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nosmallthing's review against another edition
challenging
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Cancer and Bullying
Minor: Death of parent
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.amandgw's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It was good the ending wasn't what I was hoping for though.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Cancer
skxk929kd's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Cancer
theres just a page about beinng nervous about sex not graphic at all just talking about their first time its okayxmia_69's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Death of parent and Cancer
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
libriinks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Minor: Cancer
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
rebecca_spain's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Cancer
Moderate: Death of parent and Suicide
lyla_wicks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
the writing in this book was very fluid, and made for quite an enticing read. i liked how there was a lot of depth to sam’s character (although there are some things i really wasn’t a big fan of - the whole bullying plot line felt
unnecessary and made me feel extremely uncomfortable), however i think there could have been a bit more depth for some of the side characters, like aj. some of the plot points in the book also just felt a bit cliché (which is to be expected in a ya novel), but the plot twist completely took me by surprise in the book, and i thought that the subtle build up to it was quite clever.
unnecessary and made me feel extremely uncomfortable), however i think there could have been a bit more depth for some of the side characters, like aj. some of the plot points in the book also just felt a bit cliché (which is to be expected in a ya novel), but the plot twist completely took me by surprise in the book, and i thought that the subtle build up to it was quite clever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness
Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Death of parent