from Erin:

I picked up this book after reading and really enjoying the author's novel Ask the Passengers. What happened to Vera's dead best friend Charlie? Why is Vera drinking so much? Who's the creepy guy in the white car? Who burned down Zimmerman's Pet Store? The answers unfold in chapters that alternate between the past and the present (with brief interruptions from Vera's father, dead best friend Charlie and the gaudy pagoda that stands over their town.) Great story and engaging writing make this a quick read. ( )

This is amazing story of love and loss and the gray area in between. It's a struggle of one girl to do the most courageous and scary thing in her 17 years, and that's to break through the wall of silence and speak the truth.

Vera Dietz is one of the most amazing female characters I've read in a long time in young adult fiction. She's not perfect - she actually makes many mistakes, is selfish, and cusses like a sailor at times. But she is pure beauty in her inability to be perfect, because she is REAL.

This book pointed out an issue I've been struggling with lately.

Are we who and what we are because that's the roads we chose or are we predestined because we fit into the mold that everyone else put us in? Are we merely a product of what our parents, peers and society molded us into based on our money, social status or parent's history?

Or are we the maker of our own destinies?

I guess each person has to answer that question themselves. This book is about Vera Dietz answering that question, for both herself and for Charlie. ( )

Just gobbled up A.S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz. Great realistic fiction, filled with messiness and hope. I think it will become one of my favorite ya sad love stories. Charlie has a lot of Holden Caufield in him but Vera is the true star. And I like how the title works on many levels, telling Vera she should ignore things that can't be ignored, and referring to her wish to stay under the radar--an impossible task. I would highly recommend it to older teens and teens who like Ellen Hopkins or John Green. ( )

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15710580-please-ignore-vera-deitz
Life's too short to read modern racist books.

Merged review:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15710580-please-ignore-vera-deitz
Life's too short to read modern racist books.

I got this book in my Quarterly subscription box otherwise I never would have picked it up.

Funny, sad, mysterious, upsetting, occasionally sweet, it really has a little but of everything.

A very enjoyable read despite the dark plot.

Bonus points for me personally because it takes place is an area about 30 minutes from where I live. Not too many pagodas in Pennsylvania! ( )