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Dec 04, 2014Anistasya rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
A girl raised by a life coach and an author of books on planning is bound to be a little obsessive. Vasser Spore goes to the Seattle Academy for Academic Excellence and dreams of attending Vasser (an elite womens' university after which she was named). Her plans do not include a wild backpacking tour of south-east asia with her grandmother and an Asian cowboy named Hanks. Full of caricatured people and surprisingly well drawn places, I found Carpe Diem a strange mix of the comic and the familiar. I could identify with some of her culture shock, the squat toilets being a favourite of the author, but I also found myself wishing Vasser would be less arrogant. She is far from open to the experience, especially to begin with. At times she can come across as ignorant and quite rude, which made me cringe. Still, the slowly blooming relationship between Vasser and Hank is amusing, and the 'big secret' worth finding out. The ending is satisfying enough. In terms of audio, the book was well read. No extra sound effects or music.