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3.14 AVERAGE
3.14 AVERAGE
This book was a bit intense. I honestly didn't know what I was reading about at first but holy shit. This had a 'We Were Liars' vibe but not as good as.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
You're friends with someone who is "uncool"? Oh, let's just keep it a complete secret and be a jerk to said person. ???????? The main characters are such pains. They're confusing, all over the place, and their friendship is so corrupt that it doesn't make any sense. The main character, Janie, was so shallow and a "I'm not like other girls" kind of girl. This was just a mess hahahah
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
NOT A SPOILER FREE REVIEW
I read Amy Zhang's Falling Into Place years back and vividly remember the irritation I felt when I read this book, and that may be why I don't remember much else in it present day. I gave this book a chance despite my low opinion of Falling Into Place because another thing I remember from this book was how Zhang's writing was so appealing to me. It flows well, her language is flawless, and the way she writes things stuck with me, to the point that it makes me feel a little bad that I have to give the book a low rating. But only very little, because while I did enjoy reading it, I did not enjoy what I was reading about.
I think the largest problems in this book are essentially Janie, and the way Janie is handled.
I'd first like to preface that it totally would've been fine if this book purposely meant to portray toxic friendships. It was what pushed me to continue reading the book because I wanted to see where "Janie and Micah" were heading, especially when Micah blatantly likes Janie. I was clapping when Micah got his shit together and told Janie she was a terrible friend and he wanted to break their friendship.
But the ending felt like the author ran out of ideas? There was literally only one chapter for Micah to address him remembering that specific memory of Micah breaking things off with Janie. It itches at me how there wasn't much time for Micah nor us the readers to process such a revelation. It just... ends, and not in a satisfying way.
At this point you'd probably think I like Micah, but no, Micah is literally so boring and I dislike him. Most of the book is just rephrasing his amnesia, or being Janie's punching bag. The only one closest to likeable in this book is Micah's guy friend whose name I don't even really remember, but it bothered me immensely when Micah chose to kiss the guy who has Janie's eyes. At this point Micah already had an inkling that Janie was dead, so like, what the hell? But I understand Micah's role in this book as a victim of a manipulative friend.
Then there's... whatever Janie is.
I don't understand why her character is the way it is? It's implied she has awful parents, but this isn't a detail thoroughly gleaned on, like the only reason I can remember why her parents don't like her is because she moves away to some other point in town because she's been neighbors with Micah all her life and there will be lesser chances to hang out together. For some reason, her parents dislike Micah too? I don't know. And the thing is, she pretends Micah DOESN'T EXIST at school despite their """soulmate bond""" and literally for what? Like can't this book just say it's because Janie's a 'popular girl' and Micah's a 'weirdo' than whatever the hell sort of mental gymnastics Janie kept telling herself? Literally why get angry at your parents for a reason you could easily fix, Janie?
TRIGGER WARNINGS AHEAD
And then halfway into the book, while Micah's still in his limbo amnesia stuff, it's revealed to the reader that Janie is raped. This, among factors of """terrible""" nonexistent parents, the school going against her, and Micah getting the balls to tell her that she's a terrible friend, it's then revealed that Janie committed suicide at the end.
I think the author was trying to get us to empathize with Janie and the teenage torture she was going through, but Janie is so unlikeable. I can sympathize with Micah because we can tell he's a victim of toxic friendship, but what is there to Janie that makes you think she's someone to sympathize with? She's self-centerer, ignores her best friend at school, she has the tendency to rebel against parents who literally only appear once or twice and have given me no reason to see why Janie dislikes them other than her "fairy tale" diary, and she actively CHOOSES to date a boy who has red flags over Micah, who we definitely know early on she has feelings for as well. Why should I care about a character who only cares for herself?
What doesn't sit right with me is that not only is the ending not able to make me sympathize with Janie, it also leaves Micah blaming himself for her death. What kind of message does this send to readers? That suicide is the solution to your problems, rather than owning up to your mistakes.
If you like Riverdale and its edginess and strange dialogue in book format, then I guess I can say this book is for you. But I finished this book without finding any value in whatever it was trying to say. There are probably better books out there that handle the topics of rape and suicide and toxic friendships more carefully than this book. This Is Where the World Ends was definitely not it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Rape, Suicide
It was alright, didn’t like any of the characters and it got pretty confusing sometimes
Time check: 3:20 am.
I'm supposed to be reviewing for comp sci or physics huhu.
But no regrets.
I love love love love love this book.
Full of quotable quotes.
And I just love it.
And the sketches and the book cover is awesome
But even without it, it's still awesome.
I have a new favorite book now.
I need to sleep.
But I need to review pa huhu.
I need to stop borrowing books from the library for a while.
Go me.
Just. Just read it.
I'm supposed to be reviewing for comp sci or physics huhu.
But no regrets.
I love love love love love this book.
Full of quotable quotes.
And I just love it.
And the sketches and the book cover is awesome
But even without it, it's still awesome.
I have a new favorite book now.
I need to sleep.
But I need to review pa huhu.
I need to stop borrowing books from the library for a while.
Go me.
Just. Just read it.
The amount of annotations i have in this book.
Ok so i rated this 4 the moment i finished reading it, but the reviews made so much point lmao. So i made it 3, not because i like the story, it's just cus i like the way the author writes. Anyways, this book was traumatizing hahaha and i feel so bad for all of the characters.
Since im the type of person who has low standard, who is always in awe with poetic type of writing and just a really standard reader, i rated it 2.5 : ' )
Ok so i rated this 4 the moment i finished reading it, but the reviews made so much point lmao. So i made it 3, not because i like the story, it's just cus i like the way the author writes. Anyways, this book was traumatizing hahaha and i feel so bad for all of the characters.
Since im the type of person who has low standard, who is always in awe with poetic type of writing and just a really standard reader, i rated it 2.5 : ' )