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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I loved the writing style of this book. The short chapters made this a quick read that sucks you in. The story began strong and promising; however I believe it lacked some depth. Overall, it was okay.
This book straight up crushed me with how heavy it is. I was so sad reading it (content warning for family trauma and grief, rape, animal harm/death) that I truly can't bring myself to give it a star rating. The ending was ok all things considered but eek - I would have stopped, but will say the quick pacing is excellent.
I think that this is a very tightly worked concept. The multiple narrators giving multiple points of view really added to the understanding of the plot. I also thought the narrators were distinct enough.
The book was just a little plodding at times. And as one of the characters was literally written as a quiet, passive, slow to speak man, it didn’t help to the drawn out nature of things.
The book was just a little plodding at times. And as one of the characters was literally written as a quiet, passive, slow to speak man, it didn’t help to the drawn out nature of things.
I just loved this thoughtful book. The author treats each memorable, believable, flawed character with such kindness.
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was initially interested in picking up this book because part of the story revolves around suicide and how it effects their friends and family. I had had a friend attempt suicide not too long before I first discovered this book through Book of the Month, and I myself was hospitalized for similar reason. Even though I hadn't gone through dealing with anything as crazy as murder, there was still just enough in the premise that called out to me. In reality the book was much different than what I was expecting, which is understandable, and I didn't mind it. It was different and was unlike other books I've read while still having aspects that I really liked. It had a compelling thrilleresque plot, there was a bit of a mystery that we followed, there was family drama, and a found-family to top things off. I think this was a really strong debut novel, and I can see why people might absolutely love this book. It talks about so many impactful topics and it's a very emotional story, which I know is stuff that a lot of people like to read about.
Found-family is one of my favorite tropes in books, and I really liked how it worked out in the end. Evangeline needed a real parent figure in her life, Isaac needed someone to take care of and help him come out of his shell, and Lorrie and her daughter. It wasn't a linear relationship and the dynamic was constantly changing throughout the story, even all the way up to the end. Part of me didn't like the way it ended because there wasn't much of a resolution with the characters. We as the reader got to learn the truth about what happened between Jonah and Daniel, but we don't see Evangeline and Isaac really hit a point where they can truly call each other family. It frustrated me that they were continuing to argue all the way up until the last few pages, but I understand that that is more realistic. You don't just get over your past trauma easily, which Tompkins did a good job showing. Even if the book didn't end 100% positively, it still had a hopeful tone that let us know that the character's lives were starting to turn around for the good.
+Spoilers Ahead+
One thing that I didn't like about this book was how Tompkins tried to make ever single one of her characters the most unfortunate and traumatized. I felt like the whole book was the "Trauma Olympics" and it was just annoying because there wasn't really anyone who's life wasn't filled with woes. Looking at Evangeline, her father abandoned her, her mother also abandoned her, she was homeless, pulled out of school, raped multiple times, preyed on, and got pregnant due to rape. I can't really stand when authors add layer upon layer of things to feel bad about revolving around character, and when you add too many things my brain shuts down. So instead of feeling empathetic about Evangeline's situation, which is incredibly unfortunate and happens in real life, I feel so overwhelmed with this pressure to feel bad that I simply cannot get myself to care. A similar thing happened with Jacob as well. He said that his father committed suicide, which was tragic. But then you learn that he saw his father shoot himself in the head and have his brain splatter everywhere. What. And his dad murdered his dog in front of him and abused his family. I feel liked Thompson wrote a list of "things that are incredibly traumatic" and tried to include every single one of them.
I don't know how to explain why I feel this way, I just do. The two characters who were mainly portrayed as actually being happy and not having anything depressing happen to them, Daniel and Peter, are both revealed to be terrible people. And on top of that we have moments like when Jonah and Evangeline talk about Daniel and how much "he doesn't understand" because he hasn't experienced something traumatic in his life. It felt liked the book was trying to make me feel bad because I haven't lost a parent or been assaulted or been abused, which is ridiculous because this is a work of fiction that isn't based in truth.
I also disliked how there was one point of the book that sort of made Jonah's actions out to be justified. I was really appalled at first when the scene where we saw Daniel's murder because it showed that the only reason that Jonah killed him was because of what he did to Evangeline, which is awful, but does not justify killing someone. It isn't until later in the book that Tompkins really talks about Jonah's mental health, which I though was done alright. I'm glad that in the end it was shown that that was why he did what he did, and that Daniel's murder could not be excused. But even then there was so much emphasis on Jonah father and how he was "following his father's footsteps" and that he was who he was because of his father, so it did come off a bit as "it's not really Jonah's fault, it's his father's fault that he did what he did." Of course such an astronomical event would really impact you, but again, it's not an excuse and you still ultimately have control over your own actions.
One other thing- WHY were Jonah and Daniel so obsessed with Evangeline. She was just some girl, and there really wasn't anything about her that made her nearly as "special" as Jonah acted like he was. Dude got laid ONCE and made it his sole personality trait for the rest of his short life. Bruh, it's a random girl, nothing probably wouldn't have happened if those two hadn't been the world's biggest simps.
It wasn't too bad, but it reminded me why I don't really like to read contemporary novels. Because they take place in a reality we're familiar with it's easier to see the flaws in the characters. I could see the parts of the story that were on-the-nose and then I could see through the weak parts of the story and see the exposed skeleton inside. It wasn't an awful book, I did really like some parts, but I think I had more issues with it than non-issues. The more I think about the story the more I think about what I didn't like, and I feel like in the long run I'm probably going to remember those flaws more clearly. This was really great in theory but the execution could have been so much better. This is only Tompkins's first book, and I don't know if I'll read any more of her books if they're going to follow a similar path as this one, but I'm still curious about what she'll write next.
Found-family is one of my favorite tropes in books, and I really liked how it worked out in the end. Evangeline needed a real parent figure in her life, Isaac needed someone to take care of and help him come out of his shell, and Lorrie and her daughter. It wasn't a linear relationship and the dynamic was constantly changing throughout the story, even all the way up to the end. Part of me didn't like the way it ended because there wasn't much of a resolution with the characters. We as the reader got to learn the truth about what happened between Jonah and Daniel, but we don't see Evangeline and Isaac really hit a point where they can truly call each other family. It frustrated me that they were continuing to argue all the way up until the last few pages, but I understand that that is more realistic. You don't just get over your past trauma easily, which Tompkins did a good job showing. Even if the book didn't end 100% positively, it still had a hopeful tone that let us know that the character's lives were starting to turn around for the good.
+Spoilers Ahead+
One thing that I didn't like about this book was how Tompkins tried to make ever single one of her characters the most unfortunate and traumatized. I felt like the whole book was the "Trauma Olympics" and it was just annoying because there wasn't really anyone who's life wasn't filled with woes. Looking at Evangeline, her father abandoned her, her mother also abandoned her, she was homeless, pulled out of school, raped multiple times, preyed on, and got pregnant due to rape. I can't really stand when authors add layer upon layer of things to feel bad about revolving around character, and when you add too many things my brain shuts down. So instead of feeling empathetic about Evangeline's situation, which is incredibly unfortunate and happens in real life, I feel so overwhelmed with this pressure to feel bad that I simply cannot get myself to care. A similar thing happened with Jacob as well. He said that his father committed suicide, which was tragic. But then you learn that he saw his father shoot himself in the head and have his brain splatter everywhere. What. And his dad murdered his dog in front of him and abused his family. I feel liked Thompson wrote a list of "things that are incredibly traumatic" and tried to include every single one of them.
I don't know how to explain why I feel this way, I just do. The two characters who were mainly portrayed as actually being happy and not having anything depressing happen to them, Daniel and Peter, are both revealed to be terrible people. And on top of that we have moments like when Jonah and Evangeline talk about Daniel and how much "he doesn't understand" because he hasn't experienced something traumatic in his life. It felt liked the book was trying to make me feel bad because I haven't lost a parent or been assaulted or been abused, which is ridiculous because this is a work of fiction that isn't based in truth.
I also disliked how there was one point of the book that sort of made Jonah's actions out to be justified. I was really appalled at first when the scene where we saw Daniel's murder because it showed that the only reason that Jonah killed him was because of what he did to Evangeline, which is awful, but does not justify killing someone. It isn't until later in the book that Tompkins really talks about Jonah's mental health, which I though was done alright. I'm glad that in the end it was shown that that was why he did what he did, and that Daniel's murder could not be excused. But even then there was so much emphasis on Jonah father and how he was "following his father's footsteps" and that he was who he was because of his father, so it did come off a bit as "it's not really Jonah's fault, it's his father's fault that he did what he did." Of course such an astronomical event would really impact you, but again, it's not an excuse and you still ultimately have control over your own actions.
One other thing- WHY were Jonah and Daniel so obsessed with Evangeline. She was just some girl, and there really wasn't anything about her that made her nearly as "special" as Jonah acted like he was. Dude got laid ONCE and made it his sole personality trait for the rest of his short life. Bruh, it's a random girl, nothing probably wouldn't have happened if those two hadn't been the world's biggest simps.
It wasn't too bad, but it reminded me why I don't really like to read contemporary novels. Because they take place in a reality we're familiar with it's easier to see the flaws in the characters. I could see the parts of the story that were on-the-nose and then I could see through the weak parts of the story and see the exposed skeleton inside. It wasn't an awful book, I did really like some parts, but I think I had more issues with it than non-issues. The more I think about the story the more I think about what I didn't like, and I feel like in the long run I'm probably going to remember those flaws more clearly. This was really great in theory but the execution could have been so much better. This is only Tompkins's first book, and I don't know if I'll read any more of her books if they're going to follow a similar path as this one, but I'm still curious about what she'll write next.
This was a great book. Super emotional. Very well written, and detailed.
This is really a very impressive debut novel. Evangeline is 16, abandoned by her mother, homeless and newly pregnant. She has recently befriended two boys, Daniel and Jonah, and becomes wrapped up in their murder/suicide. Told from the point of view of her and Daniel’s dad Isaac this is an often bleak, emotional book but with beautiful writing and intense insight into loss, trauma and love.
This was a very interesting book and I'm not sure in the best way. 2 boys die very violent deaths and this is the story of their families, and one girl they briefly met after the fact. For as deeply emotional and dark this should have been I felt vaguely indifferent throughout. Maybe it was the very Quaker religious overtones that while I enjoyed learning more about this faith were extremely heavy-handed or just the oddness of the girl's relationships with everyone in the book. I'm just not sure I bought into anything in this entire story.
I don’t read books with dogs in them but this had a surprise dog.