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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
4.5 Stars
This book is a blast! Where’s do I start? First, this book flew by. I started it and then out of nowhere, it was over! And I couldn’t believe it. There is a mix of different characters whom all play their own parts, that fit into the story. My two favorite characters are Miyu & Will. Miyu is witty and is a joy to read! Will is a caring and such a strong character.
For me, I haven’t read many books that have anything to do with escapology and mash it up with teen/young adult life. I also enjoy the theme of not judging people, keeping secrets for friendships and being yourself! The writing style is great, there are some flashbacks which I found neat and play a huge role in the plot. Overall, I feel that going in only knowing two things will make this a crazy joy ride, so first, the escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Second, it's filled with witty characters!
This book is a blast! Where’s do I start? First, this book flew by. I started it and then out of nowhere, it was over! And I couldn’t believe it. There is a mix of different characters whom all play their own parts, that fit into the story. My two favorite characters are Miyu & Will. Miyu is witty and is a joy to read! Will is a caring and such a strong character.
For me, I haven’t read many books that have anything to do with escapology and mash it up with teen/young adult life. I also enjoy the theme of not judging people, keeping secrets for friendships and being yourself! The writing style is great, there are some flashbacks which I found neat and play a huge role in the plot. Overall, I feel that going in only knowing two things will make this a crazy joy ride, so first, the escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Second, it's filled with witty characters!
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Art of Escaping is trying to be a good book and that’s the best I can say about it, to be honest. It’s trying out a lot of things to catch the reader’s attention, sadly forgetting the most important one: actually good writing.
So we have two narrators instead of one, the second one being a minor character and only getting every fourth or fifth chapter. We have fragments of diaries of the main character’s hero before each chapter. And I can’t stop thinking we have all those things, to keep us distracted from the fact the book as a whole? Isn’t really that interesting.
I had a number of issues with The Art of Escaping, though I think some of them won’t be a problem for other readers - everything is a matter of taste, after all. But personally? I found Mattie, the main character, extremely unlikable, which made reading a torturous experience. Now this is something people might disagree with me on, sure, but let me tell you more about Mattie, so you can decide for yourself. When asked if she would like to join the Gay-Straight Alliance at her school, she replied “she’s apolitical”. Good to know my existence is still considered political… She also manages to give off very strong “not like other girls” vibes, which I can’t believe I had to witness in 2018. But the Thing that made me most angry? The one single thing? Oh boy.
Mattie is into escapology. That’s like, the whole premise of the book. Mattie also keeps that interest a secret from all her friends and her family, sneaks around to practice and keeps lying to cover her tracks. All out of fear of? Well I’m not entirely sure, but it seems she thinks she would get hated for being interested in escapology? That’s not even my point, though! Because there’s a scene where Mattie really compares keeping an interest in escapology a secret to keeping being gay a secret… Yeah, you read that right. She really, genuinely thinks those are similar in any way and that repercussions of those secrets getting revealed would be in any way on the same level.
I don’t care if she changes her mind near the end of the book. I had to read a story about a character making light of the oppression LGBT people still experience every single day and I am not happy about that.
Couple that with mediocre writing and a kind of pointless premise and what do you get? A book I wish I didn’t spend my time reading. Life is just too short, guys.
The Art of Escaping is trying to be a good book and that’s the best I can say about it, to be honest. It’s trying out a lot of things to catch the reader’s attention, sadly forgetting the most important one: actually good writing.
So we have two narrators instead of one, the second one being a minor character and only getting every fourth or fifth chapter. We have fragments of diaries of the main character’s hero before each chapter. And I can’t stop thinking we have all those things, to keep us distracted from the fact the book as a whole? Isn’t really that interesting.
I had a number of issues with The Art of Escaping, though I think some of them won’t be a problem for other readers - everything is a matter of taste, after all. But personally? I found Mattie, the main character, extremely unlikable, which made reading a torturous experience. Now this is something people might disagree with me on, sure, but let me tell you more about Mattie, so you can decide for yourself. When asked if she would like to join the Gay-Straight Alliance at her school, she replied “she’s apolitical”. Good to know my existence is still considered political… She also manages to give off very strong “not like other girls” vibes, which I can’t believe I had to witness in 2018. But the Thing that made me most angry? The one single thing? Oh boy.
Mattie is into escapology. That’s like, the whole premise of the book. Mattie also keeps that interest a secret from all her friends and her family, sneaks around to practice and keeps lying to cover her tracks. All out of fear of? Well I’m not entirely sure, but it seems she thinks she would get hated for being interested in escapology? That’s not even my point, though! Because there’s a scene where Mattie really compares keeping an interest in escapology a secret to keeping being gay a secret… Yeah, you read that right. She really, genuinely thinks those are similar in any way and that repercussions of those secrets getting revealed would be in any way on the same level.
I don’t care if she changes her mind near the end of the book. I had to read a story about a character making light of the oppression LGBT people still experience every single day and I am not happy about that.
Couple that with mediocre writing and a kind of pointless premise and what do you get? A book I wish I didn’t spend my time reading. Life is just too short, guys.
I really liked this book! The friendships are great and escapology is an interesting subject.
I received an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Did not finish.
I was excited for this book originally because the summary sounded different and interesting. It wasn't something I'd really read before and I thought it was going to be one I blew through in no time. Unfortunately, I could not connect with this title at all really.
My struggle with this mainly had to do with the characters. I didn't think there was anything special about them. They were pretty typical for YA and not in a way that hooked me. The opposite in fact. Truthfully, I found Mattie to be somewhat annoying and Will just felt incredibly inauthentic. I feel like the author struggled to capture the teenage voice a lot with them and it resulted in characters that read oddly for me.
Additionally I felt the pacing was off. It was a slow start. A very, very slow start. I had to force myself to keep going early on in the novel. I wish the story had picked up sooner than it did because I might've been more interested then. I might've been able to finish it. But I just couldn't get past my issues with the pacing and the characters.
Did not finish.
I was excited for this book originally because the summary sounded different and interesting. It wasn't something I'd really read before and I thought it was going to be one I blew through in no time. Unfortunately, I could not connect with this title at all really.
My struggle with this mainly had to do with the characters. I didn't think there was anything special about them. They were pretty typical for YA and not in a way that hooked me. The opposite in fact. Truthfully, I found Mattie to be somewhat annoying and Will just felt incredibly inauthentic. I feel like the author struggled to capture the teenage voice a lot with them and it resulted in characters that read oddly for me.
Additionally I felt the pacing was off. It was a slow start. A very, very slow start. I had to force myself to keep going early on in the novel. I wish the story had picked up sooner than it did because I might've been more interested then. I might've been able to finish it. But I just couldn't get past my issues with the pacing and the characters.
// Thanks to Amberjack Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC to review //
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*All of my reviews are as spoiler-free as possible unless states otherwise*
I am such a sucker for stories with good characterization.
I just need to say that even though I was not a fan of the plot and all at first, the characters really intrigued me and I was very much pleased with their development by the end of the book.
~ the plot did not intrigue me enough at first which I think was mainly due to the fact that I expected whose plot revolved more on, literally, "The Art of Escaping". I expected it to deal with different issues and topics and sadly, that was not what I got.
It felt like your typical modern teenage story at first. It started slow but was also able to pick itself up about halfway. It was greatly amusing though and I believe that it is something that would appeal to younger teenagers since it seems like this was the target audience the author had in mind while writing this.
I'm not saying that the actual plot wasn't good, but it was not the plot that I was looking for.
~ I love the characterization. I thought that the characters would also be following the steroetypical template. Every character had a life in them, no matter how ridiculous thir names sounded or how absurd they were acting.
Our main character, with a snarky attitude, seemed to be against the world or have the world against her and I can't help but feel sorrow for her, but not pity, which I think is a very fine line that a lot of authors forget was there in the first place.
I felt bad for her without pitying her, so she still appeared strong, in a way, to me.
~ the excerpts before each chapter was a big part of what gave the whole story depth and meaning. It tied together the story more and the chapter titles were really creative for the writer.
They honestly balanced out the ridiculousness that might have been happening in the plot itself and put the plot on the right path again. They were most certainly not random and you can understand how the author put a purpose to each one that was placed there.
~ the writing style was not bad, I just don't think it was meant to appeal to me. It had a light tone, which was unexpected, for me, because of the title. It had good morals and things to relate to, while still being able to maintain a decent amount of creativity.
I was ready for some hardcore-heart-pounding book. It is a potentionally good coming-of-age story and this is something that those along the lower end of the age range should try picking this up.
“Real secrets weren’t sweet nothings you whispered in your arm candy’s ear.”
⟹ MY BLOG ⟸
⟹ SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI ⟸
*All of my reviews are as spoiler-free as possible unless states otherwise*
I am such a sucker for stories with good characterization.
I just need to say that even though I was not a fan of the plot and all at first, the characters really intrigued me and I was very much pleased with their development by the end of the book.
~ the plot did not intrigue me enough at first which I think was mainly due to the fact that I expected whose plot revolved more on, literally, "The Art of Escaping". I expected it to deal with different issues and topics and sadly, that was not what I got.
It felt like your typical modern teenage story at first. It started slow but was also able to pick itself up about halfway. It was greatly amusing though and I believe that it is something that would appeal to younger teenagers since it seems like this was the target audience the author had in mind while writing this.
I'm not saying that the actual plot wasn't good, but it was not the plot that I was looking for.
~ I love the characterization. I thought that the characters would also be following the steroetypical template. Every character had a life in them, no matter how ridiculous thir names sounded or how absurd they were acting.
Our main character, with a snarky attitude, seemed to be against the world or have the world against her and I can't help but feel sorrow for her, but not pity, which I think is a very fine line that a lot of authors forget was there in the first place.
I felt bad for her without pitying her, so she still appeared strong, in a way, to me.
~ the excerpts before each chapter was a big part of what gave the whole story depth and meaning. It tied together the story more and the chapter titles were really creative for the writer.
They honestly balanced out the ridiculousness that might have been happening in the plot itself and put the plot on the right path again. They were most certainly not random and you can understand how the author put a purpose to each one that was placed there.
~ the writing style was not bad, I just don't think it was meant to appeal to me. It had a light tone, which was unexpected, for me, because of the title. It had good morals and things to relate to, while still being able to maintain a decent amount of creativity.
I was ready for some hardcore-heart-pounding book. It is a potentionally good coming-of-age story and this is something that those along the lower end of the age range should try picking this up.
Thank you to NetGalley for my free copy of this book.
First of all, I found this book thoroughly enjoying and much more entertaining than your average YA novel.
Secondly, I loved the lack of a romance storyline as that is all the YA genre usually delivers. Instead, this book focuses on interesting characters and their friendships plus the unusual add in of escapism!
The conversations between characters seemed realistic though a little stretched by Will continual use of ‘20’s slang’. However, having been a pretentious teenager myself once maybe it isn’t so unrealistic!
This is certainly the first book I’ve read about escapology (maybe by choice not chance!) however, I did find myself drawn into the drama of it all. Overall, this was an enjoyable, easy read that I would happily recommend to others.
First of all, I found this book thoroughly enjoying and much more entertaining than your average YA novel.
Secondly, I loved the lack of a romance storyline as that is all the YA genre usually delivers. Instead, this book focuses on interesting characters and their friendships plus the unusual add in of escapism!
The conversations between characters seemed realistic though a little stretched by Will continual use of ‘20’s slang’. However, having been a pretentious teenager myself once maybe it isn’t so unrealistic!
This is certainly the first book I’ve read about escapology (maybe by choice not chance!) however, I did find myself drawn into the drama of it all. Overall, this was an enjoyable, easy read that I would happily recommend to others.
On a lot of levels, I enjoyed this.
By the end of the novel, I was feeling pretty good. I had learned a bunch about escapology, followed two teens in their journey, and it all wrapped up fairly nicely. I mean, the entire concept of a teen doing escapology is pretty fun/cute/aesthetic/quirky, and who wouldn't want to read about that?
But, as I write this review, I also remember how I struggled with this novel during the first half.
The first problem I really had was the narrative structure, but I fault this partly to the formatting of the eARC. Because the book was in my reading app's font, it made almost everything in regular text size. The headers weren't really distinguished from the chapters, and certain passages weren't distinguished from the next.
Because of this, it was kind of hard for me to realize what parts of the book were from the journal of the famous escapologist and what parts were actually the story, especially with the way it flashes back. I like to think that they get a separate page and this'll be cleared up for non-early readers.
Even if I didn't have trouble distinguishing diary from actual text, I also struggled a bit initially with how the story was told.
In some ways, this is a pretty normal book. First person past-tense, all that jazz. But it's also a little abnormal as the narrating characters obviously know a few things they're not supposed to know. And technically, Callahan isn't doing anaything incorrect by doing this, but it was a weird adjustment to read about the character talking about themselves.
In the end, though, I got over this and didn't mind it being structured this way in the end, but I feel like the way it was structured didn't really do anything for the book.
It was still a fun book, though, and I liked reading about Mattie's journey with escapology. You can tell Callahan did her research (I chatted with her on Twitter about it at one of those debut chats, etc.) and I found the escapology scenes to be interesting. Plus, the backstory about Mattie's mentor was cool and well developed and I enjoyed reading about this fictional escapologist.
But, I also felt like there needed to be more plot with Mattie. With Will, the other narrator, there were things going on which I don't want to disclose, and they did a good job of occupying his storyline (he's also more minor than Mattie). But I felt like Mattie kind of lacked reason for what she was doing, and there needed to be more substance to her story.
I feel like Callahan tried to justify why she was doing this with the simple "oh, she's been obsessed with escapology since she was a kid" and the "she needs a hobby for her summer applications" but it also felt insufficient for the story, and I just wanted more reason and resonance to why she was doing it.
This was ultimately the thing I had the largest issue with and wish was improved. But overall, I did enjoy reading this book as I binged it in a couple of hours (me + desk chair + desk as a foot rest + book on phone). I think if escapology interests you, or if you're looking for a light, lower-investment contemporary, then you should check this one out!
Thank you to Amberjack Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review!
By the end of the novel, I was feeling pretty good. I had learned a bunch about escapology, followed two teens in their journey, and it all wrapped up fairly nicely. I mean, the entire concept of a teen doing escapology is pretty fun/cute/aesthetic/quirky, and who wouldn't want to read about that?
But, as I write this review, I also remember how I struggled with this novel during the first half.
The first problem I really had was the narrative structure, but I fault this partly to the formatting of the eARC. Because the book was in my reading app's font, it made almost everything in regular text size. The headers weren't really distinguished from the chapters, and certain passages weren't distinguished from the next.
Because of this, it was kind of hard for me to realize what parts of the book were from the journal of the famous escapologist and what parts were actually the story, especially with the way it flashes back. I like to think that they get a separate page and this'll be cleared up for non-early readers.
Even if I didn't have trouble distinguishing diary from actual text, I also struggled a bit initially with how the story was told.
In some ways, this is a pretty normal book. First person past-tense, all that jazz. But it's also a little abnormal as the narrating characters obviously know a few things they're not supposed to know. And technically, Callahan isn't doing anaything incorrect by doing this, but it was a weird adjustment to read about the character talking about themselves.
In the end, though, I got over this and didn't mind it being structured this way in the end, but I feel like the way it was structured didn't really do anything for the book.
It was still a fun book, though, and I liked reading about Mattie's journey with escapology. You can tell Callahan did her research (I chatted with her on Twitter about it at one of those debut chats, etc.) and I found the escapology scenes to be interesting. Plus, the backstory about Mattie's mentor was cool and well developed and I enjoyed reading about this fictional escapologist.
But, I also felt like there needed to be more plot with Mattie. With Will, the other narrator, there were things going on which I don't want to disclose, and they did a good job of occupying his storyline (he's also more minor than Mattie). But I felt like Mattie kind of lacked reason for what she was doing, and there needed to be more substance to her story.
I feel like Callahan tried to justify why she was doing this with the simple "oh, she's been obsessed with escapology since she was a kid" and the "she needs a hobby for her summer applications" but it also felt insufficient for the story, and I just wanted more reason and resonance to why she was doing it.
This was ultimately the thing I had the largest issue with and wish was improved. But overall, I did enjoy reading this book as I binged it in a couple of hours (me + desk chair + desk as a foot rest + book on phone). I think if escapology interests you, or if you're looking for a light, lower-investment contemporary, then you should check this one out!
Thank you to Amberjack Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you Net Galley and Erin Callahan for the free copy of this book in exchange with an honest review!
This book totally took me by surprise. I picked it because I liked the plot but I didn't really know what to expect. It's safe to say that I really liked Mattie's story and her determination was somewhat of an inspiration for me. Another aspect that made this book very enjoyable I'd the fact that it had an array of interesting characters and 3 different POVs. If you know me, you know that I do not enjoy multiple POVs, but in this book, I wasn't fazed at all by them.
My favourite parts would definitely have to be Akiko's journal, it gave insight to a struggling artist and how she juggled escapology and bringing up her daughter. Also, Will was very hilarious and I really liked reading from his point of view! I think he was my all time favorite character of the whole book!
To be honest, I was hoping for a romance to blossom between Mattie and Will, but I wasn't as much disappointed as I was expecting to be, when I found out that they couldn't be a couple. I think Will's confession was heartwarming and I was very happy watching him finding his self and trying to deal with the mess his secret created. Another character that really surprised me was Betsy, she had a very mature approach to Will and she really embraced him and didn't try to change him in any way. It was very touching to see the way she protected him at school and I think that she truly loved him, despite everything.
The book had many funny bits and it was also touching and uplifting. I think it's a very easy read in the sense that you get immensed in Mattie's story and all you want is to read more about her impossible tricks!
All in all, "The Art of Escaping" is a book I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to anyone! It's fresh, it's fun, it will touch your heart and in the end, you'll feel that you read a truly amazing story.
This book totally took me by surprise. I picked it because I liked the plot but I didn't really know what to expect. It's safe to say that I really liked Mattie's story and her determination was somewhat of an inspiration for me. Another aspect that made this book very enjoyable I'd the fact that it had an array of interesting characters and 3 different POVs. If you know me, you know that I do not enjoy multiple POVs, but in this book, I wasn't fazed at all by them.
My favourite parts would definitely have to be Akiko's journal, it gave insight to a struggling artist and how she juggled escapology and bringing up her daughter. Also, Will was very hilarious and I really liked reading from his point of view! I think he was my all time favorite character of the whole book!
To be honest, I was hoping for a romance to blossom between Mattie and Will, but I wasn't as much disappointed as I was expecting to be, when I found out that they couldn't be a couple. I think Will's confession was heartwarming and I was very happy watching him finding his self and trying to deal with the mess his secret created. Another character that really surprised me was Betsy, she had a very mature approach to Will and she really embraced him and didn't try to change him in any way. It was very touching to see the way she protected him at school and I think that she truly loved him, despite everything.
The book had many funny bits and it was also touching and uplifting. I think it's a very easy read in the sense that you get immensed in Mattie's story and all you want is to read more about her impossible tricks!
All in all, "The Art of Escaping" is a book I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to anyone! It's fresh, it's fun, it will touch your heart and in the end, you'll feel that you read a truly amazing story.
This book took me by surprise with its depth. It is YA without romance but with lots of character development and growth. The characters are very quirky and have strong interests not usually seen in teens. Mattie is obsessed with escapology. She also has a healthy dose of social anxiety and does not want to think about college. She befriends the daughter of of one of her escapologist idols and the journey that follows changes several people. The view on high school life draws no punches and is a bit bleak but it is also accurate.
I really enjoyed this book. At first I thought the format was weird with the texts between Mattie and Will at the very beginning but I went back and read that part again after finishing the book so now their conversation makes a lot more sense. I really learned a lot about escapologists and escapology. I loved going on Mattie’s journey with her while she learned how to perform her escape tricks. I enjoyed the parts from the miary as they called it. I was glad she made friends with Will with two L’s. I enjoyed watching their friendship bloom and her performing giving him the courage to finally come out of the closet to his family and to his girlfriend. I would love to read a sequel about their life in college and beyond.