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eedle_cacleberry's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Ableism, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Grief
Minor: Cancer and Terminal illness
inkyinsanity's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I had a really fun time reading the first half/three-quarters of Every Last Word.
The writing was compelling, the characters enjoyable, and the romance adorable. I'd describe the plot as Brenna Yovanoff's Paper Valentine meets Clueless. One member of a group of mean girls wants to change herself but is too afraid of her friends' reactions, but something gives her a chance to find her own interests and make new, nicer friends. Plus, she has OCD!
I seem to love that mean girl trope, and I definitely enjoyed reading about the teenage girl drama. (Much more preferable than living through it, or having to supervise it!)
Unfortunately, Sam's big reveal, which the book's summary calls, "...a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear,“ fell into the cliche that so many stories about mental health or chronic illness seem to fall into. If you regularly read or look for disability representation, you're probably familiar with the type: instead of being a story where a girl with OCD tries to break away from her toxic friend group, it became a story where a girl with toxic friends struggles with OCD. Except it isn't even a symptom of OCD that she turns out to be experiencing.
Sam hallucinated her new best friend, the one who encouraged her to make new friends, break away from the Crazy Eights (the mean girls, and really, what an interesting name to appear in a book about mental illness), and stop hiding her OCD from her friends.
I saw the twist coming, and kudos to the author for foreshadowing it well. I just hate it.
If the big, climactic disaster had to be about Sam's mental health instead of her friends, which was certainly a strong enough plotline to stand on its own, I had imagined it would have to do with her current treatment regime no longer working, or someone finding out about her OCD/therapy and spilling the beans before Sam was ready, causing social issues at school and increasing her stress, perhaps leading to unsafe behavior on her part in an effort to be "normal.“ etc.
To add to things, after the big twist, the ending is wrapped up in a neat little bow where Sam suddenly has a near-perfect grip on her OCD. Another trope that people seem to love in stories, but that's rarely how it works in real life.
Taking the Hollywood-drama-trope copouts weakened the ending and moved the focus away from where I felt it was supposed to be: Sam's relationships with the people around her.
The real people, that is.
I really wanted to like this book all the way to the end. But while I can't speak for the OCD portrayal, I do not recommend this book to anyone looking for genuine, cathartic representation.
I know how I feel when I encounter this same trope in stories that do portray one of the illnesses I have, and it's not a good feeling.
The writing was compelling, the characters enjoyable, and the romance adorable. I'd describe the plot as Brenna Yovanoff's Paper Valentine meets Clueless. One member of a group of mean girls wants to change herself but is too afraid of her friends' reactions, but something gives her a chance to find her own interests and make new, nicer friends. Plus, she has OCD!
I seem to love that mean girl trope, and I definitely enjoyed reading about the teenage girl drama. (Much more preferable than living through it, or having to supervise it!)
Unfortunately, Sam's big reveal, which the book's summary calls, "...a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear,“ fell into the cliche that so many stories about mental health or chronic illness seem to fall into. If you regularly read or look for disability representation, you're probably familiar with the type: instead of being a story where a girl with OCD tries to break away from her toxic friend group, it became a story where a girl with toxic friends struggles with OCD. Except it isn't even a symptom of OCD that she turns out to be experiencing.
I saw the twist coming, and kudos to the author for foreshadowing it well. I just hate it.
If the big, climactic disaster had to be about Sam's mental health instead of her friends, which was certainly a strong enough plotline to stand on its own, I had imagined it would have to do with her current treatment regime no longer working, or someone finding out about her OCD/therapy and spilling the beans before Sam was ready, causing social issues at school and increasing her stress, perhaps leading to unsafe behavior on her part in an effort to be "normal.“ etc.
To add to things, after the big twist, the ending is wrapped up in a neat little bow where Sam suddenly has a near-perfect grip on her OCD. Another trope that people seem to love in stories, but that's rarely how it works in real life.
Taking the Hollywood-drama-trope copouts weakened the ending and moved the focus away from where I felt it was supposed to be: Sam's relationships with the people around her.
I really wanted to like this book all the way to the end. But while I can't speak for the OCD portrayal, I do not recommend this book to anyone looking for genuine, cathartic representation.
I know how I feel when I encounter this same trope in stories that do portray one of the illnesses I have, and it's not a good feeling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Toxic friendship, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Bullying and Stalking
Minor: Suicide, Cancer, and Death of parent
Strong internalized ableism is present throughout the entire book.cheye13's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was really quite enjoying this for most of it, relishing in Sam figuring herself out and standing up for herself, building real friendships and exploring art and mental illness. The story takes a turn about 3/4 through that I wasn't really on board for. I didn't find it necessary and I'm not sure what it was supposed to do for the story. Otherwise, it was a really sweet coming of age story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, Death of parent, and Bullying
Minor: Ableism
anielabooks's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book was a very lovely read. I don’t usually read coming of age novels but I remembered someone online recommended it to me a while back. I really didn’t see the plot twist coming because it had been so long since I read the summary that I was basically going in blind. I recommend this book to people in high school who feel misunderstood. The message was lovely, and I appreciate the effort that the author took to portray OCD in an educated and respectful way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, and Ableism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Stalking, Terminal illness, Addiction, Death, Grief, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
menglert's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Wooooof. I very nearly DNFed this book, but I finished it in hopes of seeing it improve. First a few disclaimers from me:
- I am a 21 year old adult with diagnosed OCD. I know that every case of OCD is different, but I have had a lot of experience.
- I am reading this seven years after it was published, having a lot more knowledge about diversity and mental health issues than most people had in 2015.
- I know this is a YA book.
I went into this expecting a story that was pretty emotional and real (at least in the realm of YA books). By the end, I was so frustrated at the lack of any depth for some of the characters.
- Sydney, a "plus-size" girl, writes all of her poetry on fast-food wrappers (and guess what, almost all of it is about food). Beyond food, we know her for being nice.
- Jessica, "the African American girl with long black braids," is the only character in the book described to be any race other than White. We know nothing about her other than she's really confident, has a "booming voice," and "waves her arms animatedly" while telling a story. This feels like a microaggression..
- Pretty much every man in this story who isn't over the age of 21 (with the exception of one of the Poets) is described as "sexy." Literally the word "sexy." It was painful.
- First half of book spoiler
AJ was relentlessly bullied by the Crazy Eights for having a stutter. Of course, his stutter fixed itself before Sam started thinking he was attractive...
Now, onto the OCD things.
- This is a nitpick, but the odometer reading thing was so stupid. I looked it up, and 62% of students in California (where I'm assuming this takes place because of multiple buildings and outdoor lunches) live within TWO MILES of their school. And you're trying to tell me she drives around the school parking lot until the full trip took 10 miles??? What is that?
- Obsessing over conversations and others' perception of you was pretty accurately portrayed here. Frequently seeking reassurance, thoughts snowballing until you can't stop them, all good.
- I don't really understand the weird romantic zone-outs she has with her swim coach and then AJ. Is this supposed to be a part of her OCD? In some ways, it's written like it is, but also there's no frustration or other consequences that come from it.
- End of book spoiler
While I'm happy for Sam and glad that getting good friends has helped relax her OCD, but it very much felt like her psychiatrist was like, "What if you stop obsessing over the number 3?" and then poof everything is fine. - The only time we see Sam's OCD have any directly negative effects on her is during the very first scene. The things she does out of her obsessive thoughts and treated more like inconveniences than sources of frustration and anger. Even when she stops taking her sleeping medication, nothing bad happens because of it. This made her disorder feel more like a character quirk than a debilitating mental illness.
Overall, yikes. Don't give this to any young, impressionable minds.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Bullying, and Ableism
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Cancer, Death of parent, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
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