Struck By Lightning - Chris Colfer

Date finished: August 5th 2013

"Life comes at you fast. It hits you and tries to escape and be expressed in any way possible. In a way, it's a lot like... Lightning."

The Clever Backstory - No Spoilers Given!

This story is set in America, about a boy in High School named Carson Phillips. He's obsessed with his ambition of becoming a successful journalist, but for now, is stuck in High School, in a small town called Clover which he hates.

Carson Phillips is a great character with lots of personality. He has a great drive to reach his goals, despite coming from a troubled home. A broken home, in fact. His dad left home when he was young, and his mother never recovered from it. She spends her days on the couch while Carson is at school.

So his life in pretty awful, and he makes this quite clear, with very 'impressive' language to demonstrate his point. But he has an escape plan. He wants to get to Northwestern University, to become a journalist and write for the New Yorker.

Carson is the classic unpopular student. However I'd say he is portrayed as being independent by his choice, although there are hints throughout he is actually quite a lonely person. As I have said, his only ambition is to get into University.
But when he is denied to the University, being told his application is good but has nothing to stand out on it, Carson opens a literary magazine for other students to write in. The idea is that he wants to prove he can inspire others, and that will get him in.
But due to being unpopular this is not going to be easy, so he resorts to the only thing he can possibly do, in a town where everyone knows everyone, and there's no escape: blackmail.

How was it written?

I enjoyed it all. It was witty and clever, and as it was in first person, you got a real idea of what went on in Carson's head. He was an interesting character to follow through the story. The book we are reading is meant to be his journal, so he keeps it very personal, as well.

With his ability to be rude to people, and his constant negative attitude to the area he lives in, you'd think Carson would be the last person you'd want to read about. However, despite all this, he is actually still a likeable character. It is easy to be impressed by him: his intelligence, and the things he thinks up throughout.

This whole likable or not likeable thing is actually enhanced by what he discovers as he begins to blackmail the students into writing for his magazine. At first he is very unsympathetic. He wants them because it benefits him, and that's it. But as he builds his magazine up, more is revealed about the people he's blackmailing, and Carson himself admits to feeling more sorry for them, as he realises their lives are harder than he first thought.

So the ideas are all there, in this book. So is the characters, and other characters featured in his story. In fact it's very believable too. It's got comedy in it, but it isn't forced. It's not all perfect and pretty throughout. Things often go wrong when you want them to go right. But in my opinion that's more that it is realistic, than negative and pessimistic.

Was there anything you didn't like?

Definitely. The ending. Oh God, it was awful. In fact it's one of the worst 'plot twists' I've ever read; one of those ones where you're screaming 'Why!?' at the pages for ages.

It was one of those things where it ends fine. It wasn't ideal, and not everything had been perfect for him. There were loose ends, but they lead for possibilities for the future. So when I read that ending I was pretty happy. It was oddly uplifting, because despite the fact it wasn't all resolved, it was realistic, and you could believe in it more firmly.

What I despised was the way the writer added this one mini chapter onto the end. I'm not going to say what it was, because of my write-of-nothing-that's-not-on-the-blurb policy. The story ended, and concluded, and then it had just a page and a half tagged onto the end, and it ruined the entire story for me. I just cannot understand why the writer chose to do this!

So this is my suggestion: if you read it, enjoy it. But when you get to the 'last' page, page 256, after the line of "I seem to have misplaced my umbrella", read no further. Stop there, and everything will be fine. Let the uplifting last chapter be uplifting.

Would you recommend it?

Despite the ending, yes I would. It is a well written, quite funny book, which made me laugh throughout it's chapters. It's easy reading, not a struggle, and is in some ways very inspiring, and meaningful, without laying it on too heavily.

Thank you for reading my review if 'Struck By Lightning' written by Chris Colfer, published by Atom.

~Yellow Jane~