Review of Numbers by Rachel Ward

Title:  Numbers
Author:  Rachel Ward
Published by:  Chicken House/Scholastic Inc
Pages:  325
Source:  Audiobook from Library
Rating:  3/5


From Goodreads:  Whenever Jem meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die.  Burdened with such an awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. But while they’re waiting to ride the Eye Ferris wheel, Jem notices that all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today’s number. Today’s date. Terrorists are going to attack London. Jem’s world is about to explode!

The idea behind this novel was very interesting...a person who could see everyone's date of death.  I wasn't sure how this concept was going to be portrayed but I think the author did a great job with it.  Jem definitely struggled with what to do with the information she knew about others.  It was a internal battle between deciding if she should tell people or give this information to herself.

Jem had a hard time forming relationships and I can understand why.  If I knew exactly when everyone was going to die I would have a hard time wanting people to get close to me. 

I loved that the characters were not rich, beautiful, straight A, perfect students.  In fact, they were what we'd consider juvenile delinquents.  It was nice to not have these perfect characters, but to have characters with huge character flaws.

Even though I loved that the characters were flawed, I didn't really connect with either Jem or Spider.  In fact, Spider kind of creeped me out.  He was shady and jittery all the time.  I wanted to tell him to sit still (and take a shower).  I'm not sure what it was about them and I don't think it's how the author wrote them, more just how I felt about them.  

I think because I couldn't really connect with the characters I didn't really connect with the story either.  I had a hard time believing everything that happened on Jem and Spider's journey and I didn't enjoy the ending either.  

Even though this wasn't my favorite novel, I did enjoy parts of it and I think most people would enjoy the story too.