3.92 AVERAGE

emotional reflective sad 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: No
adventurous inspiring 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
emotional sad tense slow-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

I loved this book!!!
emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective sad 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: Yes
emotional inspiring medium-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

Die letzten 6 Kapitel haben mich abgeholt und mich zu Tränen gerührt. Würde ich mit poetry mehr anfangen können wäre es 4.25 Sterne
Mehr als 3.75 Sterne kann ich nicht geben, da ich nach der Hälfte des Buches es pausiert habe (hat mich nicht gefesselt). Ich denke später im Leben könnte das noch ein 5 Sterne read werden
emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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: Complicated
adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character

”O me! O life! of the questions of
these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless,
of cities fill’d with the foolish, . . .
What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer
That you are here—That life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”


3.5 stars.

I’ve always wanted to be an English professor, and I grew up attending very controlling private schools similar to Welton Academy. I’m also a bigender trans man who had a very strange relationship with my queerness as a child, so of course this was right up my alley.

While I have yet to see the movie (though I certainly will after this!), I can tell that this plot fits much better into a film rather than a novel. There were some parts that felt slow and awkward to read, and it was a bit of a struggle in the beginning to differentiate the characters from each other as the writing style made them feel a bit clunky. I also felt a little uncomfortable by a certain scene in the novel where one of the characters groped his love interest without her consent; while I’m not necessarily sensitive to seeing content like that in creative works, it still felt like it was brushed off and the character was barely punished for their actions, and in fact rewarded later.

Apart from these downsides, I found the novel to be very relatable to my own experience of growing up. Mr. Keating was a sweetheart and was so nurturing to his students that I found myself reflecting on the times that my English teachers behaved in the same way. I loved the countless literary references and that true sense of freedom that felt present by simply viewing literature through a lens of passion rather than through robotic analysis (which rings even truer to me now as a college student!).

Also, I wish the text was more blatantly queer because Neil and Todd were meant to be together. Came for the literary merit, stayed for the subtextual gay romance.