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lilyaronovitz's review against another edition
3.0
{3.5} My biggest disappointment about this book was the fact that I thought all the information would be revealed at the end, in order to tie up the story and pull it all together. Instead however, the book left the reader wondering what the "Emergency Act", and who the department was, and several other loose ends at the end of the book. I wasn't all that crazy about any of the characters, and was slightly confused about Lauren and Sasha' relationship. There were so many paths that this book started on, but I felt like very few of them got resolved in the end, and the plot didn't go very far throughout the book. With just a little more information for the reader, this book probably could have been very good, but it fell short of my expectations for such an intriguing plot line.
aklibrarychick's review against another edition
4.0
Of course I wanted to finish this ARC before publication date, but I didn't manage it. Just finished it a few minutes ago, so I am writing this while it is fresh in my mind.
Lauren has suffered since birth from "innocence," the inability to discern between honesty and falsehood, or to detect social intricacies such as jokes and sarcasm. She believes every word anyone says to her, which can of course be detrimental to her. So she lives a very sheltered and protected, but seemingly a very happy life.
The story picks up shortly after an experimental medical treatment alters her condition and leaves her able to begin understanding the finer points of social interaction. Her life changes for the worse as she begins to understand the problems inherent in this post-political collapse America, and begins to realize that for her entire life, her friends have viewed her mostly as a favorite pet.
This book is compellingly readable. Short chapters alternating between Lauren's journals, her sister's recollections, and a psychologist's case study notes keep the story moving quickly. As each chapter ended I wanted to keep reading, to find out what happened as more and more of the ugliness of the world revealed itself to her. Her complicated relationship with the handsome Sasha, who she knows is an undercover agent assigned to follow her, brings additional depth to the story, as Lauren experiences attraction for the first time.
Despite how much I enjoyed the story, Lauren is not a terribly likable girl. Even though I have sympathy for her, it's hard to get past her anger and her understandable disillusionment. Even so, it's a great story, and by the end, you feel that Lauren has come full circle and truly grown into her real self. Highly recommended for YA sci-fi fans.
ashleyjapan's review against another edition
5.0
This was so compelling! Set in a future America that can easily be seen as the natural outcome of the world’s current state of affairs, this dystopian novel hit all the right notes for me. I really loved the format, too. Written as a book complied from journals of the main character by her sister, the line between fiction and non-fiction was exquisitely blurred for me. This is another one of those books that I’ll keep thinking about for a while after I’ve read it for sure.
howlinglibraries's review against another edition
4.0
Spoiler-free review!
"The funny thing about paranoia is it depends on the truth, right? I mean, it's only paranoia if I'm wrong."
Life has always been different for Lauren, who has an unexplained medical condition that forces her to believe every word she's told. When a treatment is offered that can make her "normal", she jumps at the chance, but the results brings on sudden, overwhelming paranoia.
This story reads as a non-fiction work compiled by Lauren's sister, who switches between young Lauren's journal entries and the therapy notes she was able to retrieve. The alternating timelines let us sample a bit at a time of each phase in Lauren's life: pre-surgery and immediately post-surgery (as she is forming her suspicions), and a few months post-surgery (when she has committed herself to a psych ward and is neck deep in full-blown paranoia).
"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but understanding other people is sort of terrible sometimes."
The thought of not recognizing sarcasm or lies is baffling to me, but it was really interesting to watch Lauren change. Even her manner of speaking in her journal entries reflects the changes in her, as she starts off sounding incredibly young and innocent, and gradually grows to sound jaded and wronged. The depictions of her concerns will feel familiar to a lot of individuals who have struggled with anxiety and paranoia, as they feel super authentic and really suck you in to the drama.
You spend the bulk of the story getting down to the truth: is Lauren really suffering from delusions, or is the government out to get her? I won't tell you that; you'll have to pick this one up and find out for yourself!
I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I flew through it. The formatting makes for a very quick read, and while I never fully attached to the characters enough to 5-star this one, I am delighted to have read it and would be very interested in reading more from Ari B. Goelman. I believe that this is a standalone, and it ties up the loose ends well enough by the final chapter, but if it is extended into a series, I would be more than happy to continue it!
Content warnings: ableism, fat-shaming, violence, attempted sexual assault.
All quotes come from an unedited advance reading copy and may not match the quotes in the finished release.
Thank you to Roaring Brook Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
You can read my review and more on my blog!
"The funny thing about paranoia is it depends on the truth, right? I mean, it's only paranoia if I'm wrong."
Life has always been different for Lauren, who has an unexplained medical condition that forces her to believe every word she's told. When a treatment is offered that can make her "normal", she jumps at the chance, but the results brings on sudden, overwhelming paranoia.
This story reads as a non-fiction work compiled by Lauren's sister, who switches between young Lauren's journal entries and the therapy notes she was able to retrieve. The alternating timelines let us sample a bit at a time of each phase in Lauren's life: pre-surgery and immediately post-surgery (as she is forming her suspicions), and a few months post-surgery (when she has committed herself to a psych ward and is neck deep in full-blown paranoia).
"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but understanding other people is sort of terrible sometimes."
The thought of not recognizing sarcasm or lies is baffling to me, but it was really interesting to watch Lauren change. Even her manner of speaking in her journal entries reflects the changes in her, as she starts off sounding incredibly young and innocent, and gradually grows to sound jaded and wronged. The depictions of her concerns will feel familiar to a lot of individuals who have struggled with anxiety and paranoia, as they feel super authentic and really suck you in to the drama.
You spend the bulk of the story getting down to the truth: is Lauren really suffering from delusions, or is the government out to get her? I won't tell you that; you'll have to pick this one up and find out for yourself!
I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I flew through it. The formatting makes for a very quick read, and while I never fully attached to the characters enough to 5-star this one, I am delighted to have read it and would be very interested in reading more from Ari B. Goelman. I believe that this is a standalone, and it ties up the loose ends well enough by the final chapter, but if it is extended into a series, I would be more than happy to continue it!
Content warnings: ableism, fat-shaming, violence, attempted sexual assault.
All quotes come from an unedited advance reading copy and may not match the quotes in the finished release.
Thank you to Roaring Brook Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
You can read my review and more on my blog!
andye_reads's review against another edition
4.0
The not so distant future isn't looking bright, however this book's future is looking pretty blindingly bright because it was pretty freaking fantastic and I really enjoyed it and believe many readers (especially fans of the Illuminae Files) will too. 4 Stars ✨
-Reagan
-Reagan
truestorydesu's review against another edition
4.0
For the full review you can always look at my blog...please look at my blog...
“There are some lies it’s nicer to believe.”
So Lauren had a medical condition where she pretty much believed everything everyone told her, all the time, always. Think William’s Syndrome minus the teeth problems and the supravalvular aortic stenosis. But then Lauren gets an an operation that cured her of her extreme naïveté. Now she sees the world as it really is – she can tell when people are lying to her. And her world sucks. It sucks a lot. She lives five minutes into the future (that 2031 is not that far away – only fourteen years – frightens me a little. I mean, I still have a hard time believing that the 1997 was 20 years ago…#harrypotter20) in a dystopian United States under the thumb of a shadowy government referred to as “The Department.” There’s all sorts of nods to uprisings and other calamities that took place in the 2010s and 2020s, and apparently kids in 2031 aren’t familiar with Harry Potter or Star Wars. That threw me out of the story a bit, because there is no way that will ever happen. I’m sure they’ll still be releasing Star Wars movies in 2031. JKR will probably release another book from the Potterverse come 2031. And I, being…much older than I am now in 2031, will still buy it.
Anyway, life in 2031 is awful and Lauren is only just now becoming conscious of it. The story is told in the form of her journal entries, entries written a decade after-the-fact by Lauren’s sister, transcripts of interviews between Lauren and her therapist, and so on. Pay attention to the dates of each entry, as it skips around a bit. The story starts out strong, but as it progresses it slows down. I binged through the first 100 pages in less than a day but it took me two additional days to make it through the remainder.
I did enjoy the characters in this book a lot, though. As a person on the autism spectrum, I related to Lauren hard. As a kid, I used to believe everything people told me, too…now it’s the exact reverse and for the most part I don’t believe anything anyone tells me. There’s a happy medium in there somewhere I should probably strive towards, but…eh. Too lazy and being contrary is fun. “Do normal people feel that way when they see their friends? Is this maybe a side effect of the therapy—that I might be getting too paranoid? Or is this real? How do normal people tell the difference?” Oh, Lauren, welcome to my entire life.
Also: Lauren is smart in insisting on keeping her hair short so no one can grab it during a fight. I never got that about action movies/TV shows/books where the heroines would be fighting with their long hair flowing. First off: won’t it get in your face and impair your ability to see? Second: if I were their opponent, first thing I’d do is just grab fistful of that hair and not let go. Wear your hair up or wear it short, ladies, if you’re going to get into a fight.
“There are some lies it’s nicer to believe.”
So Lauren had a medical condition where she pretty much believed everything everyone told her, all the time, always. Think William’s Syndrome minus the teeth problems and the supravalvular aortic stenosis. But then Lauren gets an an operation that cured her of her extreme naïveté. Now she sees the world as it really is – she can tell when people are lying to her. And her world sucks. It sucks a lot. She lives five minutes into the future (that 2031 is not that far away – only fourteen years – frightens me a little. I mean, I still have a hard time believing that the 1997 was 20 years ago…#harrypotter20) in a dystopian United States under the thumb of a shadowy government referred to as “The Department.” There’s all sorts of nods to uprisings and other calamities that took place in the 2010s and 2020s, and apparently kids in 2031 aren’t familiar with Harry Potter or Star Wars. That threw me out of the story a bit, because there is no way that will ever happen. I’m sure they’ll still be releasing Star Wars movies in 2031. JKR will probably release another book from the Potterverse come 2031. And I, being…much older than I am now in 2031, will still buy it.
Anyway, life in 2031 is awful and Lauren is only just now becoming conscious of it. The story is told in the form of her journal entries, entries written a decade after-the-fact by Lauren’s sister, transcripts of interviews between Lauren and her therapist, and so on. Pay attention to the dates of each entry, as it skips around a bit. The story starts out strong, but as it progresses it slows down. I binged through the first 100 pages in less than a day but it took me two additional days to make it through the remainder.
I did enjoy the characters in this book a lot, though. As a person on the autism spectrum, I related to Lauren hard. As a kid, I used to believe everything people told me, too…now it’s the exact reverse and for the most part I don’t believe anything anyone tells me. There’s a happy medium in there somewhere I should probably strive towards, but…eh. Too lazy and being contrary is fun. “Do normal people feel that way when they see their friends? Is this maybe a side effect of the therapy—that I might be getting too paranoid? Or is this real? How do normal people tell the difference?” Oh, Lauren, welcome to my entire life.
Also: Lauren is smart in insisting on keeping her hair short so no one can grab it during a fight. I never got that about action movies/TV shows/books where the heroines would be fighting with their long hair flowing. First off: won’t it get in your face and impair your ability to see? Second: if I were their opponent, first thing I’d do is just grab fistful of that hair and not let go. Wear your hair up or wear it short, ladies, if you’re going to get into a fight.
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