Writers are all over the internet. They may be a small population but they all write. They may do it as a hobby or as a distraction. Some have passion, a burning passion to tell stories to others. To talk to the audience with their own story. If you are a passionate writer like me, you will like the story 'I Am Anastasia' by ELarimer
Why did I choose the story 'I Am Anastasia'? There are a few reasons why I choose it.
1. It is different compared to other Wattpad stories
2. It focuses more on family relationships.
3. It reveals the difficulty of becoming a writer
Finding a story like that is rare on Wattpad. Seriously, every time I try to search for a good story on Wattpad most of them are romance stories about playboys and One Direction- no offence. These elements of the story are what make the story interesting enough for me to read on. I'll explain more about this later. Now let's break down the story shall we?
Storyline
As I've said, the storyline of 'I Am Anastasia' is different compared to many typical slice of life stories. The genre of this story is only classified as teen fiction by the author as the story covers many genres. I am not too sure of the genre myself but what is to be expected are family problems, man vs himself problems (fighting emotionally or mentally), a bit of romance, a bit of mystery with adventure and simple dreams.
The story of 'I Am Anastasia' follows our main character, Samantha, who is a high school introvert who lives with her father. Samantha is always being pressured by her father to meet her controlling father's demands such as forcing her to work in a bakery part time which she hates and constantly pressure her with his cold demeanour. What's worse for Samantha is that her father hates her dream: to become a writer. Her father often scolds her and constantly tells her that her dreams will never come true. Samantha's only way to escape her troubles is to go to her room and writes her story about an adventurous mary-sue character named Anastasia who travels through a fantasy world and fight battles, wishing she was her. One day, she walks into an art exhibition her father often tells her not to go to and discover a painting, signed by a name which will take Samantha on an adventure of her own.
The story of Samantha entirely focuses on her relationship with her family. The majority of the story talks about her parents and her family problems with a few friends helping Samantha along the way. The story is quite interesting and there are some unexpected events that gives the story a little twist. The setting and situation of the story makes it different compared to other stories, making it unique. It also has repeated themes which not many people see such as rejection, dreams, family and many more which Wattpad stories don't often talk about. But they were not focused on directly due to the lack of story. The flow of the story however was rushed throughout the beginning and the sudden escalated relationship of characters unfortunately lessens the greater impact of suspense and emotional attachment that could have been there. There was also a lot of explaining within the story which sometimes is a bit unnecessary.
Characters
The characters maintain their character throughout the course of the story but they are unfortunately not that well developed except the main character. There a few loveable characters in the story and some you just can't help be angry at- which is a good thing mind you.
I would only focus on the main character Samantha as to not reveal any spoilers. Samantha's character when introduced seems like any ordinary shy bookworm. She is passionate about writing, curious, sweet and temperate with a bit of intolerance in her and clumsy. I really like her character due to how the author makes her entertaining and realistic. She makes her into a real character with good balance of flaws and strengths as well as good connections with the other characters. Samantha's character is nicely developed throughout the story as she overcomes her problems, making her a strong character in the story.
But the other characters of the story are not realistic like Samantha. Most of the characters are flat but they all play a role on developing Samantha's character, they are not just there for the sake of it. The writer makes the characters in such a way you seem to want to take Samantha's side of the story with the loveable and hated characters. The characters are also used in such a way that the reader feel like they are Samantha and they feel like they are in her situation, pitying her. The characters also would either have too many flaws or too many strengths to be considered real or they are not mentioned enough in the story. Their connections to Samantha seems to suddenly become close despite being met and the relationship between minor characters are not as well developed either. The minor characters come in suddenly and need more development despite their small appearance.
Writing Style
The writing style of the author is simple and easy to understand but good enough to make you interested. It is mainly how she can use Samantha's thoughts throughout the story and make her rant her problems in her head. Not only that but she also uses Samantha's story of Anastasia to narrate the story in a more interesting way. It shows how writer's often put a bit of themselves while they are writing. The author makes full use of Samantha's fictional story throughout the plot and express Samantha's feelings which seems to tie everything together and create a great work of story telling.
But throughout the story there are a few grammatical mistakes and the format is slightly off which can be confusing to the reader. As the story is a bit rushed, the writing is not very detailed unless it is describing the environment. The paragraphs do flow but not smoothly.
Conclusion
'I Am Anastasia' by ELaimer is a unique story compared to other stories on Wattpad and has a lot of potential of becoming a great novel if it there was more plot and more development of characters. Personally when I first read it I really enjoyed the story despite the lack of story thanks to the story setting. I would recommend the book due to how it's different and the story is quite goof but not exactly the best story. After some calculations for ranking based on storyline, writing style, characters and my own enjoyment (if this sounds familiar, I am imitating a reviewer for anime.), I would rate this story…
7.5/10
and I say that you should read the book for the story itself.
Thank you for reading and I hope you like this week's and first post on Wattpad reviews. If you have any opinions about this review or would like to share your own thought on this book, comment below. I would like to hear it from you. :) Stay in tuned for more reviews next time.
Jade Crispy
