Bubble World

I was only going to give "Bubble World", by Carol Snow, 4 stars, but when I tried to come up with a reason - think of something 'missing' - I couldn't, so I have to give it 5 stars! At first I was a little lost in the lingo of Bubble World, but the further I read, the more I enjoyed the story, and the lingo seemed to flow more naturally. A very enjoyable read, and I can't wait for my teenage daughter to read it, too. I held off giving "Switch" to my tween because I felt the relationships sometimes got a little 'old' for my daughter... I didn't have to worry about that at all with Bubble World (plus my daughter is now older and geez, the things they require her to read in high school.... not my choice for appropriate material!) I'm a big fan of Carol Snow's books, both YA and 'regular'.... This newest one did NOT disappoint! And I agree, Carol - the cover is great! (This is specifically for the Kindle version - in which there were little to no editing/spelling issues - which has not been the case in many of my Kindle purchases!)

Good

Welcome to the island of Agalinas, a tropical paradise where the weather is perfect, everyone is wealthy, and "class" consists of eating snacks and chatting with friends. Freesia has lived in the only town on Agalinas, Avalon, her entire life, and there's no way she'd ever want to live anywhere else. Occasionally something strange will happen-- a blackout, or people disappearing. But she's always found it's best not to think too hard about things. Recently, though, the strange happenings have been getting stranger, and more frequent. A blackout is one thing, but how can a store with big windows go pitch black on a sunny day? And what about the ugly girl she sees in her mirror one morning? Worse, no one else seems to notice. Is Freesia going crazy, or is something seriously wrong in Agalinas? I have to warn you right now that since the exposition comes about 70 pages into the book, it's going to be hard to talk about it without giving anything away (especially when it comes to themes). I'll try, but I don't think I'll be able to avoid hinting at things (skip down to IN SHORT if you want the short, 100% spoiler-free version). But the early reveal turns out to be a good thing. "Bubble World" starts off colorful and fun. The characters are shallow, but I found myself interested in all the beautiful scenery, technology, clothes, and parties. However, this could have gotten boring fast. Freesia's character starts to gain more complexity once she starts taking notice of the strange things around her. She gets scared, feels isolated. And when she learns the truth about her world, she finds herself dealing with some pretty heavy issues and having to make some serious choices. Freesia comes into her own as she learns to navigate a not-so-perfect world, trying to make the best of it but longing to return to her state of ignorance. This was something I could strongly relate to. I am someone who lives with one foot in the real world and the other in her own fantasy world, and I know what it's like to wish reality were more like the world of my imagination. This is what the book is about, really-- the conundrum of choosing between an imperfect world and a perfect (but fabricated) one. The book handled this topic at least as well as other fiction I've read (or seen) on the subject, but, like the others, I didn't think it went into enough depth. It touched on the question of "What makes something real?" but didn't really explore it. Other questions I wanted to see answered: Can there be different kinds of reality? Do you have to choose, or can reality and a world like Agalinas both be part of your life? Can AI be sentient (this is a question the text raises but never really addresses)? I realize that this is a YA novel, not a philosophy text book, but these questions are obvious ones and could easily have been addressed. One problem here (and in other works of its kind) is that there's a villain pulling the strings in the shadows. That changes the issue. A fantasy world where you're free to make your own choices is one thing, but if someone else is manipulating things, there are issues of control and subjugation that are obviously going to make the fantasy world more problematic. Just once, I'd like to see a work like this where the theme is kept pure and simple, one where there's a possibility for some kind of middle ground. But despite my thematic issues, the plot is compelling; I read this book at an unusually fast pace (for me). I stayed interested in Freesia's life both in and outside of Agalinas. Freesia is certainly the strongest character, but some others were good, too. I wanted to know how she felt and thought, wanted to find out how she'd cope and what decisions she'd make. Freesia's bestie, Jelissa, is mostly there to support her (though she does show emotional depth later in the story). Her other bestie, Ricky, showed more development, but I felt the book didn't really give his thoughts enough attention. He's a kind person, and much smarter than he leads on. He's stuck in one way of thinking, shown to be in denial, but really, I didn't think his thoughts were entirely wrong. I wanted the novel to explore his philosophy (it's real because it feels real) more. Unfortunately, the other characters (family, friends, and love interest) were not so well developed. The mother is ambiguous, shown to be loving at times, but then she'll do something so misguided. She doesn't seem to learn anything, and though she claims she wants the best for Freesia, she's got to be either selfish or incredibly naive. The little sister, Angel, turns into a stereotypical rebellious/apathetic teenager. The father doesn't really come into it much; he mostly goes along with the mother, but does seem to be more considerate. And neither the friends nor the romantic interest get much personality at all. IN SHORT: "Bubble World" has a compelling, fun story that keeps the pages turning. The exposition comes early, but this allows the book to focus on the choice Freesia has to make and allows her to develop as a character. Though the story is entertaining, there are some pretty heavy themes at its heart. It did pretty well with them, at least as well as other fiction of this nature that I'm familiar with. However, I wanted it to go much more in depth than it did. Freesia is a strong, likable character, and her best friends, though not as well-written, get their own development. The other characters, though, were pretty weak. Still, I think the characters that were strong, the compelling plot, and the themes (though not fully developed) are more than enough to recommend this title.

fabulous book by a brilliant, funny author!!!!

When we first meet Freesia, she seems to have it all: a beautiful house on a magical island, a loving family, beautiful friends, a closet full of gorgeous clothes, and a perfect life of no responsibility. But you know that old saying about if it's too good to be true... Freesia doesn't pay too much attention to the little things, but even she eventually notices that not everything is as it appears. What's with all of the black-outs lately? The odd glitches? The nasty nightmare where she's in a little dark room and her reflection isn't her own? Too scary to ignore, but she's not sure what it all means. Found the premise of this book fascinating, as we discover alongside Freesia that her perfect life in paradise is not quite what it seems. Part of the fascination is that I could see her situation becoming a reality not too far down the road (if it's not already here)! This is a fun, bubbly story that makes a great summer read! Recommended for anyone looking for a fast read or something light and fluffy for the beach.

Despite a wonderful, entirely plausible, and all-too-likely premise, with a solid well thought out plot, this book was frustrating because the writing seemed to be at a 3rd out 4th grade level, while the philosophical concepts in the novel would be more suited for teens. Freesia lives in a virtual world, in which she is beautiful, popular, and never intellectually challenged. When she discovers that her reality is manufactured, she had to decide what works is right for her. Freesia' s transition from her false paradise is a bit too smooth, but the ideas in the book are high concept, and I hope the author writes more, aimed at a higher level of reading skill.

Granddaughter enjoyed the story.

Great book!!! If you don't like it at first, keep reading because it gets better and better. It really makes you think. Eventually I couldn't put it down, had to stay up late to finish it. It's wiggy scrummy!

The book does start a little slow and it can be a little tedious when you're inside bubble world but the further you get into the book the more worth it, it becomes. Freesia has a perfect life, perfect friends, perfect family, perfect everything. But then things start glitching. Freesia wakes up to discover she's been enrolled into a virtual academy where her parents think she's getting a top education only she's getting lessons in eye makeup and hairstyling, the program creator allowing the kids to have fun whilst getting all the cash. There's a lot of character progression within this story as Freesia discovers her real self and what it's like to live in the real world again

This book kind of melted my brain, and not in an awesome way. More like in the way your brain gets fried if you watch a thousand episodes of The Only Way Is Essex back-to-back. I imagine. So the premise of the book is that our MC, Freesia, lives on a beautiful island called Agalinas, where she is beautiful and slim, where peacocks wake her up every morning by singing her pop songs, where her wardrobe is so big she wouldn’t have to repeat an outfit for a year and where she takes classes like Advanced Eye Make Up at her high school. Sadly for Freesia, Agalinas isn’t real. In reality, she is an ordinary-looking girl living in a town in Arizona, immersed in a 24-7 virtual reality world. The author has an engaging way of writing that made this a quick, easy read but largely this book didn’t work out well for me and because I hate trashing books, I’m going to explain exactly why. Because, hey, what didn’t work for me might be perfectly good reading for someone else. Warning: spoilers ahead. The plot of this book started off interestingly, with this shallow, superficial virtual world, and it had me wondering where it was going to go. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really seem to go anywhere. Freesia starts off in Bubble World, commits an infraction, gets kicked out, re-adjusts to the real world, gets re-admitted to Bubble World and then decides to go home. And that’s pretty much it. I just felt like this book could have been so much more than it was. Bubble World is so saccharine-sweet, so flaky and shallow, so totally devoted to instant gratification, that I think her real-world home should have been a lot more raw and gritty in comparison to add a better contrast. Instead, her home in Arizona was comfortably middle-class, her high school was okay (although not as beautiful as Agalinas) and she made friends within about thirty seconds of arriving back. There was no real tension in Freesia’s situation. It would have been better if there was some nefarious reason for all these children to be in Bubble World, like their life energy was being harvested, or their brain waves were being used to design new super-weapons without their knowing. Something. I didn’t understand why the creator of the Bubble World programme made everything so superficial. The reason he gave was that children don’t flourish in traditional educational environments, but he wasn’t exactly churning our future Einsteins with Bubble World. And did he not think he’d get found out when the kids returned to the real world and could add two and two without using their fingers? I also couldn’t work out why any parent would sign their child up for Bubble World. At all. To completely immerse your child in a virtual world - night and day - without having any access to what your child is doing, or any idea what they’re learning (in this case, nothing whatsoever) just doesn’t sound like something parents would do. I know parents send their children to boarding schools, but they’re still in the real world, with real experiences and real people. This issue came to a head for me towards the end of the book, when Freesia is described as having ‘drool on [her] chin, matted and flat hair and dead eyes’. What parent would be happy viewing their child through a plexiglass bubble, looking like that? Freesia’s parents tell her that their reason for sending her to Bubble World was that she had no friends. Well, boo hoo. That’s life, love. You get knocked back and you get up and try again. It’s called emotional development. Any parent who’d deprive their children of that are dumb and deserve to have their kids taken into care. The worldbuilding was good and I got a real sense of what Bubble World looks and feels like, but the world was so Barbie-like that I was surprised how anyone could have stood it for more than a day. Just reading about it was like eating a whole jar of marshmallow fluff in one go. Even the slang words they use were too twee for me: sips and nibbles for drink and food, squiggy for crazy, wiggy for angry, de-vicious for attractive, fizz for flirt. Didn’t work for me. And Freesia. Oh my word. I’ve read a lot of books in my life, but she is a contender for Most Shallow Character Ever. All she cares about is having enough pretty clothes and she judges people solely based on their appearance. She doesn’t grow as a character. Even at the end of the book, when she decides to stay in the real world, she gives this as her reason: ‘It was hard for her to explain exactly what she was feeling. “I don’t want to live in a world without Pop-Tarts.”’ Gah!