Books "BEAUTIFUL OBLIVION"

Title : “BEAUTIFUL OBLIVION”

[ book 1 of MADDOX BROTHERS ]

Copyright © 2014 by Jamie McGuire

Cover art © 2014 by Tony Mauro

Published by Atria Paperback | a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

First edition in paperback, July 2014 | 320 p | ISBN 978-1-4767-5958-6

Rate : 3.5 of 5

~ Conclusion in Bahasa Indonesia at the bottom post ~

Still remember the Maddox boys : Thomas, Taylor, Tyler, Trenton, Travis from ‘Beautiful Disaster’ ? How those boys grew-up without their loving mother, Dianne Maddox who dies from cancer, and becoming such troubleing kids until they all finally got their own stories regarding the path they each choose for future. After the story of weird relationship between Travis Maddox and Abby Abbernathy, who going back-and-forward in the those series, now is time for another Maddox’s, none other than Trenton Maddox – who also appears several occasion in those stories. Just like Travis – the younger of Maddox’s boys, Trenton often got a lot of attention from girls, and he seems enjoying the crowned. As good looking and attractive man, all his sign are label by ‘bad-boy’ not the mention all tattoes all over his body ... ‘coz he also work at the tattooshop. Trenton suppose to in college too, but he drop-out formal education after tragic accident involving him and his friend – who not so lucky getting out alive. Trenton becoming changes person after those incident, and now one know what got into him until someone got his attention after such long time ...

This story got the same timeline like the previous of Maddox Series, just telling from different point-of-view. So in here we will (again) meet familiar characters, like Abby and her friends, also Cami – girl who attends as bartender in the club, who also having close-friend-relationship with Travis, but got intense close-up from Trevor. Cami like Maddox boys, but like others, she did not intend to get more closer into ‘danger-signal’ from Maddox. But she did not know Trevor never stops on anything if something already got his attention. No one else, not even her family nor close friends, know Cami’s secret – something she really keep just for her own for quite sometime. Cami already have a relationship with a man, someone that so perfect and already ‘check’ on good list for future husband. Cami never want to looks a good-looking boyfriend, she want stability in her life, for her future, ‘coz her family just another exampler the work of chaos and crazy relationship. Her father is a drunken man who constantly abusing his own family, with his words and his fist. Her mother still trying to protect their children, but mant times she just let her husband do as he like, to her and to their children. Cami is the only daughter they have, but that did not make her special, ‘coz she became easely target of her father’s cruelty.  

The truth, this book did not offer any new-things, it seems like the author are going circle-around to do another episode from another characters. The sets and even the players are the same, the conflict ... well is almost the same too. But comparing to Travis and Abby’s who so crazy and obsesive person, I’m more like it on how Trevor and Cami’s character grown from two different person, who having difficulty accepting a better choices in their future, simply because they both had been hurting so deep inside in the past. Trevor who so bright and brilliant, changing into drop-out and pursue his dreams not in the normal people do. Cami who constantly abuse that she worthless and did not deserve any happiness in her life, pussed her self into achieving higher on anything – she demanding perfection in every aspect of her life. When the relationship between Travis and Abby seems so absurb (and abnormal for me), the development on Trevor and Cami much simpler to understand, even touch my feelings in several scenery. Another aspect that quite interesting, when we compare between Maddox ‘s boy who raise by single father, turn-out to be good boys (even they sometimes acting crazy), the others side is Camlin’s boys – Cami’s brother and cousin, who turn-out just like the old-man, become bullies since teenager ...

“Just a few weeks with Trenton had changed all of that. Suddenly it was okay to want messy, and flaws, and uncertainty, so much of what Trenton embodied ... everything I saw in myself that I thought I didn’t like. Because even if we were struggling, we had goals. It didn’t matter that we weren’t there yet. What mattered is that we both experienced setbacks, and full-blown failures, but we got up, brushed ourselves off, and kept going – and were making the best of it. Trenton didn’t just make all of those things acceptable ; he made getting there fun. Instead feeling ashamed of where we weren’t, we could be proud of where we were going, and what we would overcome to get there.” [ p. 171 ]

Conclusion :

Bagi pembaca yang telah membaca seri Beautiful (baca : Beautiful Disaster dan Walking Disaster) kisah tentang hubungan unik, aneh dan penuh gejolak yang terjadi antar dua remaja Travis Maddox dan Abby Abbernathy, maka kali ini penulis menyajikan sisi lain dari kakak beradik Maddox, masih ingat berapa orang cowok dalam keluarga ini ? Yup ada Thomas, Taylor, Tyler, Trenton, dan si bungsu Travis. Dan kali ini giliran kisah tentang Trevor, yang beberapa kali muncul dalam serial Beautiful. Meski disebutkan bahwa ini adalah kisah yang berbeda, penulis kembali menggunakan format dan gaya penuturan yang sama, sehingga beberapa hal bisa dikeathui terlebih dahulu karena lokasi atau seting waktu yang serupa dengan seri Beautiful. Penulis bahkan tidak mau repot-repot membangun perubahan total, hanya ‘menambal’ lubang-lubang untuk memperjelas keberadaan dan kondisi dari sudut pandang Trevor. Satu-satunya yang membuatku masih bertahan untuk menuntaskan bacaan yang cukup tebal ini, karena karakter Trevor serta kehadiran Cami – sahabat Travis yang menjadi incaran Trevor, mampu memberikan kepuasan tersendiri dengan konflik dan problematika psikologis yang terjadi antara mereka.

Entah apakah karena karakter Travis dan Abby cenderung lebih muda usianya sehingga berkesan kekanakan (atau lebih tepatnya layaknya remaja yang mudah berubah-ubah hormonnya), maka penggambaran tentang Trevor dan Cami terasa ‘lebih dewasa’ tanpa kesan cheesy yang cukup menyebalkan jika kalian membaca seri Beautiful. Sayangnya keberadaan sahabat Cami, Raegan ‘Ray’ yang memiliki pembawaan mirip America (sahabat Abby), kembali membuatku bertanya-tanya, apakah penulis sekedar melakukan ‘copy-paste’ dan hanya mengganti nama-nama pelaku ? Kebodohan wanita (baca : gadis-gadis) yang selalu ‘jatuh’ pada cowok brengsek dan tdak setia, alih-alih yang memiliki kualitas yang jauh lebih baik, semakin membuatku jengkel menghadapi kasus-kasus serupa (why they never learn from all mistaken already happening before ?)  Hal lain yang (sebenarnya) cukup mengganggu, adalah keberadaan kekasih misterius Cami yang baru diketahui dengan jelas menjelang akhir kisah ini, yang membuatku bertanya-tanya apakah penulis sengaja membuat ‘kerumitan’ dalam kisah ini sebagai bahan untuk mengulas karakter lain dalam kisah terbaru seri Maddox ini ...

[ more about this author & related works, just check at here : Jamie McGuire | on Goodreads | at Facebook | at Twitter ]

~ This Post are include in 2014 Reading Challenge ~

12^th Book in English Challenge

228^th Book in TBRR Pile

Best Regards,

Hobby Buku