Roomies

This book made me miss college. Usually I don't like books that switch voices but in this case it worked really well. Lauren and Elizabeth take turns writing emails (which serve as chapters) getting to know each other before they become freshman roommates. I thought the authors did a great job at capturing all the feelings that people experience before they leave home for the first time whether it's to go an hour away or across the continent. Really great book.

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

Read from October 29 to November 02, 2013

I started this one on accident. I was reading The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History and then remembered that I needed to see what was coming up for December's LibraryReads list. I downloaded this one and then just kept reading.

When I put it down that first night, I was never in a rush to go back to it. A little reminded me of my own pre-college worries. I remember when I first got the name of my roommate I was so excited, my mom called to tell me while I was visiting my sister in Arizona. She read her name as "Mesan" instead of "Megan" so when I called and asked for "Mesan", I was told I had the wrong number. Go figure. Things started show more promising enough, we both were going with orange & pink for bedding. However, once the year got going, we quickly realized we were not going to be BFFs.

Anyway...we didn't have a lot of communication over the summer, but I do remember having a lot of the same fears as Lauren and EB. But you know how some books stick with you, some don't. As soon as I finished this one, I thought..."it was pretty good and I'm glad the college experience is making more appearances outside of The Marriage Plot (which was kind of boring)."

While I enjoyed Fangirl more than Roomies, I think fans of Rowell's novel will like this one, too. show less

I would like to thank NetGalley for granting me the chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. Though I received the e-book for free that in no way influenced this review.

It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by show more change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando join forces for a novel about growing up, leaving home, and getting that one fateful e-mail that assigns your college roommate.

The two girls correspond exclusively through email, which is bound to cause some problems when they are not only strangers, but can't hear intonation or inflection in the other person's voice or have body language cues to read. Despite their differences we also get to explore all of their similarities. Lauren comes from a very large, close-knit family, while EB is an only child, living with her mother. One girl is a virgin and one is not. They are both different in many ways, yet they share so many of the same issues. The challenges of growing up, figuring out who you are, who you want to be, even what you want to be/do. Trying to define romantic relationships when they will be long-distance, how to cut the apron strings from family and still maintain a relationship with all parties understanding that the child is becoming an adult. With that comes the emotional roller-coaster ride of trying to find their balance between letting go of the familiar and embracing the new. Plus the lessons that come with the journey - you don't have to let go of the past to start something new, you simply find ways to create more space to include the new.

The amount of emotional maturing the girls do over the summer before their freshman year is pretty astounding, not just for the reader but also for the characters. That ability to find the inner maturity is an excellent sign that it is time to move forward, that they are really ready and can handle it. Of course there will be bumps along the way, but it's only time to worry if it is a seamless transition.

This story is well told, capturing the struggles of growing up. All the questions, insecurities, mistakes, growth, excitement, and fun, as well as feeling totally alone and as if no one else understands what you are going through. Then of course there's that feeling you share with best friends, the one where you feel you are each one half of the same person, very similar to the feeling you get with the romantic partner in your life - especially during the 'honeymoon' phase of a new relationship. This is a sweet look at what a pre-freshman, online relationship might become, with all its ups and downs. 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

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