The Messages: Candor

Name: Candor

Author: Pam Bachorz

Date Published: 9/22/2009

Short Summary:

From the author – In the model community of Candor, Florida, every teen wants to be like Oscar Banks. The son of the town’s founder, Oscar earns straight As, is student-body president, and is in demand for every club and cause. 

But Oscar has a secret. He knows that parents bring their teens to Candor to make them respectful, compliant–perfect–through subliminal Messages that carefully correct and control their behavior. And Oscar’ s built a business sabotaging his father’s scheme with Messages of his own, getting his clients out before they’re turned. After all, who would ever suspect the perfect Oscar Banks?
Then he meets Nia, the girl he can’t stand to see changed. Saving Nia means losing her forever. Keeping her in Candor, Oscar risks exposure . . . and more.

In public or under the covers?

I mean, it’s from a man’s perspective so there’s going to be some commentary on women’s bodies but it’s not anything too graphic.

What mood?

This isn’t really a happy book. I ended the book feeling really “serious”, if that’s a feeling, which it isn’t.

Getting Over Oscar:

This also counts as my opinion of the main character because (drum roll please) he is the main character. Yes this is one of those rare YA books with a male main character. I dont really know what to say about Oscar. I’m not in love with him but I don’t hate him either. Sometimes I find him sweet and sometimes I find him annoying. 

Character Fever:

Let’s talk about Nia for a second. After all, she is the girl who messes up Oscar’s whole way of life. She is a bad ass but she’s the kind of bad ass who would wear a t-shirt that said “Bad Ass” on it, if you know what I mean. She tries really hard to be “different”.
Mandi is your typical goody goody bossy smart nerd and for some strange reason she’s my favorite character.
Sherman just grosses me out. Nothing else to say.

Crust factor:

I’m warning you guys right now so you aren’t surprised like I was. There is not a happy ending.

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover:

I really like the cover. There are the identical houses in a row and then there’s that one that’s different. The first think I thought of when I saw the title was “REBELLION” and you know me guys. I love a good rebellion.

Song this reminds me of:

Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. This song had major controversy for possibly having subliminal messages. When played backwards people here, “Here’s to my sweet Satan…”

Overall Rating:

I’m giving this book 2 stars – a Zac Efron. In my opinion, the beginning was okay but I only really started caring about the characters until about page 130. You guys know I love a good dystopia, and I did like that aspect and the idea of subliminal messages, but for some reason I just couldn’t get my heart into the story.