Reviews with content warning for Child death - Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel by Val Emmich

16 reviews

kaylasbookgram's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“That’s what happens when people leave, I think. When they’re gone, you don’t have to be reminded of all the bad things. They can just stay the way you want them forever. Perfect.”

This book was everything I expected and more. As someone who was a complete nobody in high school I related so much to both Evan and Connor. I understood why Evan did what he did. Because already being at the bottom of the food chain you don’t really want to feed more fuel for the bullies to use against you. I knew from seeing the trailer to the movie I needed to read the book and I knew I was going to cry and be slightly trigger from my rough high school days. I can’t wait to see how well the movie does at remaking this amazing book!

TW: Bullying. Suicide. Attempt Suicide. Drugs. Alcohol.

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emilyrose23's review against another edition

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reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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fairy_internet's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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ka_ke's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Dear Evan Hansen is a phenomenally sad story. DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU ENJOY CRYING! As a fan of the musical the book was an excellent addition to my love of the story.

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livinginmyfantasy's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book chronicles the story of the ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ musical and while it is trying to tell the same story in a unique way, I couldn’t help myself from comparing the two. In the first part of the story it seemed like the book was trying to set itself apart by not including too many lyrics from the musical, but in doing so I felt like it had a tendency to gloss over the integral parts of the show that carry the heart and soul of the story. Because of that the book just didn’t pack the same emotional punch. I didn’t entirely connect with the writing style either, it felt a bit too dialog-heavy, partly because Evan’s inner monologue read like a conversation. However, I did appreciate the way the book was able to throw in some extra information that shed a new light on parts of the story. For example, how it was able to delve deeper into Evan’s relationship with his dad. These little tidbits created a bit of extra depth that I felt was missing in some of the other parts. By the second part of the book things started picking up, it felt like the story had found its voice and rhythm and things were finally clicking into place. Perhaps this was just me getting used to the different format and style, but I found myself comparing it to the musical less and less and started enjoying the book on its own. My favourite thing about this book was how it included Connor. It was able to explore his past, give us more insight into his psyche and bring closure to his part of the story.

Overall, it’s a quick and easy read and I would recommend it to any fan of the musical. It will help connect the dots between the songs for people who’ve only been able to listen to the album, and for people who’ve already seen the show it will add some extra pieces of information and bring new insights into the characters.

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amandalorianxo's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Teetering between 4.5/5 stars - I found this book to be refreshing in many ways.
Favorite quotes so far:
" From the moment she was born, she's been training to kick life's ass." (pg 182)
" I can never just sit back and sail. People like Rox can just put their feet up and let the water carry them along. Not me. I'm constantly on the verge of sinking." (pg. 168)
" Actually drowning is peace, almost drowning is pure pain." (pg. 187)
" I'm tired of curbing my emotions just to make room for hers." (pg. 283)
The realistic voice of a high school senior whose mental health is not used as a punchline but is taken seriously throughout the entire novel. The story of someone who initially didn’t mean to be a part of anything but has his life changed for the better.
Evan knew from the beginning that

lying about his involvement with Connor + most importantly Connor taking his own life was wrong. But this was a kid who had practically no one to talk to except his mother and the jerk of a family friend Jared. It’s no wonder he decided to make his claim as the best friend. What follows is Evan being able to have people know who he is and being temporarily part of a family that cares about him.

His mother means well but it seemed to Evan that he was “curbing his emotions to appear her own.” I cried when I read that sentence because I too grew up having to make my emotions smaller in order to appease my own mother. This book struck me in a good way and I’m glad I made this my first read of 2021.

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