holes in my brain

full review can by found on my blog, holes In My brainI feel kind of terrible that I didn’t love this book. After all the praises surrounding it, I fully expected a story that will move me to tears but honestly, I was very underwhelmed by SEA.The thing I absolutely adored was the setting. I feel Kling created this rush of power when she transported the novel to the disaster-torn Indonesia after the tsunami of 2004. The descriptions about the beaches, the orphanage, the customs, it was all done very well and definitely created a great atmosphere. I could feel the humidity and the sweat on my skin— definitely a good point.At the heart of the novel is Sienna, a 15 year old girl still grieving her mother, but in this new environment has the potential for extreme personal growth. I feel that looking completely objectively, Kling did manage to convey this development but come on, I’m not an objective reader (who is?). I could never connect at an emotional level with Sienna and there a lot of times I wanted to throw something out of annoyance.-Eye-rolling commenced from the insta-connection with Deni. Oh, please.-Then, their various (somewhat cute) escapades... just wasn’t feeling it, dawg (ala Randy Jackson).-Continued with the how-can-I-live-without-you spiel. *sigh*Eye-rolling finally ended with the last 30 pages or so pages, I actually really liked the ending. I prefer spoiler-free reviews so I won’t say exactly why I enjoyed it so much, I just think it was, yeah, perfectly done.I feel shallow wanting to discuss the boys in this novel, but whatever. Spider: I think through the majority of the book I couldn’t really see the point in even including him, but alas, questions are answered. Deni: I never warmed to him, never swooned for him, and never felt the insta-connection he had with Sienna. It felt like more lust than love, partly because it felt like the only thing drawing the two characters together was Sienna’s blonde hair (mentioned far too many times).I just wanted to mention I really liked reading about the various things that the relief team did at the orphanage (like the art therapy). I wish there could have been more exploration about the children’s development and the PTSD, I was very interested in that aspect.2.5/5 – because it disappointed me. Despite some great potential and a fantastic setting, I felt the basic character relationships never rung true. Sienna was hard to sympathize with, and I also she focused less on hormones and Deni Deni Deni. I really loved reading about the kids and the work that Team Hope was doing there, and I think Sea is a great novel that brings awareness to important causes.