Roomies

Review first published on fefferbooks.com. A free advanced reader copy of this book was provided by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. The review below is in no way influenced by this consideration.

I loved Roomies. Remember when you were a high-school grad, getting everything ready to go off to college, and you got that letter? The one that told you who your roommate would be? There was so much anticipation wrapped up in that letter, for me. What would she be like? Would she be fun? Would she be weird? Would we be a horrible fit, or be great friends? Really, deep down, it all came down to the burning question: would she like me? (She was awesome, by the way, and I have many silly memories of that show more year. I couldn’t have asked for a better roomie than Marianne. Aww.)

Reading Roomies brought back all of those memories, and Zarr and Altebrando captured that nervous energy beautifully. Even more wonderfully for us, they fleshed out the story by allowing the friendship between the two roomies-to-be, EB and Lauren, to develop online. It’s a clever premise that lets us examine the convention of online friendship. As the book progresses, we swap narrators and get nice, meaty insights into the emotional plights that face our heroines. We agonize with them over the battles they’re waging in their personal lives, and get wrapped up in their relationships. Then we read the emails they send one another, and sometimes cringe, knowing exactly how poorly something is going to come across, or how someone might misconstrue a brisk (but friendly!) line sent off in a rush. It’s just the nature of online communication that it’s so easily misread, and the way Zarr and Altebrando work those subtleties in, here, is brilliant.

That said, it’s not a heavy novel. It plays out naturally and is a fulfilling, enjoyable read. I thought Roomies had a great deal to say about the nature of friendship, understanding, and the bonds we can form when we’re willing to give a little of ourselves.

Mild swearing, references to sex, but no nitty-gritty. 4.5 stars. show less

This is one of the times where I was really happy to have been wrong about what I expected a book was going to be about. For whatever reason, I though Roomies was an epistolary style novel. While I do love books written that way, I'm pretty thrilled Roomies wasn't.

While Elizabeth and Lauren's email exchanges are a significant part of the novel, they're not all of it. It's in all that we learn of their lives outside of their their interactions that the story really works, that it really becomes a full story. We see each girl prepare for the start of college, their different family situations, the new boys they meet -- and their struggles to figure out how that fits in with their impending departure.

Not only does this give a much better show more sense of each girl than if we were only to know them through what they chose to share in the emails, it puts the emails in a bit of a different light. We're able to see what they're holding back - from each other, from themselves, from those around them.

Elizabeth and Lauren aren't falling apart at the idea of leaving home, of starting college. They're excited and, seemingly, ready to go, but also anxious.The way Roomies focuses both on their current lives, allowing things to still happen (like new boyfriend potential, friend drama) while the lead-up to leaving home is ever-present is pretty perfect. It's not all about the girl's imminent departure, all while it is.

The things Lauren and Elizabeth experience are pretty universal (change, growth, loss, love, etc) things we've all experienced at some point, the college roommate situation is just how Altebrando and Zarr told them this time. It's a great read for all ages. You don't need to be getting your own college roomie(s) any time soon (or already have one) to enjoy Roomies and Lauren and Elizabeth's tale. show less

Like Rainbow Rowell's FANGIRL and Lauren Myracle's THE INFINITE MOMENT OF US, ROOMIES is what "new adult" should be: adolescents taking their first steps into adult life (or at least college). Elizabeth (EB) and Lauren receive an e-mail from UC Berkeley, pairing them as roommates. Lauren is disappointed - she wanted a single - but EB sends Lauren a quick, friendly message, to say hi and figure out who's bringing what. A correspondence develops, and the reader sees the e-mails as well as each character's perspective in alternating chapters. The girls lead different lives (EB is an only child with a single mom in New Jersey, Lauren is the de facto third parent in a houseful of kids in San Francisco), but get to know each other in fits and show more starts, afraid of missteps. They do have a few miscommunications (and one all-out fight), but the way their relationship develops is completely convincing. While getting to know each other, they are also each managing their relationships with their best friends and new boyfriends, trying to make good choices during a time of transition.

Quotes

That's the thing about having a minute to think around here. Everything you haven't had time to worry about in the chaos of the day comes at you, whoosh. If you don't move on to the next task, ASAP, it can undo you." (Lauren, 33)

Maybe [it's] a decision I'm supposed to make and it doesn't matter that I'm making it in a sort of pressure cooker. (Elizabeth, 156)

I'm about to uproot myself, and because of that, I'm afraid to make any real choices. (Elizabeth, 157)

I'm sure your family still needs you. But I'm sure they'll survive without you, too. Isn't that sort of the way it works? (Elizabeth to Lauren, 182)

When Keyon comes out, he asks, quietly, "Why say you're okay when you're not okay?" (Lauren, 189)

"We're already moving on. Before we even have to. Why is that happening?"
"I don't know," I say. "Maybe it's easier. Less pressure to have some big final hurrah." (Elizabeth and Justine, 196)

Why do people lie? ...When you get older and smarter, when you're not six, don't you figure out that lying only causes more hassle, more anger, more hurt? (Lauren, 203)

I feel a weird sort of impatience to be gone already and not spending all the time I have left here leaving. (Elizabeth, 263) show less

My Rating – 3 ¾ Stars

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley on behalf of Little, Brown books for young Readers in exchange for a fair review.

Elizabeth “EB” can’t wait to move from New Jersey to Berkeley and get out of her small town. She has a strained relationship with her mom and her dad abandoned has a child when he came out of the closet. So when she gets an email from Student Housing with her future roommate’s information, she is eager to get the ball rolling on her new life and quickly sends off an email to introduce herself.

Lauren “Lo” lives in San Francisco with her mom, dad and five younger siblings. She has two jobs and got lucky with a scholarship so she can afford Berkeley. She was crossing her show more fingers to get a single and finally have some peace and quiet. No such luck. She isn’t too happy about the idea of a roommate and definitely not one that seems to be as chipper as EB.

They sort of reluctantly keep the emails going back and forth, letting little parts of their lives poke through. EB is way more forward that Lo and tends to share a lot more personal stuff but Lo breaks out of her shell a bit. They eventually form a nice friendship after some small bumps and one pretty big bump in the road.

EB opens up about breaking up with a boyfriend she never really liked and finding a new boy that she actually loves with only a few weeks left before she moves across the country. Lo talks about the possible relationship with a guy that’s a different race. They share a lot about their fears of leaving friends, and home, and their families. How they each feel like terrible friends.

It’s a coming of age type book. Who isn't nervous about starting a new adventure in their lives and want to make sure you are compatible with your new roommate? Both girls had their own voices and were both pretty relatable.

I’d write a longer review but not much happens in the book. Which was something I didn't like but it was enjoyable enough. Also the interracial dating thing was brought up A LOT. It was mentioned at least once in every chapter of Lo’s point of view and it felt weird to me. It seemed to be a bigger issue than it should have been.

Overall I thought it was cute. A nice quick summer read.

You can read this review and more at Punk's House of Books and FicCentral show less

I adored the premise of Roomies, high school students counting down the days until the end of school, and spending that final summer before college getting to begin to correspond to their roomate for the fall. Personally, I never really had a roomie before college, I was an only child and never went to camp, etc.

Elizabeth and Lauren are two different girls from different backgrounds but as they slowly share some of their life to a virtually anonymous girl on the internet, but also one that you will be living with in mere months. They begin to realize that they are more alike than possible. They both feel on the fringes as far as social circles go, they both have two jobs even if from different economic backgrounds, and they both have show more families that aren't traditional.

Although stories told in poems or in letters (especially if that is the whole thing) aren't a great fit for me all of the time, the emails in this one didn't bother me. I think that it is because it is mostly in narrative and the emails are supplemental. Another thing that I liked was how they faux composed snarky or emotional before they figured out what they really wanted to say.

Elizabeth and her family dynamics really intrigued me. As I said, I was an only child, so her having so many brothers and sisters opened my eyes to a different reality. She helped her parents a lot and she really loved her brothers and sisters, but at times she felt the weight on her shoulders and longed for a bit more quiet time to herself. I loved how close she was with her parents though, and how for the most part she really cherished their traditions--weekends together as a family.

I was worried about the romantic threads because I knew it was going to be a summer book with Lauren moving across the country to pursue her dreams of being a landscaper and Elizabeth moving thirty minutes away. But it ended up working nicely and although the final answer for the relationships wasn't set in stone, they were both defined and had a plan for the future.

There was always some drama, things that they told each other that they hadn't really confided in, and that made a strong bond between them. But they weren't in a state that nothing could shake that because some decisions and bad timing and mis-communication and replying when upset and taking anger out on someone else that shouldn't be the target. They weren't unshakable, but they made a good foundation for their future as roomies.

I loved the themes of friendship and family that was presented in this one. Although there are some pretty dysfunctional parenting going on, the family that each girl lived with was solid in their own ways. Lauren's mom was dating a bunch of guys, some very inappropriate leaving Lauren to deal with her feelings on that, and she also tries to reach out to her gay father who of course is now separated and has been for most of Lauren's life. Then Elizabeth has both of her parents, but also has five brothers and sisters and she is the oldest, so at times she felt like a third parent instead of having the bonding memories with them, or so she thinks. But we get to see sweet moments with her and Gertie as well as Peej. But as time comes closer and closer for her to move out, there were also some pretty tender moments with EB as she likes to be called and her parents, particularly her dad.

The humor that was in this book was good as well. That and some spot on discussions about stuff that teens really go through and think about. It was honest and some of it was the hard issues that most teens don't really talk about, or at least I know that I didn't.

The ending was sweet and fit the book perfectly. It sets up that they are finally meeting in person, and though they have this summer of emails to get to know each other, it is still a first, and a huge step in their roomie-ness and friendship.

Bottom Line: Funny, dramatic story of the emails between two girls who will be college roommates. show less

Elizabeth can hardly wait to go to college. She's going all the way across the country to UC-Berkeley, as far as she can get from her controlling mother. When she gets an email with her housing assignment, she immediately contacts her new roommate to coordinate things for their dorm room.

Lauren is less than thrilled to get Elizabeth's email -- she had requested a single. After sharing a room with two younger sisters, she was hoping for a little privacy. But being the oldest of six siblings means she is also able to adjust her expectations, so she writes back to Elizabeth, and a tentative friendship is formed.

Over the course of the summer, the two girls will get to know each other through email, sharing anecdotes about friendships, show more parents, and boys, and looking forward to what's ahead. But when their communication hits a rocky patch, it starts to look like the girls will not be friends -- or even roommates -- by the time fall rolls around.

Readers who enjoy realistic YA fiction dealing with these sorts of issues will enjoy this book. It's well-written and the characters are relatable, though readers may not always agree with their decisions or opinions.

I listened to the audiobook, and while it was a fairly good production, I thought the two girls sounded too much alike, despite being voiced by different actors. I don't think this was an issue in the writing, and each segment was set apart with the date and location so it was easy to follow when there was a change between characters, but the two did sound fairly similar, so if I paused in the middle of a segment and came back to it later, it sometimes took me a little while to remember who was speaking. But it wasn't enough to really lessen my enjoyment of the story -- just a minor quibble. show less

Reading this book made me realize something. I missed out in college.

My first two years of college were spent at the local community college, which is less that 5 miles from my childhood home. Then I transferred to the local University and commuted. So I never left home, I never had a roommate, and I never had that unique freedom of being by myself in a new city. Not that regret my path, not really, but I do find myself wondering what that would have been like.

Roomies gave me a picture of what it would have been like. Of course, the title is a misnomer really…the two girls in this book are not roomies, yet. They are just going to be roomies once the school year starts.

Anywho.

The dual narration was interesting. Having never read either show more author before, I’m not sure who wrote what and honestly, it felt pretty seamless to me. With both girls coming from very different parts of the country, different types of families, and different world views, the dual authorship made each girl feel very separate and complete in themselves. In other words, it worked. The girls have never met, but after finding out they will be roommates in their first year of college, they start emailing each other to start the process of getting to know each other a little early. Their differences immediately start coming out. One is an only child and happy to have a roommate. The other is the oldest of 5 and wanted a single room. In typical fashion, an email note meant in jest is taken the wrong way. Yet they begin sharing things with each other they haven’t shared with anyone. One has a gay father who abandoned her as a baby. One is striking up something interesting with a black friend and she worries about what others will think. They become close confidants. But then something happens, a trust is broken, and they go to wondering if they can even live together.

I really appreciated how both authors used their characters to illustrate real world problems and would think many a soon-to-be freshman could appreciate what these two girls go through. I know it is one I would like my own children to read someday for real guidance on what it’s like to be not only embarking on college life, but to be embarking on Real Life itself. This is the first book I’ve read by both Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando and look forward to exploring their works further. show less