Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel

I have been familiar with the story of Dear Evan Hansen for several years now. I don't generally listen to musical soundtracks, but I fell in love with Dear Evan Hansen's premise and its focus on mental health—an issue I am very passionate about. At the peak of my obsession, I practically had all the songs memorized and even read the musical's script.

Needless to say, I thought I would enjoy this book much more than I actually did. While the plot holds a lot of potential, its transition from stage to page is lacking because it makes all its characters extremely two-dimensional. Evan Hansen comes off as extremely unlikeable and manipulative instead of as the intended anxious, socially awkward persona. It felt at times like his only personality trait was being in love with Zoe (and even that comes off as borderline obsessive) when I know he has the potential to be a much more dynamic character.

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jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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megansnextread's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad medium-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

4.5

CW/TW for Suicide

"If the pain is in you, it's in you. It follows you everywhere. Can't outrun it. Can't erase it. Can't push it away; it only comes back…There's only one way to survive it. You have to let it in. Let it hurt you. And don't wait."

This YA book is based on the musical with the same name, that once starred Ben Platt. I have unfortunately not seen the musical yet, but I love the soundtrack. I don't think you need to have seen or listened to the musical in order to enjoy this book!

Evan has to start off his first day of senior year in high school by writing himself an encouraging letter. This is an assignment from his therapist. He prints off the letter at school and it ends up in the hands of Connor Murphy who pockets it. Later in the week Evan wonders where Connor has gone, and is called in to talk to Connor's parents who tell him that he has killed himself and they give him the letter they believe Connor wrote to Evan. Evan than goes on to live the lie of being Connor's secret best friend, mainly to appease the grieving family.

This book felt like I went to a therapy session, it was incredibly therapeutic. Very eye opening in understanding how mental health affects teens, how divorce, and loneliness can only make it harder for teens to grapple with their negative thoughts. I related to Evan in a lot of ways, were both Pisces and I saw him struggling with things I often struggled with in high school. However, Evan was mean to his friend and mother, so I found his more immature qualities a bit annoying at times.

This book is hard to read, especially if you have intrusive thoughts so go into this book knowing all the triggers and content warnings. I loved getting to hear from Connor, which I had no idea we did hear from in this book. I also really loved the ending, you can really see how much Evan has grown as a character. This is a side note, but all the tree talk made me happy, because I love trees lol.

Like hard hitting YA books that discuss difficult topics? This book is for you.

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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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georginadaw's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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