North of Beautiful

Title: North of Beautiful
Author: Justina Chen Headley
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2009)
Genre: young adult, contemporary fiction
Pages: 373

Description
It's hard not to notice Terra Cooper.

She's tall, blond, and has an enviable body. But with one turn of her cheek, all people notice is her unmistakably flawed face. Terra secretly plans to leave her stifling small town in the Northwest and escape to an East Coast college, but gets pushed off-course by her controlling father. When an unexpected collision puts Terra directly in Jacob's path, the handsome but quirky Goth boy immediately challenges her assumptions about herself and her life, and she is forced in yet another direction. With her carefully laid plans disrupted, will Terra be able to find her true path? (jacket copy)

Reaction
Nothing makes me sadder than wasted potential. When I see the elements for a good book, I get really frustrated when the result is less than it could be.

The sad thing is, North of Beautiful probably could have been a really good book. But it falls short. Honestly,  it kind of felt like reading an unedited manuscript. Not that there were massive grammatical errors or anything (there weren't), but it just felt unfinished. There were simply too many elements: Terra's birthmark, Terra's abusive father, map metaphors, China, geocaching, inner beauty, the definition of art, obsessive compulsive disorder, finding yourself, growing up, enlightenment...

Also, by the end, it got kind of preachy. There was some symbolism which, if left subtle, could have been really powerful. But instead it was repeated over and over again and outright explained to us, time and again.

Basically, this could have probably been two unrelated, good books, but  instead it's just one convoluted, frustrating book.

Design
The interior design didn't really strike me as good or bad. It was mostly unobtrusive, and the little details here and there added to the book. I like the cover though, it's pretty much what got me to read the book; the map compass symbol over her face was a good way of conveying the birthmark and also weaving in some of the books symbolism.

Final Rating:

2/5 It had some good stuff going for it, but I was really happy to be done with it. I'll say it again: wasted potential.