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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
i have like sooo many thoughts. first of all, i loved how the book is created; the pictures, the short chapters, and pages getting darker. it was so interesting and conveyed the story into darker topics as the characters start to lose themselves. i got confused as to the premise of the story but the actual story was so much better.
august is the pov in the story, which is interesting considering that jack is the one with hallucinations. august is a super interesting character. the way that he seems to change around jack and kinda loses his nerves. he likes to follow jack and basically always does what he tells him to (how it goes from sort of innocent requests (going to rani) to more intense (driving across two states for a magical rock to that will save the world that turns out to be a rock) to absolutely insane (burning a building down and drowning???). like their dynamic is amazing.
jack was my favorite character. both jack and august are the same in which they kinda divert from what you think their character is going to be. watching him like react to his hallucinations was super interesting. and the way it consumed him omgg. i can’t like articulate my thoughts on him.
their relationship is my favorite thing ever. i love toxic, codependent couples that tear each other apart, so this book was made for me. at first august/jack aren’t that bad (you can see the seeds of the toxicity being planted ex: when jacks saves august from drowning when they were kids) but as jack’s mental health keeps getting worse, their relationship gets worse and the start isolating themselves.
the scenes at the prison are my absolute favorite and i feel like it encompasses their entire relationship. how far august went for jack, how he literally drowned and burned a building for him to try and help him get better but despite all of this jack got worse. and august still stayed by his side and pleaded insanity. they make each other worse and feed off each others delusional.
oh and the reveal that it was a tumor was awful, like all of this could have been avoided if people cared. the fact that they got to that point at all without not one adult caring is tragic. because adults noticed that they were changing (august’s grade plummeted, while jack quit rugby) but they didn’t care enough to do anything.
the whole wicker king quest thing was interesting . like my understanding is that august thought if he went along with jack’s hallucinations he would get better. it was super interesting.
august is the pov in the story, which is interesting considering that jack is the one with hallucinations. august is a super interesting character. the way that he seems to change around jack and kinda loses his nerves. he likes to follow jack and basically always does what he tells him to (how it goes from sort of innocent requests (going to rani) to more intense (driving across two states for a magical rock to that will save the world that turns out to be a rock) to absolutely insane (burning a building down and drowning???). like their dynamic is amazing.
jack was my favorite character. both jack and august are the same in which they kinda divert from what you think their character is going to be. watching him like react to his hallucinations was super interesting. and the way it consumed him omgg. i can’t like articulate my thoughts on him.
their relationship is my favorite thing ever. i love toxic, codependent couples that tear each other apart, so this book was made for me. at first august/jack aren’t that bad (you can see the seeds of the toxicity being planted ex: when jacks saves august from drowning when they were kids) but as jack’s mental health keeps getting worse, their relationship gets worse and the start isolating themselves.
the scenes at the prison are my absolute favorite and i feel like it encompasses their entire relationship. how far august went for jack, how he literally drowned and burned a building for him to try and help him get better but despite all of this jack got worse. and august still stayed by his side and pleaded insanity. they make each other worse and feed off each others delusional.
oh and the reveal that it was a tumor was awful, like all of this could have been avoided if people cared. the fact that they got to that point at all without not one adult caring is tragic. because adults noticed that they were changing (august’s grade plummeted, while jack quit rugby) but they didn’t care enough to do anything.
the whole wicker king quest thing was interesting . like my understanding is that august thought if he went along with jack’s hallucinations he would get better. it was super interesting.
dark
tense
fast-paced
I'm a little bit obsessed with this book. Any book that has an interactive feel - photos, scraps of letters, playlists - to it will catch my attention, and the descent from white to dark black pages kept me flipping through the book as August struggled to manage his friend's mental health.
This is a codependent, toxic relationship, but one that you can actually understand, and that you can root for. August and Jack are clearly more than friends, and you can see August's struggles with that as he tries to project a straight persona around his peers.
The ending had a surprising twist, while clearly showing that love cannot cure what is happening to Jack. The black pages actually offered a sense of relief, and gave me hope that while Jack and August may still have problems, with help they could work through it.
This is a codependent, toxic relationship, but one that you can actually understand, and that you can root for. August and Jack are clearly more than friends, and you can see August's struggles with that as he tries to project a straight persona around his peers.
The ending had a surprising twist, while clearly showing that love cannot cure what is happening to Jack. The black pages actually offered a sense of relief, and gave me hope that while Jack and August may still have problems, with help they could work through it.
This wasn’t what I was expecting. I’m not sure what it was exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. It was weird and had you questioning what was real or what wasn’t real. I loved the fast chapters and important on friendships.
I hyped this book up to much in my mind…and I didn’t love this as much as I thought I would. 😫
Another reviewer said this is a watered down version of These Violent Delights and I very much agree.
The physical book itself was probably my favorite thing. The mixed media parts and the way the pages slowly turned black was amazing.
The two main characters were fine and I wished I loved them more. 🙁
(I honestly wish there was more on their co-dependency 😅, if you’re going to use that then please go all in)
Didn’t really care for any of the side characters, the twins were pretty cool though!
And the ending was…nice?
Another reviewer said this is a watered down version of These Violent Delights and I very much agree.
The physical book itself was probably my favorite thing. The mixed media parts and the way the pages slowly turned black was amazing.
The two main characters were fine and I wished I loved them more. 🙁
(I honestly wish there was more on their co-dependency 😅, if you’re going to use that then please go all in)
Didn’t really care for any of the side characters, the twins were pretty cool though!
And the ending was…nice?
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I still don’t understand how much of the plot actually happened to the boys & how much was a hallucination…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Violence, Abandonment
Minor: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization
Tagged as schizophrenic for the hallucinations since that isn’t a tag
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The book talks about mental illness and neglect, and how neglecting those guys affected their decisions and the way they live their lives and the codependent relationship between August and Jack.
They never understood their feeling towards each other and that caused them a lot of pain.
It all started when jack saw colorful jellyfish floating in the sky, from his classroom window, and it gets darker and more harmful when he gets no help in a timely manner.
Deep down I can’t blame August’s mother for neglecting him, because I understand what it feels like to be too depressed to function.
Ancrum is a very smart and unique story teller that made me feel for the characters, I have no idea how she managed to do so and I can’t stop thinking about it even after 4 days.
It’s one of those books that I feel so jealous that I’m not the one who wrote.
One of my all time favorites
They never understood their feeling towards each other and that caused them a lot of pain.
It all started when jack saw colorful jellyfish floating in the sky, from his classroom window, and it gets darker and more harmful when he gets no help in a timely manner.
Deep down I can’t blame August’s mother for neglecting him, because I understand what it feels like to be too depressed to function.
Ancrum is a very smart and unique story teller that made me feel for the characters, I have no idea how she managed to do so and I can’t stop thinking about it even after 4 days.
It’s one of those books that I feel so jealous that I’m not the one who wrote.
One of my all time favorites
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Good take on teen friendships, codependency. I always enjoy a long mental hospital stay via books such as this.
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
loved the premise, the nuanced relationship between the characters, and the psychological aspect. i just wish it were longer??? or that we got to see certain things developed more