Review Edit

Sometimes it’s not until after a book that I realize it’s problems. And The Miseducation of Cameron Post did have problems with the fact that her making out with a college girl wasn’t talked of as a damaging thing. I have edited my review to reflect that more, and in the future I will think carefully before reviewing books. When the problem with the book is that type of problem, then it is very important to point out that.

Review: The Miseducation of Cameron Post

I finished this book in two days. Technically, less than that as I started it in the afternoon, then finished the next day when I woke up. It’s just one of those books that you absolutely cannot put down. But I’m not entirely sure if I liked it.

 

 

This is a spoiler free; there are vague mentions of some aspects, but nothing I would consider a spoiler that’s not alluded to in the description.

(From Goodreads)

When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.

But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.

Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship–one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self–even if she’s not exactly sure who that is.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and unforgettable literary debut about discovering who you are and finding the courage to live life according to your own rules

 My Thoughts

This isn’t a romance book. There is plenty of it, but is not centered on the character ending up with so and so. That was interesting. It’s realistic that a teenager wouldn’t meet their soul mate within fourteen years. At least that doesn’t happen very often. I really hope Cam met one eventually. Or at least met someone soon that treated her well.

Speaking of fourteen, I’m always a little squeamish (probably because I’m seventeen) when young teens have….erh, intense romantic scenes. This, like most YA books had that, and again, I was uncomfortable, especially as at one point Cameron has (not as intense, but more serious) moment with a college girl, Moria.

That is my real disagreement with the book. Since Cam was fourteen and Moria certainly wasn’t close in age, I wish that factor had been addressed more. I know they weren’t the romantic focus, but a age gap like that needs to be clearly shown to be dangerous. Teens need to know that.

  It needed to be addressed more, because a fourteen year old and a eighteen year old (or older) is certainly wrong. People get upset over Tris and Four, but this is even more concerning. It’s sad, because if it weren’t for that, the book would have earned five stars.

All in All?

I strongly recommend it, giving it a 1/5  (points deducted for the college girl issue. With things like that, they play a hugely important role in ratings.)

In the other rating style I give it a PG: 13 or Teen.

Have you read the Education of Cameron Post? What were your thoughts on it?