I had a hard time getting into this book. It just felt as if there was no forward movement. The dialogue was a bit boring. Since I did not finish the book, I do not intend to publish a review.

Throughout the book, Susan Orion’s writing is clear, detailed and humorous. The author certainly got into the mind of a thirteen-year-old teen. Rogers was a very relatable and believable character. His thoughts and actions were reflective of the way children actually behave and think. Roger is thrown into detention constantly for his mischievous antics. I just had to solve the mystery of the disembodied voice speaking to Roger through the wall. I found the book fun and enjoyable and could not put it down until I had finished it.
I would highly recommend this book for all ages not just the teens it was intended for.

Disclaimer: I’d like to disclose that I received a free copy in order to write this review.

Overall thoughts
The overall idea and concepts behind the novel are very intriguing and ambitious, though, unfortunately, the execution is not up to par. It is hard to like or care for the character, and there seems to be a lack of direction or purpose for the book as a whole. While I believe that troubled teens and mental health are important topics that need to be discussed and portrayed in contemporary literary works, I don’t think this book does these issues justice. It is the first entry for a series, and perhaps that’s why Detention Land is written as it is, but sadly, the novel doesn’t make me anxiously await the sequel. I really wanted to like this book because of its premise, but unfortunately, I can only say that the book is okay, just okay. Nothing more and nothing less. As such, rating wise, I can’t help but give it a 2.5, and since I have more problems with it than aspects that I liked, I will round it down to a two. For a more detailed and thorough explanation on my review and my thoughts, please read below. For those interested in reading further, I would like to warn that there might be some minor spoilers throughout the review.


Plot & themes explored
As it can be read in the blurb (as well as in the previous section of my review), the book aims to explore the psyche of a troubled teen that is close to breaking down. There is also the promise of having to solve an intriguing issue, which is the purpose and the person responsible for the mysterious voice that Roger hears while he’s in detention. Right from the start of the book, we are thrown into one of these detention sessions, with little to no reason or explanation as to why we should like or even care about Roger. Unfortunately, this doesn’t get better the further one reads. This interplay between reality and fiction is entertaining, and certainly one of the better aspects of the book. One of the selling points of the novel seems to be to solve the mystery on the voice that Roger keeps hearing, but the twist at the end, is subpar and predictable.

There are several themes that the author attempts to explore in the novel, although mental health issues are the main factor (particularly when dealing with a troubled teen). In fact, in this regard, the protagonist mentions that if one is labeled as a troubled kid, then one might as well adhere to the label and act out since it will be hard to change the mind of the adults, since he claims that adults just tend to believe each other. Concerning mental health issues, I would like to address the way that these are portrayed in the book, which are a central element to the story. It seems to me that the author tried to give Roger a whole bunch of potential ailments or disorders to make him more unique. I think that it doesn’t make him unique at all, and in fact made him seem like it would be an impossible occurrence or a very unlikely one. Roger himself seems to be somewhat “edgy”, for the lack of a better word, and I guess somewhat of a hypochondriac, by mentioning to having a bunch of different issues. There are some psychological traits and disorders that are explicitly stated throughout the book, though sometimes by a narrator and at times by Roger himself, which are: insomnia, psychosis, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder and dissociative identity disorder (DID). Some of the ones that are alluded to or implied are: depression, anxiety, psychopathy traits and some degree of autism. While they aren’t all mutually exclusive, meaning that someone could have several of them, or one could be a symptom of the other; in my opinion, it would be hard to believe that someone could have them all. This abundance of psychological issues might undermine the gravity of these disorders, and might actually deter some people from reading this book. In fact, it could also make people avoid learning more about mental health issues, since they could attribute teenagers to just being exaggerated and lying, as it could be the case here.

Another big aspect of the novel is the issue of bullying. This issue is considered to be very important in our society, particularly among the younger members that are victimized in school. To this issue, the book is explored two-fold, by having the protagonist sometimes standing up to the aggressor and other times by being the aggressor themselves. While physical bullying is addressed, there is a severe lack of attention placed on cyberbullying, which is just as important, if not even more so, than physical bullying. Especially in today’s generations. In fact, while there was mention and an acknowledgement to diverse social media, the degree of impact and the dynamics of socializing in these mediums was largely left unmentioned. As a personal note, I’d like to add that whenever some social media or website was mentioned, the author left her personal details and accounts, a practice which went from funny at the start, to tacky after seeing it several times.

An interesting theme that was presented throughout the novel is the way that food is viewed and used in our society. In fact, food seems to be an important family dynamic in the novel. It is mentioned that Roger’s household actually had two kitchens, one belonging to each of his parents. His parents, as one can imagine, have very different views on food. On the one hand, his father believes that it is a sin to be hungry. This type of view is an encouragement for Roger to give in to cravings and binge eat. Roger actually expresses that due to these things, his weight tends to fluctuate a lot, and he considers himself to be a stress eater. Both Roger and his dad eat behind the back of the mother.

As this last part may indicate, there are issues of communication dynamics that are addressed in the book. In this regard, I believe that the author has done a fairly good job in describing how teenagers communicate, in particular with adults or figures of authority. The author has also done a good job describing the flawed family dynamics in which a troubled teen might grow, though this is not done explicitly. Something I would have personally liked to see more, however, as I mentioned before, is the role of digital mediums in the communication and social aspects in the lives of today’s youth.

My biggest complaint and major contributor for me not liking Detention Land is the characters. As one can imagine, I never felt connected or related to Roger. I never had a good reason to care for his story or the events that he was going through. One important element seems to be that Roger is a genius, though some of the instances and thoughts that Roger has makes me doubt the validity of those claims. In all honesty, most of the time I just felt that the character of Roger was someone with a vastly overestimated sense of grandeur and an incredibly high degree of arrogance. The other characters also fall flat, in my opinion. Though the family members are described, they are also not very likeable or relatable. In part, this is due to the fact that we get to know them through the eyes of Roger, so that is at least understandable. There is only one character that I actually even felt sorry for and could possibly have connected to, which is Billy. Even though he is Roger’s best and only friend, he doesn’t have much of a presence in the book. This can be due to the fact that Roger doesn’t seem to care much about him. All in all, none of the characters made the story more appealing to me nor did they make me care more about the events of the novel.


Narration & use of language
Overall, the book has a dark mood and tone, although there are some funny moments. The language overall is easy to read and suitable, though there are some words that might be hard for younger audiences. There is also a nice use of imagery from time to time, though unfortunately, this usage is not always consistent. There are also some references that might not be understood by younger readers. The journal format suits the story, and the changes between narrators are interesting, yet suitable. It gives a way to explore the story in different ways, and to gain a deeper understanding about the thoughts and feelings of the different characters.


Suggestions for further reading
I would recommend this novel to those that are interested in reading about the experiences that a troubled teen goes through, or to those that want to read fiction related to mental health issues, and to those that want to read a novel where the line between the novel’s reality and fiction start to blur. I also have some recommendations for those that have read this book, or have read the blurb, and are interested in reading other works that are either similar in structure, style or explore similar themes. Firstly, I would like to mention that while reading this novel, I kept thinking about The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, primarily because I didn’t really care nor feel associated with the character in this book, which is a common complaint with Salinger’s novel. They both explore teenage feelings, though for different purposes and with different themes; as such, The Catcher in the Rye is my first recommendation. Another book that follows a journal-entry structure is Go Ask Alice, though it explores different themes altogether, mostly drug-related, it could still be an enjoyable read for those that liked the style and overall dark mood of this novel. There are other books that try to explore mental health issues (specifically in a teenage context) that also have a similar structure and style. For example, there’s Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Looking For Alaska by John Green, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Personally, I’d recommend these books to those that have read and liked Detention Land, but also to those that are not entirely satisfied with the book, since I believe that these other works did it better. I also have a recommendation for those that are looking for a mystery book where it’s unclear whether something is real or not (though I should mention that it is not written in a teenage context like these other recommendations), which is The Fly Guy by Colum Sanson-Regan.

Thanks for reading my review!

"Detention Land" by Susan Orion is definitely an unusual book. There is a lot of potential but I found I could not quite grasp it. Roger is a 15 year old boy who seems be constantly in trouble at school and ends up in endless detentions where he is in a dialogue with a nameless voice through a speaker. The story alternates between when he is in detention and his journal. I definitely got the impression that Roger is very troubled and there is something going on emotionally and mentally. There were times when it seemed he either had delusions of grandeur or used his imagination to cope with his real life. At points, it seemed like his parents with possibly neglectful and abusive but the "voice" constantly downplayed that possibility so it was hard to know truth from fiction. I also got the impression that Roger was bullied. There were times when I could see the parallels to my own teenage daughter but it was not clear. All in all, I found the book a bit confusing but I am hoping that it will become more clear in the next book in the series.
I received a copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

My knee-jerk reaction is that I did not like this book but that is more to do with my own personal feelings and nothing to do with the actual book which I honestly thought was well written and giving us an insight to modern life in America.

The main character, Roger is not very likeable. I kept veering wildly from wanting to take him home for a big hug or to reach into the book to give him a well deserved kick up the arse.
He's constantly in detention for various kinds of bad behaviour but he is just crying out for attention of any kind. Although of course he is the wronged person and is never in the wrong!!

Roger is a self proclaimed nerd. As such he is a fantastically observant, witty narrator embracing his eccentricities and accepting, and even pointing out to you, when he's trying to pull a fast one! An everyday 15 year old boy, perfectly represented as just that, with a slightly tricky family dynamic, who finds himself stuck in Detention for what feels like forever. Roger is a defiant, stubborn, intelligent and funny character to view the world through, and he spends most of the book defending his case to a voice through the Detention walls - a particularly probing, almost antagonistic voice, which added an interesting dynamic to the story; how exciting to have a faceless, nameless character with unknown intentions.

Roger reminded me of the main character from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime. He is incredibly frank, and says what he thinks however controversial it might seem. For me he is this books largest success and his personality kept me reading. I found the story, and secondary characters (besides the lady in the wall) pretty typical of this genre with nothing particularly intriguing about them. However what I did like was how this author cleverly weaves Rogers own opinions into this - he was about as excited about other characters as I was! This made me wonder if actually this author had been very clever and deliberately chose uneventful characters to really make Roger and his mind shine.

The story progresses quite slowly, but this is a short book with an unexpected approach so I was pretty excited to see what was going to unravel all the way through - I really didn't know what the point of the story was for a while, the blurb is quite vague, and this made me defermined to find out! There are definitely some interesting concepts peppered throughout, it just takes a little bit of getting into.

Not a terribly fast paced book, but definitely an interesting and original approach.

ARC provided free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.