARC

This story is full of friendship, art, music, and good ol' fashioned fun.  The story takes place over the course of only a week but you feel like you've known these characters your whole like.  There is a sort of retro-modern-timeless quality to the story and its characters that I can't quite explain but absolutely loved.  The Disenchantments is a book that you definitely want to have on your shelf if you enjoy contemporary YA or if maybe you're just in to road trip books.  Either way, I think the characters in this one will worm their way into the hearts of many, many readers next year.