Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Dear Evan Hansen

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Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, Val Emmich, Justin Paul

86 reviews

emilyrose23's review against another edition

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reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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katelynsteffen's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was a lot better and different than I thought it was going to be. It expands on the inner thoughts and feelings of Evan more than we could get in the musical or movie. I am someone who has always been interested in stories of redemption. After you have fallen the farthest you can fall, what does it look like to pick yourself back up and start again, with absolutely nothing? This book expands a lot on that.

A main criticism of the entire Dear Evan Hansen series is that Evan does not face enough consequences for his actions. While I do prefer the movie’s version of how events went down, I think discounting the mental anguish that he ends up suffering and how it does change him for the better would be cheapening that fact that punishment is not always needed for someone to change for the better. He loses everything he had ever wanted and had to wake up every day and face it, as well as most people seeing him as a sellout. While not a tangible punishment, I felt it did it’s job, if not being worse than some form of actual punishment. Because with a punishment, you can say you did your time, whereas Evan had to live every day knowing he didn’t deserve the grace he was getting.

Sometimes the parts where they are trying to fit the songs in are a bit clunky,

and I have some concerns about what impression having Conner’s POV throughout the book even though he is dead might send to readers who are struggling with similar thoughts as him.

Two of the quotes that struck me are:

“Falling. Amazing. I’m still doing it. Telling stories. Even now, standing alone on a dark street, not a soul around, and I can’t even be honest with myself. When will that finally happen? Because there aren’t different versions of the story. There’s only one version. One story. The truth” (DEH the novel, pg 315).

and

“It reminds me of the saying: “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” I guess that means we’re just products of whoever made us and don’t have much control. The thing is, when people use that phrase, they ignore the most critical part: the falling. Within the logic of that saying, the apple falls every single time. Not falling isn’t an option. So, if the apple has to fall, the most important question in my mind is what happens to it upon hitting the ground? Does it touch down with barely a scratch? Or does it smash on impact? Two vastly different fates. When you think about it, who cares about the proximity to the tree or what type of tree spawned it? What really makes all the difference, then, is in how we land.” (DEH the novel, pg 334).

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onemorechap's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-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

4.25

First things first, I loved the book but I am not interested in the musical because.... I HATE MUSICALS...! Yep, I said that 😅 Please tell me I'm not alone in that 😅

When Connor Murphy finds the letter Evan Hansen wrote to himself as an anxiety excercise, none of them knew Connor would commit suicide. Noone expected the misunderstanding which was caused when the Murphys found the letter on Connor. Evan must have been their son's best friend. Except he wasn't. When they called them in the principal's office to announce Connor's passing, Evan made the greatest mistake of his life... In fear of his classmates discovering his anxiety, he went with the Murphys story. Only when they slowly started to shower him with their love did he realise it was impossible to fix his lie...

I was very absorbed while reading this book, because Evan is a character we don't usually meet in books. His mistakes are huge. They sometimes cause tremendous pain, but also sometimes lead to an undoubtedly brighter world. For me Evan is the proof that "a mean action doesn't make you a mean person".

And then there is that thing I read that I couldn't agree more with: No one is perfect, but no one should be alone.

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badbadnotmean's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

At the beginning of this book I completely agreed with the definition of the main character Evan, he was MEH to me, if he d word or not it was fine by me, I was indifferent to him and the story in general for almost the first half of the book. I found Evan emotionless and kind of repellent, he highkey reminded me of that typical man that just wants everyone to pity them in order to be likeable, like a pick me guy. I understood his anxiety but something was missing, and the more I read the more I could see the source of his insecurities and the lack of motivation, but it wasn't enough for me almost until the end.

Something positive about this book is the tension that grew like a snowball until it exploted in Evan's face, I liked the way the characters faced the truth once it was inevitable, it was mostly realistic.
The chapters that I enjoyed the most were the one's narrated by Connor, he was the only character I liked and he really made me feel less alone, so I think that the authors achieved their purpose, and under that perspective, it's not a bad book.

But in my opinion there are inconsistencies, I don't get why Evan lied the way he did, really unnecessary and egoistic. I don't get why the tension he had with his mom and the unsolved traumas were so terrible at some point and then they got solved kind of easy. Overall his problems were deep and real but the way that they got solved took away from the argument. I get that maybe Evan had to learn the hard way, but really, was all of that really necessary? The things he did were really messed up, and only because he liked Zoe and was insecure about it? Most of the time he just seemed really dumb to me, and it made me wish him the worst.
So at the end this book suprised me because it made me feel something, I felt angry at Evan, I felt disappointed at the way situations were handled, I felt angry at Connor's family and society in general because it's when he was gone that they missed him, not when he was still alive.

Pero igual al final lo encontré un libro muy gringo adolescente, ligeramente de autoayuda.

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chloegshort's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

This book was very good! I found it hard to put down!

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isadreamsof's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad tense

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

3.5

I definitely think this is only something you can fully appreciate as a fan of the musical. Supplementary reading, if you will. Dear Evan Hansen doesn’t feel as great without the music, but to the book's credit, it wasn't bad. The strength of the novelization is that the structure gives more nuance to the characters because there's just more time and space for them. The most notable addition, of course, would be Connor's point of view and his backstory, along with the addition of Miguel.

Overall, a good read for a seasoned fan of the stage version, but I'd probably pass on it if I wasn't familiar with the source material.

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reeseyyy's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

I love the music from the musical, so I was excited to read the story. Honestly it was a pretty good story. Felt very much trapped to see what would happen, and how Hansen would deal with it.

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