Andi is not happy. She hasn't been happy for two years. Ever since her little brother, Truman, died, she has felt nothing but regret, guilt, and overwhelming sadness. The only thing holding her together is her music, her guitar. Sometimes even that doesn't feel like enough.
Over Christmas break, her distant father brings her to Paris so she can work on her high school senior thesis and try and bring her grades up. While she's there, Andi finds more than she ever expected.
She finds inspiration.
She finds knowledge.
She finds love.
She finds hope.
In between Andi's own perspective and the newly-found diary of a seventeen year old girl living through the French Revolution, this novel details the world's constant desperation for a revolution, and one person's own revolution in finding themselves.

This book surprised me. When I picked it up, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't what I got. There's a lot of angst in this book. A lot. There's a lot of intense emotions and feelings that fly at you from every page, and it's pretty hard not to feel swept up in Andi's story right from the get go. Something about Jennifer Donnelly's writing is completely mesmerizing, and keeps you hooked the whole book through.
Revolution isn't a short book by any means, but it's not one that I think many people would get bored reading. Both the diary entries and Andi's own point of view are chalk full of interesting facts and historical accounts, but not in a way that makes it seem like you're reading it out a textbook. History truly comes alive in Revolution.
I would recommend this book for a lot of people. People that like contemporary fiction. People that like historical fiction. People that like coming-of-age stories. But most of all, I would recommend this to someone that needs a story that gets you interested. That pushes you right into the situation and doesn't let you go until the final page. That finds its way into your heart and makes you care about everyone in it.
Revolution will leave you thinking. It will leave you wondering. But most of all, it will leave you believing that there's hope...even for people that seem hopeless.

this is the best book i ever read it was so sad it had lots of music in it and i love how it was back in the 1700 and that poor little boy just so dar but so great i did not want it to ever end

When I first saw Revolution in the store--almost nondescript, just sitting there on the bottom shelf--I didn't think much of it. I had read the summer on the inner flap, because almost every book my eye lands on is a hardcover, and I was intrigued. But nothing much more than that.

It was about a girl that would become obsessed with the diary of a girl who lived, and, we assume, died, during the French revolution circa 1790. It didn't captivate me much except for the fact that it mentioned the protagonist, a certain Andi, would get sucked into the world of the revolution. That day, I bought another book instead. The day after, when I was done with work, I bought Revolution and ran home.

When you start reading, you're thrown into Andi's world. Thrown into the rich kids' universe and their lands of private schools and careless teachers and this Andi-specific world of grief and all-healing music. It's a little hard to catch your proverbial breath during the first few pages, but when you trudge through those hard moments, you get thrown--absorbed, really--into young Andi's world.

And she never. lets. you. go.

I took Revolution everywhere I went. It was like my drug. My very hard, unrelenting drug. I read it at work, on the bus, on the metro, until 2AM in the morning when I had work at 8AM the same day. I never stopped reading. When I was on my breaks, I sped through chapters to get further, and was even late to go back once because of what was happening.

The world that Donnelly submerses you in is both real and delicious fictitious in places where you wouldn't be able to discern reality from imagination even if you tried. Though Amadé Malherbeau doesn't exist--you can look him up if you want, I've tried and failed--the importance he has in this book, the massive catalyst that he is, makes him as real and flesh-made as you and I.

I recommend this book to anyone who is having a hard time. Either suffering the grief and loss of a loved one or struggling to find themselves and who they are. This book makes you realize so many things that I could never put into words. They aren't things you talk about. They're things you feel.

This book makes you feel.

Everything.

"I don't like hope very much. In fact, I hate it. It's the crystal meth of emotions. It hooks you fast and kills you hard. It's bad news. The Worst. It's sharp sticks and cherry bombs"- Andi Alpers

My Thoughts: Revolution is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. It is hard to put words to how lovely and gripping I thought this book was. Once you start you will not be able to finish, all though I must admit when I was reaching the end, reading the last few pages I stopped, and I put the book down because I didn't want to finish it, I did not want the story to end. Senior Editor, Krista Marino explained it best when she wrote the 'Dear Reader' "Revolution' is a one-of-a-kind reading experience". The character development was so well done, you really learn who each character is and what type of person they are. Alex is a character that I will never forget, she pushed herself into my heart and will remain there. Every time a diary entry would end, my heart would sink. I was desperately seeking her fate just as much as Andi was. Alex will capture the heart of all her readers. It will be impossible not to love and care for her. Reading Revolution was like being transported back and forth through time, to modern day Paris and Brooklyn to Eighteenth Century Paris during the brutality of the French Revolution,. The author draws you into the book so much you feel as if you are living the life of Alex and Andi right there with them. On a lighter side the book was very funny, Andi has an incredible quick-witted humour, there was never a dull moment while reading this book. Her best friend Vijay Gupta had a hilarious sense of humour as well and his many nicknames for his mother always made me laugh. Revolution brings music, art and history together in a beautiful harmony. It brings love, hope, tragedy and self-growth. This book will have something for everyone and I strongly recommend it. People will definitely miss out if they don't read Revolution.
*Orginally posted on my blog 'The Crazy Bookworm' www.crazy-bookworm.blogspot.com