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3.14 AVERAGE
3.14 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.4-4 stars. In the same vein of John Green's "Paper Towns" this book is an alternating chapter conversation between two well fleshed out characters.I don't want to give too much away, but I will say this book alternated between keeping me interested, and sometime losing my interest. Either because it felt too much like Green's book, or it felt like a stretch. Either way, a good YA book to recommend to students who love Green, and Laurie Halsie Anderson.
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a fucking terrible book. Nothing but cliches from opening to closing. Shy guy and manic pixie dream girl are secret soulmates. Rape. Thwarted revenge. Missing memories. Gay guy in love with his best friend. Suicide. Attempted suicide. Fulfilling dead bffs unachieved life goals. I can't believe I finished this book out of curiosity, thinking it couldn't possibly be as derivative and cliche as it looked like it was going to be, but I was wrong. The time I spent reading this crap is time I'll never get back. Half of the plot points didn't even make sense. What overprotective parents just let their kid move into some neighbor's basement because they had a single fight and then never tries to contact her again? Since when does a single match melt a big enough hole in ice to fall through? Ugh.
CN: Sexual assault, bullying, teen death
This experience of this book was a bit of a hybrid between reading/watching Paper Towns and watching 13 Reasons Why (I have not read the book).
It includes:
1. A manic pixie dream girl (but one whose perspective is ostensibly centred).
2. Accidental death/possibly not accidental death.
3. A queer character whose sexuality is on display only because of not-queer characters (he's not gay for his own character development but for the development of the straight protagonists' narrative).
4. Margo Roth Spiegelman-style revenge/pranks with the next-door neighbour boy.
5. Hannah Baker-style after-the-fact learning about motivations/experiences (but presented to the reader and not directly to the characters).
6. Sad moping boy searching for answers.
I didn't hate this book. Didn't love it.
Read it too (but don't watch): Paper Towns - a marginal improvement on subverting the MPDG trope.
This experience of this book was a bit of a hybrid between reading/watching Paper Towns and watching 13 Reasons Why (I have not read the book).
It includes:
1. A manic pixie dream girl (but one whose perspective is ostensibly centred).
2. Accidental death/possibly not accidental death.
3. A queer character whose sexuality is on display only because of not-queer characters (he's not gay for his own character development but for the development of the straight protagonists' narrative).
4. Margo Roth Spiegelman-style revenge/pranks with the next-door neighbour boy.
5. Hannah Baker-style after-the-fact learning about motivations/experiences (but presented to the reader and not directly to the characters).
6. Sad moping boy searching for answers.
I didn't hate this book. Didn't love it.
Read it too (but don't watch): Paper Towns - a marginal improvement on subverting the MPDG trope.
The reviews on here have pretty much covered my misgivings with this book. Rape and suicide are used as convenient plot devices and neither are really dug deeply into. In fact, I would say Thirteen Reasons Why handled both better, and that's being generous to another book I felt glossed over some serious issues.
Janie is the queen of her high school. Gorgeous, popular, rich. Her best friend is Micah, except for some reason they've decided they don't speak to each other at school. Ever. I would assume this plan originated from Janie, who is quite honestly a jerk and treats Micah like trash. In one plot device, she convinced Micah to cancel on his Homecoming date because she needed him. Keeping in mind, of course, that this would leave a girl with a dress and a hair appointment she couldn't use, not to mention a boy who dumped her last minute, but all is okay because that's what Janie needed. I understand toxic relationships, but this was something else and I'm not even sure the reader was supposed to see Janie like the villain she is, which is the really troubling part of the book.
Janie is the queen of her high school. Gorgeous, popular, rich. Her best friend is Micah, except for some reason they've decided they don't speak to each other at school. Ever. I would assume this plan originated from Janie, who is quite honestly a jerk and treats Micah like trash. In one plot device, she convinced Micah to cancel on his Homecoming date because she needed him. Keeping in mind, of course, that this would leave a girl with a dress and a hair appointment she couldn't use, not to mention a boy who dumped her last minute, but all is okay because that's what Janie needed. I understand toxic relationships, but this was something else and I'm not even sure the reader was supposed to see Janie like the villain she is, which is the really troubling part of the book.
Not as good as I expected. I feel like this was a retelling of Paper Towns. Anyone else see that similarity? People who are hard-core, realistic, boy hung up on a girl not good for him, type of fiction would probably like this one.
I think I would have enjoyed this book more like if I hadn't already read 'Looking For Alaska'. And probably also if I'd found anything about Janey to like - and I did try.
It's the kinda book that I want to like, mostly because of the issues it brings up (but doesn't really deal with or resolve), but it just doesn't quite get there.
It's the kinda book that I want to like, mostly because of the issues it brings up (but doesn't really deal with or resolve), but it just doesn't quite get there.
This was super beautifully written, poetic and angsty. I listened as an audio book. I thought it was exactly the kind of tragic YA fiction I devoured in high school but, ya know.... Problematic? Interesting? The depiction of manipulative friendships and the shit teenage girls face was confronting and honest, I thought it was good open discussion of rape but every bone in my body wanted the rapist to face justice/revenge. Anyway yeah I liked it but if a teenager I knew read it I would hope they'd talk critically about the issues it addresses.