ARC Review: Destination Anywhere by Sara Barnard
10:00
Series: None
Author: Sara Barnard
Published May 6th 2021 by Macmillan Children's Books
Goodreads Synopsis
A breathtaking novel about finding yourself and finding a friend by the award-winning author of Beautiful Broken Things
Sometimes you have to leave your life behind to find your place in the world. . .
After five years at secondary school spent bullied and alone, Peyton King starts sixth form college determined that things will be different. Whatever happens, she will make friends at any cost.
When she finds the friends she’s always dreamed of, including an actual boyfriend, she’s happier than she’s ever been.
But when they let her down in the worst way, Peyton is left no better off than when she started. Now Peyton knows the only chance she has of finding happiness is to look for it somewhere else. With nothing but her sketchpad and a backpack, she buys a one-way ticket and gets on a plane. . .
In Destination Anywhere, Sara Barnard explores love, life and friendship in this exquisite tale of the lengths one girl will go to to change her story.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.
This review will either be difficult to write, or really easy. As soon as I heard about this book, and took a look at the synopsis, I decided to request a copy from the publisher, as I had really enjoyed a previous book by this author, A Quiet Kind of Thunder, and was expecting the same from this one. As you can see from the dates read, it took me neigh on 4 weeks to finish the book, and it's not like it was too long - it was only 320 pages. In Destination Anywhere, the main character Peyton is 17, and after having a horrific 5 years at secondary school, where she was bullied constantly, she hoped sixth form would be different. And it was, at first. But when it also starts to go wrong, she takes her dad's credit card, books a ticket to Canada, and jumps ship. She has no idea of what she'll do in Canada, except explore, and have an adventure. As the story gets going, we learn more about her life before and now, to fully understand her motives.
That all sounds good, yeah? Well, that's what I thought too, but pretty much from the beginning I had issues. Now, I'm not going to ignore that Peyton's life at school was horrific, but I can't understand how nothing was done in the entire five years she was there, either by her parents or her teachers. Next we get to her managing to travel, internationally, alone at 17, with next to no questioning. When I was that age, I was arriving back into the UK after being abroad, and the border officer sent me through by myself, and I was questioned, extensively, about why I was alone, and it was only when they let my Mam come to the same booth - she'd been sent through already - and they checked her passport, I was ok. And that was me arriving into my home country, not a foreign one.
After I got over that, I started to get bored by Peyton, herself. She just wasn't a character I liked, and I found her whinging all the time just annoying. It was eye-roll inducing, and not exactly enjoyable. I think that was when I put the book down for a bit, and actually read another couple in the mean time, but once lockdown was upon us, I decided I may as well finish it, and dove back in. This is when it all got a bit too much.
Like I said earlier, the book is split into two parts, the before she fled, and the now while she's in Canada. The before chapters were simultaneously boring, and cringe worthy. Peyton finds a group of friends at sixth form, including Flick, Travis, Eric, and Casey, and falls right in with them. But, then, the problems start. Flick is self centred, and her boyfriend, Eric, is abusive and a bully. Travis and Peyton soon become a thing, and the next thing you know they're sleeping together and telling each other they love them, when they clearly don't, and Casey is just passive. As if that wasn't enough, drugs and booze start getting involved and everything really falls apart. Teenagers make mistakes - it's true - but Peyton here was just ridiculous. She knew she was making mistakes, and kept saying it, but did nothing to stop it. I actually ended up skimming these chapters, because if I spent too long on them, I would've thrown the book out the window probably.
The now chapters in Canada were enjoyable, especially when we can't travel right now, and it was lovely learning about all the different places Peyton went to, like Vancouver Island, Banff, Lake Louise, etc. I enjoyed the group of friends she made while travelling, and that's the only reason this book is 2 stars, because it's what redeemed it all, if I'm honest. I have a few more of this author's books on my shelves, and I'm not sure if I'll try them now, because it seems her books are either a hit or a miss.
Dates Read:
March 1-27, 2020
Rating
2 Stars
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