This will always be one of my favourite Sarah Dessen books
By Aggie / Spinebreakers Crew
Sarah Dessen has written countless memorable books with her début in 1996 “That Summer.” Both of her parents were professors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and that seems to inspire the idea of the Auden’s parents in “Along for the Ride.” Having read all of her previous books it was very easy to understand and find similarities between the characters and plots. Some of the characters mentioned and sub-characters appear from her other novels and this adds familiarity and depth.
This story is one of reflection and depth, Sarah Dessen raises some of the issues from her other books such as separation and family marital problems along with other issues such as growing up, acceptance, grief and loss. This book reminded me so much of “That Summer” in which the main character Auden is recovering from her parents’ divorce and her father’s remarriage. She like many of Sarah Dessen’s other characters is an outsider and feels as if she has missed out on the opportunity to have a normal childhood.
Auden is a very interesting character and I found it hard to relate to her at first as she seemed so reluctant and stubborn to change her unhappy situation after her parents’ divorce and her brother going travelling. She is left alone with her mother who is presented as quite an uncaring and cold hearted person.
However the story become more captivating after the first couple of chapters and I was unable to put it down. As Auden moves to the coast to stay with her father she begins to learn lessons not only about herself and her past but about the world around her. She gains a more open approach to life and eventually is able to deal with her parents’ divorce and stop masking her pain and building her father up while seeking approval from her Mother.
She stays with her dad, stepmother (Heidi), and new half-sister, Thisbe, for the summer. All of these changes take place during that time and are due to meeting Eli who has insomnia, and was a professional BMX biker. He and Auden explore Colby during the night when both of them are still awake. They build a very strong relationship as he helps Auden on her quest to regain her childhood.
Auden changes during the book from a quite annoying and passive character, who is controlled by the parent’s behaviours and spends life on sidelines, watching others enjoying themselves whilst convincing herself that she was too mature or too inelegant to have that sort of childhood. As the story—as well has her relationship with Eli—rolls on, she follows a quest of sorts, and finally makes up for lost time. She grew up with a very abnormal childhood, never having learned how to ride a bike, or do much of anything throughout the novel. She developed insomnia when she stayed up late, listening to her parents fight throughout her childhood.
By the end of the book I wanted to read on and this will always be one of my favourite Sarah Dessen books as it was so relevant and true as Auden grew up and stopped being accepted and started taking chances it made me think and it made we want to read on. The ending is happy not cliché or cheesy, however it gives you an outcome that will bring a genuine smile to your face. This book resulted in many late nights but was well worth the lack of sleep and I’m looking forward to reading it again.