Satan Reviews-Books: Floored

Floored

Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Byrne, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson, Eleanor Wood

Macmillan Children's Books

Less hate than you'd expect, spoilers, throwbacks to other reviews

I didn't know what to expect when I first picked up this book. I liked the idea- a collaborative novel, instead of a collection of short stories (which is what I usually see when the author count is more than two) and I thought "ooooh, sounds interesting". My mum definitely didn't coerce me into buying this book.

This book has been described as "The Breakfast Club meets One Day". Which is great because I haven't read/watched either of these so it was the least helpful description ever.

A fun fact about this book is that I've read books by two of the authors in this line-up. The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting by Holly Bourne and The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury. I don't think I gave either glowing reviews. But then again I wrote them a couple of years ago so I might like them if I read them now- I'll have to read them again, won't I? Those reviews are super messy and need redoing now that I'm an adult or something.

So considering all of that, I actually really liked this book. I have no idea who wrote what so I couldn't even be biased towards any of the characters that way. I did hate Hugo though. But that was due to his traits not how he was written. I think you were meant to at least dislike him at the beginning though.

The way the book was structured was pretty cool. I also like how there was minimal overlap between the chapters because I think I would have lost my mind if I had to read the same thing over and over again from different perspectives. I also liked the idea of the time skips of a year each time so you see the gradual growth of the characters and their relationships. I know that there were complaints that the snippets didn't really allow the reader to learn about the characters but I disagree on that. You read from the characters point of view and then you see the characters from other people's point of views so in a way you get a more rounded interpretation of each character. In a way, you learn about the characters better than if you got a full length novel form one point of view. 

I also liked most of the characters. I may have disliked Hugo but I liked the way he was written so it all balances out in the end. In a way. So I'm going to give summaries of my thoughts on each character. These will probably not help anyone understand the characters at all but whatever.

• Dawson (who was on TV)

My bisexual(?) boy. Does what he did to Kaitlyn count as cheating? I don't know because I don't remember. He's a nice guy (in the good way not the "what, no hug?" way) most of the time and you can understand his motives and feelings as they're explained in a way that isn't all "woe is me". 

• Kaitlyn (who's losing her sight but won't admit it)

My girl. Understandably angry. I love an (understandably) angry girl. I feel like books don't allow girls to be angry. It's always framed in a weird way so her snippiness is kinda fun. She's sarcastic and probably wouldn't be afraid to cut a bitch. So big mood right there.

• Sasha (who is desperately trying to deliver a parcel)

Also my girl. Definitely not straight- I will fight people over this. She straight up fancies the woman she cleans and then babysits for and I think she also lowkey had a thing for Velvet. I would straight up fight her dad. She's a sweetie (I mean this in the actual meaning of the word not the "sweaty" way) and deserves better. I'd probably also fight her mum. But her dad's higher on my to fight list.

• Hugo (who knows he's the best-looking guy in the lift and is eyeing up Velvet)

Is the worst but goes through the most character development. I would also fight- to the death. 

• Velvet (who knows what that look means)

Also, also my girl. Girls like her are never written sympathetically and are often a minor antagonistic character- so this was a nice change.  

• Joe (who shouldn't be here at all, but who wants to be here the most)

So much suffering. Bad at girls.

I liked the ending. It's very open but in a way that works. Leaves room for a sequel I'm joking.

I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars, lol.