Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg

7 reviews

jainabee's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful fast-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

The story is a very sweet and fun teen romance romp, even as it weaves in very serious and challenging themes and topics. Nuanced characters emerge through confronting their own presumptions about each other and about themselves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Vomit, Racism, Addiction, and Rape

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Drug use, Homophobia, Alcohol, Classism, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Minor: Kidnapping, Cursing, Abandonment, Biphobia, and Cultural appropriation

Remarkably realistic and accurate portrayal of rape, dissociation, gaslighting, addiction, and moving through various stages of trauma. The challenging material is handled with great care and shows healthy, functional family and community responses to trauma.

threeara's review against another edition

4.0

I would have eaten this up with a spoon as a kid: two boys going through tough life situations meet, try to run a business, explore art, and think big thoughts about the universe together. The way these teens communicate, especially with their friends, sometimes feels uncomfortable, but the book does at least have the characters reflect on that toward the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Rape

zefancifulreader's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

Walked into this book thinking I was going to get a fun queer summer romance, set on a food truck. NOPE. 
This is a book about two, flawed, struggling, gay boys on the edge of manhood who desperately need to go to therapy. (I’m happy to report that at least one of them is seeing a councillor by the end of the story.) 
In all seriousness, this book really dives into the mess of grief, toxic masculinity, consent without sinking too far into the darkness, which I appreciated. Huge salute to the author for tackling consent and toxic masculinity as a main theme. I don’t see it enough, especially in queer books. 

I’m not sure if I’m totally on board with the “it’s all meant to be” message at the end but I loved the softness that the author wove into the hearts of Jordan and Max. 
Not a huge fan of the carbon copy best friends thing that was going on, it felt a bit lazy, but I’m relieved that the superficial relationships grew into more as the story progressed, even if it felt a bit forced.
The pacing was a bit odd, which sort of messed with the plot twists and relationship developments for me.

I also felt like Jordan was in a much chiller, “look on the bright side” head space at the end of the book, for all the bullshit that had landed on him without any therapy and not near enough process time. It’s super unrealistic. Like one kickboxing session with Max is not going to cure your abandonment and grief at the loss of your Dad, Mom, and Home. 🙄

 
I loved experiencing the slow vulnerability that Jordan and Max showed one another. It was like watching the walls of toxic masculinity quietly crumble to the ground. 
Overall, it was a surprising and lovely story. One prickly pear lemonade for me! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Death of parent, and Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

atsuanna's review against another edition

funny sad medium-paced

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

1.5

This was written like a bad fan fiction and girl I love fanfic! The book explored so many topics in a short time that when it got to the  deep stuff, it felt insensitive. The plot had so much going on it got confusing. Plus I felt like the bigotry from the side characters and even the MC’s was never properly dealt with? Nor with the care I expected. But I still enjoyed some of the poetic parts and will definitely be playing Sonic Flight with my gf! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abandonment and Racism

Minor: Misogyny, Homophobia, and Sexism

_yeenaw's review against another edition

emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Addiction

Minor: Toxic friendship

rayne_1906's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.75

Audiobook - 4 hours 36 minutes - This wasn't quite what I was expecting - it was a lot heavier than it seemed in the synopsis, exploring darker themes than a book just about a summer romance would. I liked Max's character - it took me a little longer to like Jordan. There were some elements I didn't like at first but I realised towards the end of the novel that a fair few of these were intentional and specifically commented on as part of the conclusion. There were parts of this book that were extremely hard for me to read - Max's story in particular hit far too close for home and upset me a lot, but that is on me for choosing this audiobook at random without researching the content warnings. But overall, I liked the structure of this book - it diverted from the 'automatically happy ending' that I've come to expect from YA novels, and it was a refreshing change, that made sense within the context of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Racism, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Toxic friendship

laejone's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-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? Yes

4.5

There were parts where I felt the story lag a little bit, but the ending made me really happy and emotional.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Rape, Xenophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Addiction

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide