Review : Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Tittle : Wither (The Chemical Garden #1)
Author : Lauren DeStefano
Publication date : March 22nd 2011 by Simon & Schuster Books For YoungReaders

I had this book in my to-read list for more than six months that I almost forgot about it. Actually it is the cover that got attracted. It looks so futuristic and somehow I thought the story would deliver something different. Yes, the theme in Wither might be slightly different compared to typical dystopian novels. Did I enjoy it? Well, read on!

A sixteen-year-old girl Rhine Ellery lives in a world where humanity almost reaches its ending. The lifespan of human is 20 for females and 25 for males because of an unknown virus. Since the youngster are somehow forced to procreate, most of their children are ended as orphans. One day she is kidnapped by an eccentric scientist who puts her on a marriage to his son, along with other two girls. Now she has no way to escape the mansion of illusion where everything look so glamor where in fact they're trapped, for the rest of their life.

There are so many things I found in Wither to be not making sense at all. First, let's talk about the virus. I am not by all means a medical or biological expert, but come on, everyone is a unique individual and as in disease, we all know that it affects everyone differently. For example some people recover from flu within a few days while the others may take longer than a week. Now why does this virus work in the exact same pattern on everyone? How does it even know when a girl reaches 20 or a boy reaches 25? It sounds so unbelievable!

Second, the kidnapping thingy. Since it is done by a very powerful family, why would they have to kidnap the girls? I mean, it would be so much easier to post an advertisement of "wanted wives" or something like that and let the girls respond it voluntarily. Kidnapping them is so much more hassle and since they're so wealthy, I am there would be many of orphan girls who are interested. Well, they need better life, right?

Third, there is this 13-year-old girl character who is described to be wanting to get older so bad. She just loves living in the mansion and got pregnant not long after the marriage. Can you imagine that? A pregnant 13 year old girl? I personally find it disturbing.

As for the plot, the whole entire book is about Rhine who wishes to escape so bad. But the problem is, it stays that way until the very last page. I mean there's no important scene going on, nothing happens. She rambles, just like that. What a waste of (more than) 300 pages!

The writing style is good and I believe that Lauren Destefano is a very talented writer. Although I didn't enjoy Wither I might want to read the sequel (I changed my mind. YA books don't interest me anymore) Who knows it would get better, but then again, I just might.

So sorry to say that I cannot give it more than 1 rating. This book isn't for me.

Did you find this novel to be enjoyable?