Reincarnation

Reincarnation

by Suzanne Weyn

Scholastic, 2008

ISBN 0545013240

293 pages

3 (out of 5) STARS

Plot Summary

From prehistory to the present, theirs was a love for the ages. It starts with a fight in a cave over an elusive green jewel . . . and then travels over time and lives to include Egyptian slaves, Greek temples, Massachusetts witch trials, Civil War battlefields, Paris on the eve of World War II, America in the 1960s . . . and a pair of modern-day teenagers. For readers who believe that love is stronger than time or death, this is an unforgettable novel from a wonderful storyteller.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2507213.Reincarnation

Critical Evaluation

So I did not love this book. I felt like I did not get to know the characters. They kept dying and being reincarnated as other people. I never got to know them and then they were dead.

However, there were two things that I liked about the book. First, the concept of two people being "soul mates" and continue to die and meet again over and over throughout time is a nice romantic idea. Second, although they would be reincarnated near each other in time and place, sometimes that would be it. One time they both came back as the opposite gender. Sometimes they would be a generation apart in age. Sometimes they would be different races from each other and from their previous races. All of that variety was very interesting to think about. So much of my identity is my gender and even my race. But this book transcends all of that. I believe that concept alone makes this book a great addition to any YA collection.

Interestingly enough when I first rated this book I gave it 2 stars. But I am going to change that because it speaks to me more now thinking back on it than it did while I was reading it.

Reader’s Annotation

A pair of lovers meet in prehistoric times and then keep meeting over and over again throughout the ages.

Information about the author

Suzanne Weyn was born in Flushing, New York, and raised on Long Island. She is the oldest of four children. As a girl she was very interested in theater and in reading. Louisa May Alcott was her favorite author. Suzanne lived pretty close to the ocean and going to Jones Beach was one of favorite activities. Even today, if she goes too long without seeing the ocean, she starts feeling restless. In times of stress it is her first destination. She has a big poster of a giant wave in her living room.

Suzanne now lives in upper New York on a former horse farm in a cottage from the 1930s. There are active horse farms all around her and they help inspire her middle grade horse series, Wildwood Stables, which began in March of 2010 and is still going on with new books being added every few months.

http://www.suzanneweynbooks.com/

Genre

romance. maybe also fantasy.

Curriculum Ties

history

Booktalking Ideas

*If you could come back and live in any time period, which would you pick?

Reading Level

age 12 and up

Challenge Issues

N/A

Why Included?

I wanted some romances that were not just basic chick lit. This is a different type of romance and adds a nice flair to the collection.