Review: The Disenchantments

Title: The Disenchantments
Author: Nina LaCour
Publisher: Dutton Children’s Books
Publication Date: February 16th, 2012
Genre: YA, Contemporary

The Disenchantments might not be the best band in the world, but hearing them play no one can deny that they mean every note that they play. And that they look good doing it. For years, Colby and his best friend Bev have planned to graduate high school and then leave for Europe just as their friends leave for college. But before that, they’ve planned a tour with Bev’s band, The Disenchantments, with Colby serving both as driver and groupie. The tour will start with them leaving San Francisco and end with them arriving in Portland, to drop off one of Bev’s band mates at college. But everything changes when Bev announces that she doesn’t want to go to Europe, but instead plans on going to college like everyone else. But the show must go on, and Colby reluctantly agrees to continue with the tour, knowing that the girls need him. Stopping in a different city every night, The Disenchantments play everywhere from basements to old schools, their music terrible but played with heart. Colby, who had for so long had a certain picture of what the future would look like, now has no idea what he’s going to do with his life. Lost and confused, he just wants to know what made Bev change her mind and what’s going to happen next.

Summer might be coming to an end, but there’s always a place for a fun summer read, even when the sweaters come out and swimsuits find their way to the back of your drawers. The Disenchantments isn’t all sunshine and good times, but it has a summer feel to it, like lying in the sun while your favourite song is playing on the radio. Like any coming of age story, there is bound to be heartbreak and angst, but overall this book meets my ‘good summer read’ criteria. There’s music, a road trip, friendship and romance. This book is a good read for anyone at a crossroads, who isn’t quite sure what they’re going to do with their life. With a fast moving and well-paced plot and lots of interesting minor characters, The Disenchantments makes for a quick read that is difficult to put down. A great road trip novel, it was easy to get lost in the portrait of these characters and their journey throughout the West Coast. At times the characters were too cool, too artistic or too quirky. However, they were well written and developed, although Bev always felt far away and hard to like. I was very satisfied with the ending and afterwards the book left me with a good feeling, and what more can you ask for? It may not have been enchanting, but it did leave me with that good summer feeling. Overall, The Disenchantments is a story about the difficulties of growing up, how hard it is to do but how it’s always worth it in the end.

4/5

“We felt so small with the city lights stretching forever below us, and we yelled at the top of our lungs because we were just these small humans but we felt more longing than could ever fit inside us.”