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thereadingoutlaw's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts
1quillb's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was so amazing!! There was so much diversity, and the way Chase struggles with things is so realistic and meaningful. All of Jack’s poetry was so sweet, too, Steven is a really amazing writer. I feel like everything got wrapped up too fast near the end, but that’s okay.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia and Homophobia
Moderate: Body shaming, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content
Minor: Bullying, Dysphoria, and Cursing
imstephtacular's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Grief, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail
betweentheshelves's review
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- 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
3.0
Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for an advanced copy of this to review! Can’t Take That Away was an enjoyable read, so I was interested in getting to this one. Especially snce the cover is great! I really enjoy the color palette and just the overall style.
However, I have generally mixed feelings about this book. So, I’ll start with what I think Salvatore did well. One of the strongest aspects of their writing is character. Even if some of the choices and the aspects of the art program weren’t the most realistic, I think Chase and Jack are fully realized character. But, they weren’t my favorite. Benny, Chase’s roommate, might have been the best part of this book. They have a little group at college, and the way that the relationships evolve felt realistic for the most part.
Outside of the characters, some of the plot points felt a little clunky. Specifically surrounding the art school aspect of the story. While I only minored in art, I’m not sure freshman students would be making full on animation films in their first semester. From my knowledge of art programs, you start with the basics first, and then work your way up from there. Not to say freshmen couldn’t do it, but it just didn’t seem realistic to me.
Also hi, it’s 2022, please stop putting in comments about people being virgins when they go to college. Like, we know better than that, please stop doing it. Speaking of that, there are some pretty steamy scenes in here, so just be warned before going in if that’s not your thing. One of them happens kind of Titanic style?
All in all, I’m not really sure how to rate this one. Some good characters, but overall, a bit of a chaotic plot.
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Hmmmm not really sure how to rate this one, to be honest. Stay tuned while I process my thoughts for a full review later this week!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, and Eating disorder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
booksthatburn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
4.5
AND THEY LIVED... follows Chase, a freshman in college who's a gay kid in love with love and then suddenly very in love with a guy named Jack.
Chase’s thoughts move a mile-a-minute and it gives the narrative a frenetic, juddering quality, like someone talking until they run out of breath, pausing a moment, then doing it all over again. It fits him as a person and helps the narrative feel fast-paced even when technically not much is happening in a scene. He references a lot of pop culture touchstones which are important to him, often casually and sometimes in a slightly longer discussion of what they mean to him.
Chase struggles with body dysmorphia and an eating disorder. The book description is very up-front about this, which I appreciate. The eating disorder is mostly backstory except for a pretty self-contained sequence late in the book and little mentions in proximity to meals, while his body dysmorphia has a more constant presence. His relationship with pronouns and gender identity is in a state of flux while he’s trying to figure out what pronouns and labels apply, as well as whether that’s even something that needs to be labeled at all. I've used he/him for Chase since that's the most consistent pronoun set in the book.
Leila and Chase were friends in high school but aren’t anymore, which causes a lot of very relatable stress and awkwardness while they’re in the same program together. He has mentors, a crush and hopefully-boyfriend, a nearby best friend, and a mix of roommates. It’s a lot of people to keep track of but there’s enough of them having their own things away from him that it keeps from getting too much. Once Chase and Jack’s romance gets going then more things revolve around how Chase feels about that relationship and various milestones of intimacy which he is simultaneously eager for and nervous about.
One thing I appreciate about this portrayal of a young person in college is that some of the relationships from high school have continued here in some form, emphasizing how this is a transition point in his life and not everything is tucked away neatly. Being an almost-twenty-year-old in college isn't automatically a clean slate, and I like how Chase and several of the other characters have relationships that came over that social milestone with them.
Chase's relationship with his dad is a minor part of the book and I'm pleasantly surprised by the way it develops. I thought it was going to just be this awful status quo in the background but there's time for things to change a little there even though they don't have much contact.
There’s a kind of meta thread in the narrative where Chase is obsessed with fairy tales but understands that on their own they’re often simple, with clear morals and neat endings, not giving room to process the generally traumatic events from the story. AND THEY LIVED... has messy characters and many options but no definite right answer. There’s a sequence where Chase is being teased and Jack takes a while to realize what’s going on, but when he does he stands up for him. It leaves just enough room for the wrong thing to happen, then there’s a correction with some kind of reconciliation and explanation. It works better than Jack just doing the right thing from the start because provides an opportunity to touch on why the mistake might feel more socially acceptable than what the actual right thing is.
The plot hangs on Chase’s worries and struggles with his animation project and how his various kinds of relationships interfere with his focus on it. For a lot of the book his focus is on Jack and that relationship, but part of Chase’s journey is figuring out how to be a self-loving person without needing to use a boyfriend’s gaze as a proxy. The animated short which he's trying to write works as a framing device around and between the events in his life. It connects to it because he's creating it at the time, and so the parallels are either specifically intentional or are a result of him working through things. I like the main story and the ending suits it.
Chase’s thoughts move a mile-a-minute and it gives the narrative a frenetic, juddering quality, like someone talking until they run out of breath, pausing a moment, then doing it all over again. It fits him as a person and helps the narrative feel fast-paced even when technically not much is happening in a scene. He references a lot of pop culture touchstones which are important to him, often casually and sometimes in a slightly longer discussion of what they mean to him.
Chase struggles with body dysmorphia and an eating disorder. The book description is very up-front about this, which I appreciate. The eating disorder is mostly backstory except for a pretty self-contained sequence late in the book and little mentions in proximity to meals, while his body dysmorphia has a more constant presence. His relationship with pronouns and gender identity is in a state of flux while he’s trying to figure out what pronouns and labels apply, as well as whether that’s even something that needs to be labeled at all. I've used he/him for Chase since that's the most consistent pronoun set in the book.
Leila and Chase were friends in high school but aren’t anymore, which causes a lot of very relatable stress and awkwardness while they’re in the same program together. He has mentors, a crush and hopefully-boyfriend, a nearby best friend, and a mix of roommates. It’s a lot of people to keep track of but there’s enough of them having their own things away from him that it keeps from getting too much. Once Chase and Jack’s romance gets going then more things revolve around how Chase feels about that relationship and various milestones of intimacy which he is simultaneously eager for and nervous about.
One thing I appreciate about this portrayal of a young person in college is that some of the relationships from high school have continued here in some form, emphasizing how this is a transition point in his life and not everything is tucked away neatly. Being an almost-twenty-year-old in college isn't automatically a clean slate, and I like how Chase and several of the other characters have relationships that came over that social milestone with them.
Chase's relationship with his dad is a minor part of the book and I'm pleasantly surprised by the way it develops. I thought it was going to just be this awful status quo in the background but there's time for things to change a little there even though they don't have much contact.
There’s a kind of meta thread in the narrative where Chase is obsessed with fairy tales but understands that on their own they’re often simple, with clear morals and neat endings, not giving room to process the generally traumatic events from the story. AND THEY LIVED... has messy characters and many options but no definite right answer. There’s a sequence where Chase is being teased and Jack takes a while to realize what’s going on, but when he does he stands up for him. It leaves just enough room for the wrong thing to happen, then there’s a correction with some kind of reconciliation and explanation. It works better than Jack just doing the right thing from the start because provides an opportunity to touch on why the mistake might feel more socially acceptable than what the actual right thing is.
The plot hangs on Chase’s worries and struggles with his animation project and how his various kinds of relationships interfere with his focus on it. For a lot of the book his focus is on Jack and that relationship, but part of Chase’s journey is figuring out how to be a self-loving person without needing to use a boyfriend’s gaze as a proxy. The animated short which he's trying to write works as a framing device around and between the events in his life. It connects to it because he's creating it at the time, and so the parallels are either specifically intentional or are a result of him working through things. I like the main story and the ending suits it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Homophobia
Moderate: Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Vomit, Alcohol, Cursing, and Drug use
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Ableism
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