Reviews

The Year I Stopped Trying by Katie Heaney

newtons's review

emotional funny reflective medium-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

4.5

meadowlarksong5626's review

hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

toriluvs2read's review

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

I personally found this book to be extremely relatable and something I wish I read in high school. I, too, was type A student who always got good grades, never got in trouble, and had this moral superiority about it. Questioning the rigid line of right and wrong is quintessential to growing up and is captured well with the Mary’s abundance of “I don’t know”s.

I enjoyed how the coming out was not riddled with shame. Yes it was confusing, but so is everything to Mary at this stage in life. It was an important aspect of the book but not THE book. Even the repressed queer memories at a church camp were deeply relatable to me personally. Overall, I felt deeply seen as a tightly wound teen who seriously could have benefited from an experiment like Mary’s.

lsparrow's review

4.0

A young adult coming into oneself story. I did like the exploration beyond just sexuality - looking at what motivates and drives us.

ella_is_reading25's review

2.0

This was one of those books i took off the library shelf cause it sounded good and then ended up being disappointed with. I wasn’t really a fan of how this book just started off with Mary instantly giving up but it did remind me of my own struggles with school a lot and how sometimes just not doing assignments isn’t the end of the world. Also the fact that there were no clear chapters was throwing me off. I read the whole thing in about 3 hours because I did get rather hooked but I can’t see myself recommending this to anyone.

bookish_alone's review

hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

90sinmyheart's review

5.0

I loved this! I identified with the protag so dang much - not the

Spoiler

figuring out you're not straight

part, but being a little bit of a late bloomer and former high achiever trying to figure out what's what.

mjgriffinii74656's review

5.0

I've been savoring this book over the last month. I've convinced people to read it. They finished it before I did, but I still held on to the slow burn, the anticipation. I was immediately hooked by the summary and the idea: a "perfect" student who slowly starts to let go of their perfections, who "stops trying" and starts living. As an educator, I spend a lot of time thinking about the classroom experience and what I teach, and I would say a great deal of that is also thinking about my students and their culture, the culture of our school, what it means to be young and to be a learner today. But this book helped expand my thinking some. And the twist? The oh so sweet awesome twist that happens? Yeah, I didn't see that coming. And for someone like me who talks the game of not really caring about "spoilers" and being spoiler proof. I think just like the narrator I too would have been knocked sideways by such a revelation, and it makes me so happy I couldn't anticipate, couldn't see it coming. Top 5 books I've read in 2022 without a doubt, and surely will be a favorite for years to come.

alexamcrowe's review

lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

cemills's review

3.0

I originally picked this up because I was hoping it would be a YA version of My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh and at first it was exactly like that and really funny. Unfortunately, as the book went on the premise of the novel changed. I saw someone on this site say in their review of the book that they wish the author had focused more on Mary's mental health and I totally agree. Instead they chose to focus on her sexuality which was great, but not exactly what I was looking for.