Checkers

Rating:
Summary: A great book for intermediate readers
Review: Checkers is one of those books you are drawn into and simply can't forget. Encompassing political corruption, dishonesty, and the eventual collapse of a family, it's simply amazing. It's not a light read, but then again, none of Marsden's work is. The nameless young woman who tells her story from a psychiatric hospital will move you- she's so real it's like you feel as though she's a friend of yours by the time you've finished the book. Although I'm no longer considered a "young adult", I adore everything John Marsden has written, but Checkers is something particularly moving. Even from the start of this novel you'll possibly be moved to tears- coming from someone who hardly cries at anything, it's hard to believe that even the character's recollection of her family life had me reaching for the tissues... Simply amazing... Incredibly true-to-life- as with many of his works, you find yourself thinking, "This could happen in reality..."

It's one of those books you need to read a few times- but you wish you were reading for the first time every time you open it.

Rating:
Summary: Keep a box of tissues beside you
Review: Checkers is one of those books you are drawn into and simply can't forget. Encompassing political corruption, dishonesty, and the eventual collapse of a family, it's simply amazing. It's not a light read, but then again, none of Marsden's work is. The nameless young woman who tells her story from a psychiatric hospital will move you- she's so real it's like you feel as though she's a friend of yours by the time you've finished the book. Although I'm no longer considered a "young adult", I adore everything John Marsden has written, but Checkers is something particularly moving. Even from the start of this novel you'll possibly be moved to tears- coming from someone who hardly cries at anything, it's hard to believe that even the character's recollection of her family life had me reaching for the tissues... Simply amazing... Incredibly true-to-life- as with many of his works, you find yourself thinking, "This could happen in reality..."

It's one of those books you need to read a few times- but you wish you were reading for the first time every time you open it.

Rating:
Summary: A Disturbing and Engrossing Read
Review: Chekers tells the story of a wealthy Australian teenage girl. Although her personality and story and well-defined, her name is never given. Told through memories and flashbacks, the story illustrates the girl's plummet from the utmost joy, like getting a puppy checkers and living in a lush home, to her arrival in the phsyc ward that she is currently living in. Told as any true aussie teen would, the story is in fact realistic and chilling. John Marsden carefully reveals that even a wealthy business family can be torn apart by corruption.

Rating:
Summary: An emotional, insightful, book.
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading 'Checkers'. Knowing Marsden's work, I knew I was going to stay interested the whole time, but never did I guess the plot twist near the end! This book keeps you on an emotional roller coaster. You share the main characters joy when she first gets her beloved Checkers, the pain she feels in the asylum as she sees the people she's come to know as her friends be shipped to other asylums or sucumb to their various illnesses, and the horror when she finally reveals what put her in the asylum.

Rating:
Summary: Chekers
Review: The only waay to describe "Chekers" by John Marsden is disterbing. I was really confused at the beggining because even though I knew that she was in a mental hospitol, I had no clue why. She seemed to have a great life with a loving family. The main character also seemed like she had everything going for her. She was popular, had a lot of friends, was rich and lived in a great neiborhood. Then you find out that being wealthy wasn't everything and that she has to keep quiet on a family secret. She hates the way her family never gets to spend time with each other and how they never get to say what they are feeling. The only one she can talk to is her new puppy, Checkers. This story shows how illeagal business transactions can tear a family apart. She fells that what happened is all her fault. You also get to hear what other people went through and how others lived in a mental hospitol. Although th e book was interesting, I felt that the book was confusing. Be prepared for a terrifying endding.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for intermediate readers
Review: This is a book is a book I will never forget. In fact, it is still something I think about everynight. How Marsden puts this young girls feelings and thoughts and all that good stuff into a book I would never be able to do. I have read it at least 3 times and I still can't put it down, even though I know every little thing that happens. The haunting ending to the story broke my heart. So anyone interested in this book, get it. I highly suggest it.

Rating:
Summary: ...Enchanting
Review: Though the book seems to have many flaws at first, once you read in to it all, it makes sense.
The story is of a girl whose family is being corrupted by the media, especially her father. Stories in the paper start to bother the girl, and her interest shoots up.
But among this all, is her "darling dog Checkers", a most important figure in the plot development.
While telling the story, the girl is in a Psychiatric Ward. She tells of the others there, and describes the events as if she were writing in a journal.
I high suggest this book to EVERYONE.
John Marsden did an excellent job with this book, an EXCELLENT read.

Rating:
Summary: The mental hospital thing was clichéd, but the book was good
Review: Told in first-person flashbacks and set in the mental hospital where the nameless protagonist recovers from a nervous breakdown, this story's message is: "The higher you climb, the harder you fall." Wealth and privilege cannot save your family from scandal, our protagonist learns, especially when your father is involved in dishonest business practices a la Enron.

The only honest relationship the girl has is with her mongrel dog, Checkers. She seeks comfort in his company as the media circles like vultures around her house, looking for a way to connect the girl's father to the stock market scandal that's brewing. She would never have thought that the connection they were looking for was sleeping on the rug in front of her fire.

I really liked this novel, and would have loved it if it wasn't about the fortieth book I've read that's set in a mental hospital. Mental hospitals have become way too clichéd in young adult literature. Other than that, though, it was a terrific story.