A Butterflying Plain Book

This book is a sequel to Slammed. And the theme of being hit hard by life also runs through in this novel. I guess the reason that the book is written from Will’s point of view made me like him more. Compared to the first one, the book focuses more on the relationship between Lake and Will. That’s where comes from the title: point of retreat. They gave a promise to Lake’s mother that they wouldn’t make love until one year after they were dating. Therefore, every time they almost got that far, one of them would call retreat. They were more indomitable than I gave them credit for.

You can already imagine as to how thrilled they were waiting for the countdown to that moment, but of course, things didn’t turn out right. And I have to say that this book disappointed me a lot, 90% of which was a cliché and didn’t move me a bit. Lake found out that Will’s ex-girlfriend still had a thing for him and she saw Will kissing her on the forehead. Despite how eagerly Will wanted to explain the whole picture, she just lost confidence in Will’s love for her. The ex-girlfriend’s words cast doubt on their relationship. Lake was afraid that Will fell for her just because she went through the same difficulties and he only felt pity for her. The suspicion was rooted in her heart.

From where I stand, Lake was overreacting and being unreasonable. How could one ever possibly figure out what do I love you for? It’s complicated. And the tricky part lies in that Will knew that his love for her was definitely not out of pity, but he didn’t know how to get her on the same page. Finally, he knew that words were not enough and he needed to “show” his love. Honestly, it looked a little absurd to me. So how did Will show it instead of telling it? He made Lake a poem and recited it in public. So it was “telling” after all. What does this back and forth mean? Maybe it’s to illustrate the beautiful advice given by Lake’s Mom: Sometimes two people have to fall apart, to realize how much they need to fall back together. Like I said, the way of revealing it was a total cliché.

Apart from their loving issues, there was a little girl that really stood out. Kiersten was a 11-year-old living by Lake and Will. She was definitely out of the ordinary, like a grown-up soul living inside a body of a child. She thought differently and deeply. I guess that’s part of the reason why she was being bullied at school. Other students were aware of the difference between her and the crowd. Children can be keen and cruel at the same time. It certainly couldn’t legitimize their behavior. But Kiersten was dealing with it perfectly. The poem she made was a call for change. It was like daggers to the heart of people who bully and those bystanders who just gave their silent permission. In fact, the poems read out loud by Kiersten and Caulder were what really touched me, something delicate and beautiful from the bottom of the heart.

Like first one, this book didn’t go deep in characters and plots. But once the feeling hidden behind it becomes shallow also, it can’t be more disappointing.