Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
hardcover 260 pages
published by Random House in October 2010
ISBN13: 9780375866593
Type: {Commuter Read: format lends easily to starting/ stopping}
Rating: {Eh: Not my favorite, but fine enough to finish the book}
Why You’re Reading It:
- You love New York City
- You’ve heard great things about this book and are curious
- You are a fan of Rachel Cohn and/or David Levithan
- Melodramatic teen drama gets your motor running
What I Thought:
While at The Strand (the legendary book store in New York City) sixteen year-old Dash finds a red moleskin notebook tucked in next to an old copy of Franny and Zooey with the following words on the first page…
“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”
What follows is a hunt through the bookstore (using clues from the notebook). Smart beyond his years, and mature in a way of no sixteen year-old human male that I’ve ever encountered, Dash sets off to find out who has left this notebook. Throughout the days leading up to Christmas and New Year’s, Dash and Lily riddle each other through the city leaving clues and thoughts in the sacred red notebook. Do they ever find each other? Do you want them to? These are the questions and you will find the answers in Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares.
Unfortunately, the moment that the book went downhill for me, was the moment Dash stepped out of the bookstore (around page 40-ish? I read it on my Nook, so not sure). Because it is after that moment when we meet Lily and see how drastically different these two characters are. Lily is incredibly immature for her age. Known for her tantrums, love of stuffed animals, and complete innocence of the world Lily seems like a tween rather than someone who will be off to college shortly. While Dash’s vocabulary, ability to live on his own, and self-control are far beyond his years. The fact that these two characters don’t fit together (and that I honestly began not to care if they ended up together), was added to the problem that this book was trying to be deep in a painfully obvious way.
Great Aunt Ida was my favorite character, and she might have been better suited to play heroine to Dash’s hero. Beyond that, I enjoyed the literary references (and the adorable cover art). But all in all, many of the aspects of the story were not believable (one who usually has no problem suspending disbelief if the story is engaging) as well as redundant. Eventually it just seemed silly that the story was still going on, and the authors seemed to take dramatic reaches to keep things moving.
I do admit that I enjoyed the chapters about Dash the most, perhaps that can be attributed to the fact that the characters were written by different authors, both of whom I haven’t read previously (Levithan wrote those and Cohn wrote Lily’s chapters).
Because this is such a popular book right now, I would like to open the comments to those who have read it… did you like it, why? Feel free to post a link to your review here in the comments.
I felt a bit like you did about it, though I didn’t dislike it quite as much. I enjoyed their journeys through the city very much, and some of the humor was great, but I agree with you about not really liking Lily (though not to your extent). Here’s my review: http://tahleenreads.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-dash-and-lilys-book-of-dares-by.html
I actually think I would have enjoyed it more if it were a grown-up version or f Lily was a little more grown up. I actually liked Dash and I thought the idea for the plot was a good one. I’m off to read your review…
Hmmm, I’ve heard such good things abou this one but if Lilly is annoying…I don’t know if it’s for me now.
Unfortunately, I’m not the only one who felt this way. I was talking to others on Twitter who agreed.
The first time I heard about this book was over at “Things mean a lot” (and nymeth really liked it
). I wonder if they’ll also do a movie, like they did for Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. have you see it?
It is really popular on GoodReads as well. I just didn’t care for it. I haven’t read or seen Nick and Norah, but I’ve heard it’s better than Dash and Lily… might have to try it someday!
awww, i had such high hopes for this book especially when i started to see the good reviews rolling out. but i really hate reading books with annoying main characters. it just makes me want to chunk the book across the room.
Me too!
Me too — definitely had high hopes! Who knows, maybe that’s why I didn’t like it much; too high of hopes?
I’m not much of a young adult reader, but I did enjoy Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. This premise sounded intriguing, but annoying female characters don’t do much for me. Thanks for the warning!
I am a big fan of David Levithan but I kinda hate Rachel Cohn……I find all her characters annoying, but I read their books because I am such a huge fan of his. I am in the process of reading this right now so I hope it isn’t as bad as you guys say
Well personally I thought that Lily was interesting and I could really relate to her and I love her style. I agree she could be a bit immature at times but she progressively got better and by the end of the book she was my favorite character.