Amy and Roger's Epic Detour

Everyone is constantly talking about this book. And I have to say, it is definitely as good as everyone says. After finishing my last book, I needed something light and happy. This book was exactly what I needed. It was entertaining and the characters were real.

This was a contemporary which is typically not my genre. However, the idea of a road trip across America sounds amazing. I loved watching Amy and Roger grow both as individuals and as a couple throughout the book. They were both what the other needed at that time in their lives.

I absolutely loved all the playlists throughout the book and the scrapbook pages about their trip. The one aspect of this book that was slightly disappointing was the end. I really would have loved to know more about what the results of the detour were. Like what happens with her mother, Julia, and Charlie. Plus of course what happens between Roger and her. But at the same time the ending was perfect since it ended at the end of their detour. She was finally in Connecticut which was the goal all along.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it was a quick read. While this may have been better to read in the summer, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. After reading this, I definitely will be picking up more of Morgan Matson's books in the future.

(Review originally posted here at The Book Barbies.)

So, the other day this thing happened. It was called a #LitLush Twitter chat. It came up that Magan, Cass, Sana, and I had never read Amy & Roger's Epic Detour. And that was, apparently, entirely unacceptable. Thus, an impromptu readalong was promptly set up.

I was always scared this was going to be one of those overly-hyped books. You know, the one you see EVERYWHERE, and everyone loves it. So your expectations are a little higher than they would be for a book you just picked up randomly off a shelf because it looked good. Then you read it...and you don't get it. It's fine, but nothing special. Thankfully, this was NOT the case with Amy & Roger. It is beloved for good reason.



I'm completely in love with the typography. Just LOOK AT IT. ♥

I harbor a lot of adoration for this book. It took me a while to fall in love. While I really liked it in the beginning, it grew more and more magnificent as the story progressed. I finally got a chance to sit down and devour it after a couple days, and I was so grateful! Because by then, I was completely immersed in the the story.

It's been a while since I've been on a road trip, and this book majorly renewed my desire to do it again. There are only three things that are absolutely mandatory for a great road trip: good music, good company, and good snacks. And this book had them all. I LOVED how much music there was in this book. I knew a bit of Roger's music, but I'm a huge musical fan. So if we were to compare our iTunes, I probably would have had a lot more in common with Amy.

I loved both Roger and Amy. They both had their issues to work through. They were in a potentially rather awkward situation, driving cross-country with a near stranger. But they found a way to make the most of it, visiting places they wanted to see, accidentally taking deserted roads, finding unexpected friends, and confronting pieces of their past. My only complaint is that I would have liked a little more resolution with Amy's best friend. There was an issue mentioned several times, but it was never really resolved.

The way the book was written was very appealing. Though I know some people aren't a fan, I love the jumping back-and-forth in time approach to books. It keeps you on your toes, and it reveals things as they need to be known. And I much prefer flashbacks to infodumping. You really get to know the characters better that way, too. Matson used the flashbacks very wisely in this book. There were enough to know the story and the characters, but not enough to feel superfluous.

I happened to be obsessing over the new Jillette Johnson album at the time I was reading this. As a rule (although there are exceptions), I don't listen to music with words while I'm reading. I love the music too much and get pulled out of the story because I want to sing along. But there was a really obnoxious bird right outside while I was reading, so I put on this album while I was reading to drown it out. Around the second time around, it hit me that one of the songs was perfect for the book! “True North” wound up sort of becoming my Amy & Roger theme song.

Overall, Amy & Roger's Epic Detour was a thoroughly charming read. If you've yet to read this one, a few words of advice: be prepared to cry a little, swoon quite a bit more, and be bitten by the road trip bug. And if you're like me, you'll enjoy every second! Now, I just need to read Second Chance Summer. After I've restocked all the Kleenaxes in the apartment. I have a feeling I'll be needing them.

“Amy & Roger's Epic Detour”, es un libro fascinante, entra en la categoría On-Road, así que si te gustan los libros de viajes, como a mí, lo vas a amar. Está acompañado de una más que excelente banda sonora: Elvis, Wicked, Mika, RENT, entre musicales, oldies, Rock&Roll e Indies. Lo interesante es que la misma Morgan tiene los playlist armados para nosotros.

Ahora sí el libro.

Recuerdo empezarlo temprano en la tarde, iba a leer una par de capítulos y dejarlo para después, tenía pensado que duraría dos o tres días. Solo me duró uno, con descanso para comer y otras necesidades humanas como respirar.

El libro es atrapante desde el primer capítulo, tiene un comienzo un tanto existencialista muy bonito, seré sincera, pensé que sería un libro triste, ya me veía llorando a mares u odiando a la protagonista por llorona. Pero no. Es muy entretenido. Nos encontramos con una Amy que ha estado llevando la muerte de su padre de manera sombría, su familia tomó cambios radicales que no la dejaban procesar su dolor. Al contrario, lo empaquetaba y la consumía por hacer las cosas bien y más fáciles para su mamá. Uno de los grandes cambios es la mudanza, hecho que la hace sentirse vacía al no tener Hogar al cual regresar, todos estos cambios dolorosos son demasiados. Su nueva casa se encuentra en Connecticut, un viaje de aproximadamente tres días manejando, eso siguiendo el itinerario de mamá. Roger, hijo de un conocido, es el chofer, casi no se conocen, pero por ahora tendrán que soportarse durante tres largos días. En el camino, cada quién por sus propias razones, toman un pequeño e inocente desvío. Que va bien, pero despierta en Amy poco a poco, y con la ayuda de Roger, la persona que era.

Lee la reseña completa: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour is a story that, at the best of times, can help you visualize a trip across America. Unfortunately, this trip across America can feature clichéd characters, and a romance that some may say is not worth reading.

Our main character of the story is Amy. She's a girl who a few months ago had to face the death of her father due to a car accident that she thought she caused, and face the trauma of her brother going into rehab to help him deal with drugs. Now she's all alone at home while her mother is in Connecticut dealing with her job. Not wanting her to be alone, Amy's mother decides that Amy should go on a road trip with a boy named Roger in order to get to Connecticut. During the road trip, they discovers many different things about America including various fast food restaurants and various historical landmarks. She also discovers how the car accident that killed her father wasn't really her fault, and she discovers love in the form of Roger.

Roger is the main male lead in the story. He's a boy who's in college and is traveling to Philadelphia in order to be with his father for the summer. He is unable to get over his girl friend breaking up with him, and he must too realize that it was something he has no control over much like Amy with her car accident. By the end of the story, we see them as a character who is moved on from his old love-life and is moving towards something new.

I know that that is a very brief and bland description of our two main characters but honestly that is the only thing I was able to get out of this book about them. Their stories are very straightforward, and their personalities are very bland. I don't know anymore about them by the end if the story than when I started. By the time this novel ended I couldn't help but wonder why I had read this book in the first place, as far as character arcs are concerned. In many ways, these characters are almost clichés. We have the girl, Amy, who cannot get over some traumatic event and by the time the story ends, she has been able to get over that event. Then we have the boy, Roger, who is unable to get over his girlfriend breaking up with them and by the end of the story he is not only broken up with his previous girlfriend but added a new one, in this case the main character, Amy. Character wise that's all there is to these two and sadly that's all I want to know about them. I don't feel like I want to know anymore about them later on in another book and I especially don't want to know how they deal with their separation when their journey ends. One thing I would've liked to live seen is the conflict between Amy and her mother over taking a detour that ended up costing them several days of trip. In terms of the plot, this would show how much Amy is changed and we would see it from the viewpoint of her mother however we never get this and so the resolution becomes underwhelming to say the least.

The plot line of this book is less cliché. We see these characters move across America, and we see the various landmarks that they consider to be important. I did like a lot of the little pictures and notes that were put into the novel because this made it more interesting and slightly less cliché. However some reviewers pointed out that this made for a little bit of a jarring narration because they didn't always match up with what was being stated in the text. I can understand this and what's more I feel that if these were not included in the text than this would just become another road trip book that many would pass by. The planning of this book is good, although I must admit that one can't do a plot pyramid about this book, where one would identify the climax, the exposition, moments of final resolution, and so forth. Rather, this book has simple steady pacing that makes it interesting to read although not very exciting. I stated above that the ending was underwhelming, and this is true. Firstly, the ending makes the mistake of being cliché. Of course we know that Roger and Amy are going to end up together by the end of the book, regardless of the validity of them being together in the future. We also don't get to see the ramifications of Amy having to deal with her mother. As stated above this would've been nice to see, since we would be able to see from another person's perspective the effect that this trip has had on Amy. Overall however the plotting of this book is very well done if not exciting and it's well pace throughout.
So what is my rating for this book? Well, while it is true that I like some elements such as how the pictures related to their trip, there are others that I don't like. Along with those stated above, I don't like the flashbacks that occur telling us about Amy and her father because I feel like they were unneeded. And I wish that these characters are more developed. I also do not like the title. I feel that the word “epic” dates it somewhat. But I do like the description of the novel and how it described various historical landmarks. Sadly there's nothing here to make me remember any of these characters, and if I can't remember them there's no choice in my recommending this. Therefore, I give it a 2 out of five.