White Lines | Book Review

Synopsis

A gritty, atmospheric coming of age tale set in 1980s New York City.

Seventeen-year-old Cat is living every teenager’s dream: she has her own apartment on the Lower East Side and at night she’s club kid royalty, guarding the velvet rope at some of the hottest clubs in the city. The night with its crazy, frenetic, high-inducing energy—the pulsing beat of the music, the radiant, joyful people and those seductive white lines that can ease all pain—is when Cat truly lives. But her daytime, when real life occurs, is more nightmare than dream. Having spent years suffering her mother’s emotional and physical abuse, and abandoned by her father, Cat is terrified and alone—unable to connect to anyone or anything. But when someone comes along who makes her want to truly live, she’ll need to summon the courage to confront her demons and take control of a life already spinning dangerously out of control. 

My Thoughts

I'd been wanting to read this book for so long! And even though I had some tiny problems with it, I have to say that I loved it!
I want to start of with saying that I could relate to Cat, even though my life is nothing like hers. My family isn't equal to shit, I don't go to a special school and I don't party and use drugs as much as she does. But I could still relate to her as a person, she just felt so real. And I think that, that is one of the strongest things about this book. The characters and relationships between these characters were really realistic. I also like that even though, yes, there is a love intrest in this book, there is no insta-love at all and Cat her problems don't magically disappear because this boy changed her life. 
I didn't feel like the story was rushed, even though it was pretty fast paced, or predictable at all. Which I liked. 

And now on to the minor problems I had with this book. 
This book is supposed to take place in the 1980's. It took me a long time to get that. Even though there are references to music from the 80's, big mobile phones and different kind of clothing. I just didn't seem to catch up on it. Maybe it's because I like to listen to older music and I go to a creative school where people wear whatever they like and where everyone has a different clothing style. So maybe I'm the only one with this problem. (I did love the unique clothing and music references though!)
I also think that the feeling of using drugs could have been described better. Not to show everyone how amazing it is to use drugs, but more to make the "push and pull' effect that it gives you a bit more clear. So maybe would understand it better why the people in this book continue to use it. 

All in all it was a fast paced and very realistic book. I loved how real the characters and their relationships were.