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jpalms0626's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Violence, Alcoholism, Car accident, Eating disorder, and Suicidal thoughts
sallytiffany's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Violence and Car accident
Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Child death, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Cancer
vincentedward16's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Dementia
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Dementia
Minor: Gore, Medical content, Body shaming, Death, Police brutality, and Cancer
calamityin's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Not to mention the way Jared treated Mike. Like, sorry that you feel like you have to keep every single thing in your life a secret from your best friend, but that means that it's not his fault if his problems take up more time than yours in conversation. You refuse to divulge personal information and then get pissed at him when he does? Like, you're supposed to be his friend, and if you felt like you were more of a therapist, you should have fucking said something, not let it fester. And then telling everyone else about his relationship but not Mike, when he knew Mike was spiraling because of Henna and Nathan, is just cruel. He said it's because he didn't want to make Mike jealous, but like, he was already ruining his relationships with his other friends out of a different kind of jealousy and you had the ability to help him and you didn't just because you didn't want to hurt him. That makes no sense and you aren't a good friend.
Now that I've gotten that off my chest, here's some general reviews. The characters were interesting, although a bit flat. I didn't feel like any of them really grew or changed much over the course of the book.
I really enjoyed the way the book is formatted so that you get to know a lot about the setting, but it is also clear that it isn't the most important thing to the story. You understand what other people are doing, but it never gets in the way of what the main characters are doing.
All in all, I enjoyed the first chunk, but found the latter half and the ending more frustrating than anything and wish it had a bit more of a message to it. I feel like readers should learn something about toxic friendship or how to be better people to those around them, but it just kinda shows toxic friendships that magically resolve in the end because Mike realizes something everyone else already knew. It was a lazy ending without any real resolution to the problems it brought up. Not the mention the way a 19-year-old high schooler is casually dating a 25-year-old doctor and nobody sees this as weird.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Car accident, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Self harm, Body horror, Terminal illness, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Police brutality
Minor: Blood, Infidelity, Death, Fatphobia, and Medical content
andrearahman's review against another edition
- 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
Minor: Car accident, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Alcoholism
styxx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Death, Blood, Police brutality, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Animal death, Dementia, and Mental illness
brywalls's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Alcoholism and Eating disorder
lonnahroyale's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
So humorous and the characters were so loveable. They have such real flaws and the portrayal of mental illness was terrifying and stunning.
Mel’s eating disorders was taken seriously like it should be. The way it’s written about is scary and frightening and I think it should make you feel that way. EDs are so glamourized but there is NOTHING good or beautiful about them. No one treats eating disorders as deadly as they are, but Ness did. I’m really greatful for that.
His family dynamic was hard to read. It was just so sad cause the parent really were trying, they just also have their own…well, addictions. It’s real though. Everything in this book hurt but also made me hopeful.
Mikey had his flaws but he was struggling and going through a big change in his life all the while blue eyed people and strange and scary things were happening. The dive into Mikey’s self understanding and low self esteem was important. I related to him a lot growing up. This book will be helpful to young people to see that yes, people love you a lot more than you think you deserve to be loved.
And what a fantastic way to portray friendship and arguments friends have and Mikey’s terrible crush on Henna but how they resolved it. I just love the way love was written. It wasn’t happily ever after kind of love. It was real compromised, transformation, and sacrificial love.
Moderate: Car accident and Eating disorder
Minor: Alcoholism
hannalovegood's review
4.25
Graphic: Car accident, Eating disorder, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Dementia
captainrenjamin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Violence and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcoholism