I received a review copy of Going Over from the publisher.

I love Berlin, and I am a bit of a romantic at times, so when I learned about this book and saw that I might be able to get an ARC, I jumped at the chance. (Unfortunately another ARC I was reading stalled me and this book actually came out in April, before I was able to read it.)

I'm a sucker for the kinds of people Kephart writes about in Going Over--artistic, creative types, sometimes on the fringes, who face challenges, but who have close if not perfect ties to a small group of family and friends. In this book the main characters are Ada, an almost 16-year-old graffiti artist and daycare center worker living with her mother and grandmother in West Berlin, and her love, Stefan, who lives with his grandmother, studies engineering (a path chosen for him by the state), and gazes at the stars in East Berlin. If I weren't a sucker for the kinds of characters Kephart describes--pink-haired and tattooed and dreadlocked and punked up (and mind you this is the 1980s, so those kinds of things were still a tad on the rebellious or unusual end of the social spectrum), I might find it all a bit posed--trying a bit too hard. Kephart's characters are pretty convincing, though. It works.

Ada can sometimes visit Stefan, but he can never visit her. The book is long on dramatics and short on any sort of humor. That's okay--this is not funny stuff--yet sometimes it feels a tad overwrought. Kephart's penchant for short, dramatic sentences contributes to that feeling. That got a little annoying at times, but given the subject matter and the young adult audience I let it go. Ada is very much a lovestruck teenager, and when you combine that with her job bringing her in contact with the struggles of the Turkish community and the fact that she's desperate for Stefan to escape from the East, it's understandable.

Kephart's descriptions can be quite lovely. I have a vivid picture in my head of one pivotal scene that happens late at night on snow-covered streets. I can see some characters very well in my mind--particularly Ada and Lukas, a character who shows up in the East later in the book.

If the book doesn't always balance tension with some sort of relief, it does manage to balance the light and the dark. Some outcomes are very bleak, some are hopeful, and some are left unknown... sort of "what now?" At least, I see the unknown. I kind of like that ending. What happens now?

So, overall? Going Over isn't brilliant, but it's very enjoyable. 3.5 stars. ( )

Have you ever read a book that you knew, instinctively, that you have to love it even though you don't like it very much? Often, I'll pick up a very artistic, beautifully written book and feel disconnected in that way. I love the idea behind the book, I love the way the words flow and the images that the book is evoking in my imagination, but I really just don't like the book very much. Unfortunately, GOING OVER by Beth Kephart was one of those books for me.

Read the rest of this review at The Lost Entwife on July 19, 2014. ( )

I just can't bring myself to read this book right now. I've tried opening it and starting several times, but I just haven't been drawn in enough to finish the book. From the positive reviews other members have given the book, I do plan to try again--but the beginning hasn't been compelling enough for me to stick with it yet.