This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of This Lullaby
Book Review: Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Summary: 5 Stars
Sarah Dessen's THIS LULLABY is one of the best teen books I've ever read. It's the story of Remy, a girl who has no faith in love. Part of this is because her own father never even saw her, only wrote a now-famous song, called "This Lullaby," about her before he died. It certainly doesn't help that her mother has been married four times, and, at the beginning of the novel, is about to have her fifth wedding. Remy says about her mother's marriages, "She takes on husbands the way other people change their hair color: out of boredom, listlessness, or just feeling that this next one will fix everything, once and for all."
Remy likes to feel in control of things when she's got a boyfriend. She knows all about getting into relationships, the first romantic rush, and ending them before there's any emotional attachment. She's almost always the one to dump guys, not the other way around. She's got plenty of practice at it, too.
One day, at the car dealership owned by her mother's next husband, she meets a guy named Dexter. He's very determined to get to know Remy, and, at first, she thinks he's ridiculous and ignores him. Dexter, however, is persistent. When the two finally get together, everyone is shocked that Remy's staying in the relationship. Dexter is so many things Remy could never put up with. He's messy and impulsive, but, most of all, he's a musician. Until Dexter came along, Remy had a "no musician" rule, and now she's broken it.
Signs point to Remy ending this relationship and not looking back. Everyone thinks that's what will happen. Everyone except Dexter, who wants it to be more than a summer thing, who has faith in their relationship. How will it all end?
This is an amazing young adult book by a brilliant author. Sarah Dessen, author of several other books including That Summer and Someone Like You (reissue), does an awesome job of keeping the reader's attention throughout THIS LULLABY. She does it with her original story, told in Remy's unique voice. It doesn't hurt that Sarah Dessen is great at creating fresh, original, believable characters. Thoughtful and powerful, this book also has its moments that will make readers laugh, which is a nice change of pace in the story. Every aspect of this novel surpasses expectations.
Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce
Book Review: Dessen's best book
Summary: 5 Stars
"This Lullaby" is a pleasant, funny read from Sarah Dessen, who strays away from her regular shy-type heroine to a bold, snarky one in this installment. Remy is a recent high school graduate who holds strong views on love and dating thanks to her eccentric mother's multiple failed marriages. One was to her own father, a musician whom Remy has never met, but whose one-hit wonder continues to affect her to this day.
With a strict set of rules on who and how to date, Remy does not expect to ever go out with Dexter, the opposite of everything in Remy's perfect, meticulous laundry-list of characteristics a guy should have. Yet, that is the first exception she makes of many, as she discovers that letting go and just going with the flow can be the best thing a person could do. Characters like Lisa, Chloe and Jessie, along with the members of Dexter's band, have their own amusing subplots of teens/adults dealing with post-high school life and the real world.
This book is too fanstastic to spoil; but I recommend anyone with a sense of humor, including teens and people who remember just how horrible and wonderful the late teen years could be.
Book Review: Dessen's best novel to date
Summary: 5 Stars
It started off like any teen novel. Party girl who has issues with her mom meets an amazing guy. They end up together and everyone's happy, the world is perfect. Except for in This Lullaby, the story developed into one that dives into the crazy lives of struggling young musicians, and it explores the depths of a girl who never met her father yet knows how much he truly did love her.
Remy is the young woman in the story, and by the age of 1 year old she had a famous one-hit wonder written about her. Remy's father was a struggling musician and her mother was a struggling romance novelist. They had divorced before Remy was born and so when her father heard, he wrote the song about her. It was called This Lullaby and Remy never told anyone how much the song meant to her, how much she loved to hear her father sing to her, because she never got that chance
The song starts slowly. A bit of guitar, just a few chords. Then a voice, one I knew so well. The words I knew by heart they did mean something to me. Nobody had to know. But they did.
"This lullaby is only a few words/ A simple run of chords/ quiet here in this spare room/ But you can hear it, hear it/ Wherever you may go/ I will let you down/ but this lullaby plays on..."
I'd fall asleep to it, his voice. I always did. Every time.
Remy regrets never seeing her father and tells everyone that she resents the song because he said that he "will let [her] down," and he had by not being there for her. The truth was that shed knew how much he cared for her even though he never met her either and she always thanked him because all the money made off the song went to her college education.
Every season Remy has a different guy, and her "summer guy" turns out to be Dexter, a lead singer in a garage band, who says that he and Remy have a rare "immediate chemistry." But of course he is just the summer guy "`Yep,' I said, `just another summer boyfriend. No worries. No entanglements. Just the way I like it.'" But what happens when timing, impulse, and romance get throw into the picture? Remy ends up driven towards the type of man she vowed never to look in the eye. A musician like her father.
This novel depicts the story of a young woman with a "scattered" mother, a vulgar new stepfather, a history that one else has, and the strange guy who helps her get through all of the crazy mess that she only knows as "normal life."
Book Review: Dexter was the best part
Summary: 2 Stars
Dexter is a fantastic character. He leapt off the page and made me laugh out loud more than once. I absolutely loved him, and he's the reason for the second star.
Unfortunately, this was the only good part of the book. The storyline was predictable, and the language was confusing. I had to re-read several paragraphs to figure out what the author was trying to say, and a few times I never did figure it out.
Aside from Dexter and Remy, the characters seemed flat and lifeless. The mom had some character development, but it was predictable and not very well done. This story could have been great, but fizzled instead. Very disappointing.
Book Review: Fantastic Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I was through the first chapter and I was totally hooked already. Sarah Dessen is absoulutly amazing, she portrays Remy's feelings and emotions wonderfully.
This book shows a new side of late teenagers, it shows someone who doesn't believe in love...who maybe gains a little faith? It's absoulutly wonderful.
Its packed with so many emotions i found even myself laughing then the next minute almost crying my heart beating quickly. It's just such a well written book that even the most "un romantic" people can get into it.
To put it simply I am not into the totally mushy romance books,so reading this book was so very refreshing..yes it was romantic...but it was so funny and educational as well. Remy is an outstanding and very well developed character throughout this book and u cant help wanting to know more about her friends also. Dexter is also a very very interesting character in "This Lullaby" and had me wishing that there was a "Dexter" for everyone.
But yes this was an awesome book, one of my favorites of all time and deserves more than 5 stars.
i also recommend any other Sarah Dessen book especially "The Truth About Forever"