The Distance from A to Z by Natalie Blitt

'Her smile is wide, her chin coming down almost to her shoulder as she plays shy. Just meet her talking about a girl she doesn't know : Now tell me, because I'm confused : if I am French and wear short skirts, what am I? No REALLY. If the latter, you're most likely a vapid slut. If the former, you're interesting and clever and NOT a slut. You're a woman? It's simple in Ally's world really : either you write poetry, you speak French or you wear small skirts. So, who's Ally? Ally is the kind of girl who puts people in categories, especially women, and thinks that she's above all of them (because she speaks French, which is so very hilarious to me). If there's something I really don't like, it's when we're obviously meant to like a female-lead and find her interesting when really, she's just an arrogant, slut-shamer, judgmental and needy asshole. What a joke, really.īut what destroyed forever my interest is Ally, the MC. Just NO WAY that you'd magically start speaking another language you're not fluent in instead. There is no way you would forget how to speak your mother tongue because you're high. Oh, and the way she 'forgot' how to speak English when she was drunk? Bahahaha. If they were part of a French book, I would roll my eyes so much, yet I can't deny that I am not objective and that I have to take into account the fact that it is not a French book. Not to mention that for me, the French sentences used here are so fucking cheesy, I can't even. Nevertheless, as I said, I believe that my aggravation went from the fact that I speak French and that for me, it was like reading twice the same old sentences over and over again. Because the repetitions - les répétitions (oh! this is almost the same word, see? ← Here's the kind of monologues and comments I had to bear), if fun at first (alright, I just enjoyed correcting them if needed, because apparently my job rubs off on me, oops), became so tiring after 100 pages. J'ai eu beaucoup de mal à supporter les traductions incessantes. In all honesty, I would have overlooked my annoyance with the writing if I had loved following Ally and Zeke, but given the fact that I didn't, I had a hard time standing the endless translations. However, even without the oh-so-annoying experience of reading a book in which sentences are repeated twice - in French and in English - I must address the other issues I have with The Distance from A to Z, which are the slut-shaming, the unbearable and judgmental heroine and the boring plot.

Part of the reason of my dislike is solely my fault, because I'm French, and wouldn't, I think, bother a non-French speaker.

The Distance from A to Z by Natalie Blitt