Just in Case by Meg Rosoff

book: Just in case
written by: Meg Rosoff
genres: young adult, drama
pages: 256
own / library / borrowed from the lovely Lua 
publication date: March 25th, 2009
series? nope
publisher: Wendy Lamb books


note:
Thank you Lua. This is strange. From the title to the cover and from the first word to the very end this book is filled with strangeness... *read this book in Dutch, sorry for mistakes in translation of names if there are any*

the book: 
Justin Case is convinced fate has in for him.
And he's right.


After finding his younger brother teetering on the edge of his balcony, fifteen-year-old David Case realizes the fragility of life and senses impending doom. Without looking back, he changes his name to Justin and assumes a new identity, new clothing and new friends, and dares to fall in love with the seductive Agnes Day. With his imaginary dog Boy in tow, Justin struggles to fit into his new role and above all, to survive in a world where tragedy is around every corner. He's got to be prepared, just in case.

my review: 

as I said before the actual review, this book is madness :o 

The book started with David *Justin*'s brother standing on the balcony, ready to jump. He wants to fly. This 2-year-old boy thinks like a teenager, but talks like a 2-year-old. You can read his thoughts and read a few things from his POV, what was completely messed up in this book, which annoyed me a lot, but more about that later. It's strange to read a lot of thoughts of a 2-year-old and then see the 1 word that actually came out of his mouth. Of course, this is impossible, but still it's an interesting way of thinking that 2 year olds can think but just can't say what they're thinking. From the moment that his little brother wants to fly, David changes his name to Justing and changes his appearance, all to run away from his fate. He thinks he's doomed. He meets an interesting girl, becomes a model, has his imaginary dog and more strange things occur.

The point of view in this book was completely messed up. In some chapters there were 3 different ones, and all the time you had to keep in mind who was talking and from whose point of view you were reading. I think an author should not use more than one point of view per chapter, to make sure that the reader is not confused.

The plot of this book had lots of interesting twists that kept on surprising me, but the main part was predictable. I didn't care about that a lot, since I was distracted by the strangeness of this book and the story that was told inside it. 

Justin has this imaginary dog, which he thinks is real.  That isn't the biggest problem. His friends keep on referring to the dog as if it were real, even a 6 year old girl plays along. I mean, I don't think that normal people would do that. Someone just has to wake Justin up from his dreamy life, and tell him the thruth, that there is no dog, that he should just go to school and live a normal life like everyone else, and that he isn't so special that fate has in for him. But no-one does. Not even his new friend tells him that he's crazy or something. She thinks it's just normal teenage fear, which it obviously isn't...

This entertaining quick-paced read is full of humor, but still, it's about one of the biggest mysteries in life. Fate. 

my rating:

3 stars

xo Mar