Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Please Ignore Vera Dietz
Author: A.S. King
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
Pages: 336
My Rating: 2/5 stars

Summary: (From Goodreads)
 Vera's spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she's kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.
So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?
Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.

My Review:

Please Ignore Vera Dietz is a book that's won a Printz award, though I can't say I agree with the honour this book has been given. I found it rather lacking in some areas and I wasn't impressed by the outcome or the plot.

Let's start off with the one thing I was okay with in this book: the characters. The characters were very well constructed and entertaining at times, though I can't say I grew emotionally close to them. Vera was interesting, rather wacky (but in a good way), with a very down to earth personality. She was the one thing that I enjoyed about this novel. She really made what this book is. Though the rest of the characters were interesting, they really didn't "deliver" for me.

The biggest issue about Please Ignore Vera Dietz for me was the lack of emotion. I felt as if there was no emotion at all coming from the characters or the story line. Frankly, it made me not care. I felt as if everything was indirect and unemotional. I did finish this book, but I didn't really care what happened.

I just wasn't into the plot. Here I was expecting a nice plot twist, maybe a bit of a bang about Charlie, and what secrets Vera's been keeping, but that just didn't come. Everything that happened with Jenny Flick was just plain weird (and not in a good way,) and I felt as if everything in this book was lying right in front of me. Not as if it was obvious, but as if everything needed to come together somehow, and the end result of the ribbons tying just didn't work. I don't want to spoil anything, so my lips are buttoned up.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz just didn't speak to me. I am not into picking up any more of A.S. King's books if they are like this one. I know a lot of people enjoyed this book, so good for them. It just wasn't an "it" book for me.