Scan barcode
bookertsfarm's review against another edition
2.0
I was really excited about this novel when I first learned of it because I'm a a huge fan of the graphic novel. So when I saw it available on Hoopla, I thought it was the perfect excuse to give it a go. Let's just say I should have stuck with the graphic novel.
That's not to say there weren't things I didn't enjoy. I love Ester, the Goth chick, and think she is a blast. However, I found it sad that someone who has so much going for her spent so much of the novel trying to be best buds with the campus' other Goth chick when she was clearly so undeserving of such friendship. Susan is very sarcastic which I also found enjoyable but Daisy sort of got on my nerves.
I missed the artwork and I missed the fun. "Giant Days" just didn't seem to flow very well. Instead of the chapters uniting to form a cohesive take, I felt like each one with its own plotless story. In retrospect, it was kind of like comic book issues, but in written form and while that type of flow may work in comic book form, it did not here.
I wish I had liked Giant Days but I will still be following the graphic novel so there is that. Unless you're just curious, I really wouldn't recommend it.
That's not to say there weren't things I didn't enjoy. I love Ester, the Goth chick, and think she is a blast. However, I found it sad that someone who has so much going for her spent so much of the novel trying to be best buds with the campus' other Goth chick when she was clearly so undeserving of such friendship. Susan is very sarcastic which I also found enjoyable but Daisy sort of got on my nerves.
I missed the artwork and I missed the fun. "Giant Days" just didn't seem to flow very well. Instead of the chapters uniting to form a cohesive take, I felt like each one with its own plotless story. In retrospect, it was kind of like comic book issues, but in written form and while that type of flow may work in comic book form, it did not here.
I wish I had liked Giant Days but I will still be following the graphic novel so there is that. Unless you're just curious, I really wouldn't recommend it.
tachyondecay's review against another edition
3.0
Having not read the graphic novels that started this series, I can’t compare them to Giant Days the novel. Nevertheless, the fingerprints of comic form are all over this book. By this I mean that Non Pratt manages to replicate the slight zaniness inherent in any comic universe, even one purporting to be as prosaic as a story about three people in university. This shouldn’t always work in the novel form (it’s why so many superhero novels fall flat for me), yet Pratt somehow nails it.
Susan, Daisy, and Esther are roommates in their first year of university and couldn’t be more different. Susan is cagey about her past and relentless in her investigations of any injustice. Daisy, homeschooled by her grandmother, is trying to get used to this whole new socializing thing. Esther is chronically unable to actually focus on school, preferring instead to dive into socializing—until she becomes obsessed with attempting to win over a friend who embodies, for her, the epitome of her Goth girl aesthetic. As each of our protagonists becomes embroiled in her own challenges at school, they experience moments of crisis and doubt in themselves and in their friendships with each other. Giant Days, as the title implies, is about the hugeness of striking out on one’s own as a new adult, and the importance of having people you can trust, even when they’re telling you things you don’t want to hear.
For those of us unfamiliar with the comics, the story starts slow and the characters will feel somewhat cookie-cutter at first. But if you keep reading you soon get thrown into some intense and interesting conflicts. Each of the characters struggles with things that are uniquely related to her own personality. Susan’s attempts to impose a contract on McGraw are just one more way in which she uses a cool and calm exterior and relentless ordering of the world around her to soothe her internal anxiety and self-doubt. Daisy’s overindulgence in clubs is perhaps the most transparent of the three’s dilemmas and maybe something that a lot of readers who went to university can recognize. Esther’s reverential attempts to befriend Goth Girl will also feel very familiar to anyone who has ever longed platonically after someone who barely gives them the time of day.
I want to talk about this last point first and comment more generally on how Giant Days is really a great story of friendship. There are only the smallest shades of romance in this book, present in the history and tension between Susan and McGraw, for instance. Beyond that, these relationships are platonic and diversely so. I’m not just talking about Susan/Esther/Daisy—Daisy’s whole involvement with Zoise is predicated upon the desire to be among friends (or family). Esther’s dynamic with Vetra and Ed Gemmel is, likewise, a wobbly top of friendship woes. As an aromantic and asexual reader who loves stories that highlight the importance and conflict of friendships, all of this really appeals to me. Indeed, this has been a common thread throughout my reading of Pratt’s works and one of the many reasons for which I adore, inhale, and sweat out through my pores every word.
Pratt doesn’t just get it (I hope, for all our sakes, that most of us just get it to some extent)—she gets how to write about friendships in a nuanced multiplicity of manners. Whereas something like Second Best Friend is a meditation on how projection can harm our friendships and aimed at a younger audience, Giant Days is about the scary world of new adult friendships. These aren’t people we’ve known all our lives and bonded with through thick and thin. They are usually brand new to us, and not only are we worried that we’ll screw something up and they won’t want to be friends with us, but we are busy figuring out who we are as adults. And through the differences in the three protagonists’ personalities, Pratt emphasizes that this experience is not limited to any particular type of person. We all go through these growing pains, in one way or another.
I feel both seen and personally attacked by the scenes depicting and critiquing Esther’s semantic shenanigans and how she complains to herself that she is rusty when it comes to academic doublespeak! (Just look at my lengthy, essay-style reviews from 2008ish into 2012 to see what I mean.) Pratt lampoons academia here, and the way it encourages young people to affect an air of knowledge that is largely unearned, and it is glorious. Esther’s desperation to impress Vetra prompts her to contort herself, socially, in ways she would find so unappealing if she were an outsider looking at herself—but how often can we realize that? Meanwhile, through some pretty sharp commentary via Susan, Pratt points out that Vetra herself, far from being a kind of stock character in this story, is another example of a type of character a young person often becomes in university in order to feel like they belong (or in this case, deliberately don’t belong—yay counterculture).
I should mention that my university experience was, for the most part, extremely different from Susan, Esther, and Daisy’s. I didn’t live in residence. It’s only now, well after university and now that I finally have fulfilling adult friendships, that I realize I was so impoverished during university. I had largely drifted away from high school friendships. There were people I knew, fellow students, with whom I forged some superficial let’s-meet-up-and-study type bonds. For the most part I just spent more time with slightly older coworkers at my job; it wasn’t until my last couple of years in university when I really fell in with some people I felt got me. I don’t regret how this unfolded—for one thing, for better or for worse it led to my life as it is now, and that life is pretty great, with some people whom I’m incredibly fond of. It’s just interesting, the different paths that we take, especially during those critical years of self-discovering at the commencement of adulthood and independent living.
If there are moments when Giant Days feels too over-the-top, too twee—like the ramifications of Daisy’s involvement with Zoise—then I’ll fall back on what I said at the beginning of this review: this is a comic book universe poured into prose form, and the regular rules maybe don’t apply so much. Realism is not a binary in literature but a spectrum, and Pratt is an expert at adjusting the realism dial until it is just so for the story she wants to tell. That’s why I keep coming back, for that perfect combination of offbeat, quirky situations yet deep and real human connections. This is what stories are for.
Susan, Daisy, and Esther are roommates in their first year of university and couldn’t be more different. Susan is cagey about her past and relentless in her investigations of any injustice. Daisy, homeschooled by her grandmother, is trying to get used to this whole new socializing thing. Esther is chronically unable to actually focus on school, preferring instead to dive into socializing—until she becomes obsessed with attempting to win over a friend who embodies, for her, the epitome of her Goth girl aesthetic. As each of our protagonists becomes embroiled in her own challenges at school, they experience moments of crisis and doubt in themselves and in their friendships with each other. Giant Days, as the title implies, is about the hugeness of striking out on one’s own as a new adult, and the importance of having people you can trust, even when they’re telling you things you don’t want to hear.
For those of us unfamiliar with the comics, the story starts slow and the characters will feel somewhat cookie-cutter at first. But if you keep reading you soon get thrown into some intense and interesting conflicts. Each of the characters struggles with things that are uniquely related to her own personality. Susan’s attempts to impose a contract on McGraw are just one more way in which she uses a cool and calm exterior and relentless ordering of the world around her to soothe her internal anxiety and self-doubt. Daisy’s overindulgence in clubs is perhaps the most transparent of the three’s dilemmas and maybe something that a lot of readers who went to university can recognize. Esther’s reverential attempts to befriend Goth Girl will also feel very familiar to anyone who has ever longed platonically after someone who barely gives them the time of day.
I want to talk about this last point first and comment more generally on how Giant Days is really a great story of friendship. There are only the smallest shades of romance in this book, present in the history and tension between Susan and McGraw, for instance. Beyond that, these relationships are platonic and diversely so. I’m not just talking about Susan/Esther/Daisy—Daisy’s whole involvement with Zoise is predicated upon the desire to be among friends (or family). Esther’s dynamic with Vetra and Ed Gemmel is, likewise, a wobbly top of friendship woes. As an aromantic and asexual reader who loves stories that highlight the importance and conflict of friendships, all of this really appeals to me. Indeed, this has been a common thread throughout my reading of Pratt’s works and one of the many reasons for which I adore, inhale, and sweat out through my pores every word.
Pratt doesn’t just get it (I hope, for all our sakes, that most of us just get it to some extent)—she gets how to write about friendships in a nuanced multiplicity of manners. Whereas something like Second Best Friend is a meditation on how projection can harm our friendships and aimed at a younger audience, Giant Days is about the scary world of new adult friendships. These aren’t people we’ve known all our lives and bonded with through thick and thin. They are usually brand new to us, and not only are we worried that we’ll screw something up and they won’t want to be friends with us, but we are busy figuring out who we are as adults. And through the differences in the three protagonists’ personalities, Pratt emphasizes that this experience is not limited to any particular type of person. We all go through these growing pains, in one way or another.
I feel both seen and personally attacked by the scenes depicting and critiquing Esther’s semantic shenanigans and how she complains to herself that she is rusty when it comes to academic doublespeak! (Just look at my lengthy, essay-style reviews from 2008ish into 2012 to see what I mean.) Pratt lampoons academia here, and the way it encourages young people to affect an air of knowledge that is largely unearned, and it is glorious. Esther’s desperation to impress Vetra prompts her to contort herself, socially, in ways she would find so unappealing if she were an outsider looking at herself—but how often can we realize that? Meanwhile, through some pretty sharp commentary via Susan, Pratt points out that Vetra herself, far from being a kind of stock character in this story, is another example of a type of character a young person often becomes in university in order to feel like they belong (or in this case, deliberately don’t belong—yay counterculture).
I should mention that my university experience was, for the most part, extremely different from Susan, Esther, and Daisy’s. I didn’t live in residence. It’s only now, well after university and now that I finally have fulfilling adult friendships, that I realize I was so impoverished during university. I had largely drifted away from high school friendships. There were people I knew, fellow students, with whom I forged some superficial let’s-meet-up-and-study type bonds. For the most part I just spent more time with slightly older coworkers at my job; it wasn’t until my last couple of years in university when I really fell in with some people I felt got me. I don’t regret how this unfolded—for one thing, for better or for worse it led to my life as it is now, and that life is pretty great, with some people whom I’m incredibly fond of. It’s just interesting, the different paths that we take, especially during those critical years of self-discovering at the commencement of adulthood and independent living.
If there are moments when Giant Days feels too over-the-top, too twee—like the ramifications of Daisy’s involvement with Zoise—then I’ll fall back on what I said at the beginning of this review: this is a comic book universe poured into prose form, and the regular rules maybe don’t apply so much. Realism is not a binary in literature but a spectrum, and Pratt is an expert at adjusting the realism dial until it is just so for the story she wants to tell. That’s why I keep coming back, for that perfect combination of offbeat, quirky situations yet deep and real human connections. This is what stories are for.
halfbloodprincess_hogwarts's review against another edition
5.0
I hope we get more chapter books of Giant Days published because this was PHENOMENAL!!!! I like the mix and freeness the graphic novel express and needed a little structure. In the novel we actually find out what happened to Daisy's parents which I've been DYING to know!!
In the novel, both Esther and Susan are doing their own things. Daisy is left alone and after giving it some thought, goes off to a club convention. The funny thing is that she joins almost every club until Susan and Esther intervenes and cuts it down to a good handful of clubs that don't collide with each other and her classes.
Daisy is drawn to one club in particular, Yoga club...that ends up giving off cult vibes. It's bizarre because each time Daisy & the members must either give a valuable possession or a person in order to continue coming back to the club; eventually isolating herself from her friends and grandmother
One of the most funniest scenes is Susan inviting Esther and Daisy to have lunch in the medical school canteen. Susan mentions their food is better than than the halls' and says she'd rather make a sandwich. Esther chimed in that ACTUALLY Susan would "find some unsuspecting sap and steal their lunch instead". Susan becomes defensive saying it makes her sound like a bully...until nearly EVERYONE in line adds how she bullied all of them X-D. (I cannot believe she told someone their face had athlete's foot and she retorts "I said you should see a doctor!" #dead X-D )
In the novel, both Esther and Susan are doing their own things. Daisy is left alone and after giving it some thought, goes off to a club convention. The funny thing is that she joins almost every club until Susan and Esther intervenes and cuts it down to a good handful of clubs that don't collide with each other and her classes.
Daisy is drawn to one club in particular, Yoga club...that ends up giving off cult vibes. It's bizarre because each time Daisy & the members must either give a valuable possession or a person in order to continue coming back to the club; eventually isolating herself from her friends and grandmother
One of the most funniest scenes is Susan inviting Esther and Daisy to have lunch in the medical school canteen. Susan mentions their food is better than than the halls' and says she'd rather make a sandwich. Esther chimed in that ACTUALLY Susan would "find some unsuspecting sap and steal their lunch instead". Susan becomes defensive saying it makes her sound like a bully...until nearly EVERYONE in line adds how she bullied all of them X-D. (I cannot believe she told someone their face had athlete's foot and she retorts "I said you should see a doctor!" #dead X-D )
kendallreads's review against another edition
3.0
(3.5/5) I have never read the graphic novels of this series, but nevertheless I decided to dive in after coming across a copy. I liked the book a lot; the characters' personalities were distinct but I feel like there should have been more time used to develop some of the minor characters. I have appreciation for the author though- it's very difficult to adequately adapt another author's work well, but Non Pratt did a nice job. I might even have to read the graphic novels now!
xanthe's review against another edition
4.0
I love the Giant Days graphic novels to death, so of course I had to read this YA book adaption. Going in, I wasn't sure what this was going to be. A novelization of the storylines from the comic? A new story? Missing scenes? And after reading it, I'm not entirely sure how it fits into the comics, as it sometimes referred to events from them, sometimes recreated them, or sometimes treated them as if they never happened and created another version. Or maybe I'm just confused. Either way, as soon as I stopped contorting my brain to make this fit, I was way better off, able to simply go on a wacky journey with Esther, Susan, and Daisy as they try to make it at Uni and affirm their friendship. Enjoyable and fluffy.
connieischill's review against another edition
4.0
4/5 stars
I love Giant Days. It's my favourite comic series, and, after seeing this on Netgalley, I knew I had to read it ASAP. I was fortunate enough to get access to this, and I'll definitely be buying a physical copy after how much I loved this book.
As far as I can tell, this takes place just after the events of the original minicomics but before the events of the second volume (my favourite, nudge nudge wink wink), although the timeline does feel very whack, honestly. Everyone goes through different problems: Esther is dying to make a good impression on a popular goth girl on her course (English with modules in Creative Writing, represeeeennnt); Daisy is feeling dejected and lonely and sets out to make friends by joining every single society she can, including a mysterious cult-like Yoga group; and Susan is dealing with course stuff and McGraw stuff, the latter being my favourite 'stuff' in this entire series.
I guess I'll review each character's story individually. I'm not able to post quotes because I received an early review copy, but lemme tell you, Esther? Absolutely hilarious. She has some great moments talking about her course and boys, and it was actually painful how much I saw myself in her character. Her just having no idea what people were going on about in seminars was hilarious, making things up as she goes along like I always seem to be doing. However, seeing her changing parts of herself to appeal to friends... also hit close to home, which was difficult to read. Out of all of them, I think what she went through was treated with the most care, which I will comment on in Daisy's part.
Oh, Daisy. She goes through all the classic first year woes that I also experienced last year. Homesickness? Check. Being scared you're the only person with no friends while the people you thought were friends never seem to have time for you? Check. Feeling like bursting into tears when you talk with family over the phone? CHECK. Joining a cult? Chhhhhhh........ not so much. I think the personal issues Daisy experience are handled perfectly, but I feel like the seriousness of what was happening at the yoga group were glossed over at the end, and made out to be... not as serious as they most definitely were. You could get arrested for all of those things, and even though it would stray from the general happiness of the series, it still has moments where things are taken seriously, and I feel like Daisy's story lacked that.
But anyway who cares about them two when I have Susan and McGraw to gush about? This book sees them go from enemies (mostly on Susan's part, but I feel like it's justified, even though I swoon constantly at McGraw) to reluctant (again, Susan) friends, and I loved it. Susan's deadpan humour and dry wit is perfectly captured, and McGraw being pretty much oblivious but very much the greatest man to ever live is evident constantly. I would re-read this just for them two. I'm tempted to re-read the series now, just for them two. They will always be my favourite part of Giant Days and I feel no regrets saying that.
As much as I love this, I've had to lower it a star for the whole Daisy thing, but also because this probably wouldn't have been as good if I didn't already love the comics. It throws you straight into things and is quite... info-dumpy at the start, unfortunately, but I am willing to overlook that because of the brilliant characterisation of the main girls and their friends (poor, poor Ed Gemmel). I also found that Susan was kind of pushed to the back and made to sort out all the drama without having much going on herself, other than little moments with McGraw.
I love Giant Days. It's my favourite comic series, and, after seeing this on Netgalley, I knew I had to read it ASAP. I was fortunate enough to get access to this, and I'll definitely be buying a physical copy after how much I loved this book.
As far as I can tell, this takes place just after the events of the original minicomics but before the events of the second volume (my favourite, nudge nudge wink wink), although the timeline does feel very whack, honestly. Everyone goes through different problems: Esther is dying to make a good impression on a popular goth girl on her course (English with modules in Creative Writing, represeeeennnt); Daisy is feeling dejected and lonely and sets out to make friends by joining every single society she can, including a mysterious cult-like Yoga group; and Susan is dealing with course stuff and McGraw stuff, the latter being my favourite 'stuff' in this entire series.
I guess I'll review each character's story individually. I'm not able to post quotes because I received an early review copy, but lemme tell you, Esther? Absolutely hilarious. She has some great moments talking about her course and boys, and it was actually painful how much I saw myself in her character. Her just having no idea what people were going on about in seminars was hilarious, making things up as she goes along like I always seem to be doing. However, seeing her changing parts of herself to appeal to friends... also hit close to home, which was difficult to read. Out of all of them, I think what she went through was treated with the most care, which I will comment on in Daisy's part.
Oh, Daisy. She goes through all the classic first year woes that I also experienced last year. Homesickness? Check. Being scared you're the only person with no friends while the people you thought were friends never seem to have time for you? Check. Feeling like bursting into tears when you talk with family over the phone? CHECK. Joining a cult? Chhhhhhh........ not so much. I think the personal issues Daisy experience are handled perfectly, but I feel like the seriousness of what was happening at the yoga group were glossed over at the end, and made out to be... not as serious as they most definitely were. You could get arrested for all of those things, and even though it would stray from the general happiness of the series, it still has moments where things are taken seriously, and I feel like Daisy's story lacked that.
But anyway who cares about them two when I have Susan and McGraw to gush about? This book sees them go from enemies (mostly on Susan's part, but I feel like it's justified, even though I swoon constantly at McGraw) to reluctant (again, Susan) friends, and I loved it. Susan's deadpan humour and dry wit is perfectly captured, and McGraw being pretty much oblivious but very much the greatest man to ever live is evident constantly. I would re-read this just for them two. I'm tempted to re-read the series now, just for them two. They will always be my favourite part of Giant Days and I feel no regrets saying that.
As much as I love this, I've had to lower it a star for the whole Daisy thing, but also because this probably wouldn't have been as good if I didn't already love the comics. It throws you straight into things and is quite... info-dumpy at the start, unfortunately, but I am willing to overlook that because of the brilliant characterisation of the main girls and their friends (poor, poor Ed Gemmel). I also found that Susan was kind of pushed to the back and made to sort out all the drama without having much going on herself, other than little moments with McGraw.
katereadingthroughinfinity's review against another edition
3.0
This is a fun coming-of-age tale about three friends who meet at university. Inspired by the graphic novel series of the same name, Giant Days follows Susan the part-time PI, Ether the goth, and Daisy the yoga fan, as they form an unlikely friendship and try to cruise through their first semester of university. As someone who went to the University of Sheffield, where this is set, I found a few flaws and inconsistencies with the world-building (some of the geography/directions didn't add up and the university gets called 'Sheffield University' all the way through the novel (it's 'University of')), but overall this was a fun read, with some pretty quirky and humorous moments.
readmemarie's review against another edition
3.0
I haven't read any of the graphic novels that this is based on, so went straight into reading this with no context or idea at all of what to expect - other than I'm a huge fan of Non Pratt. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't understand some references or grasp the general characters, but I was wrong!
It follows the story of Daisy, Susan and Esther, as they embark in their university experience and some weird and quirky things arise. Not only do I think this book echoes some of my experiences of my first year at university (certainly not the main plot/mystery!!) but smaller details that I thought were brilliantly thought out.
I think this book would be great if you're a fan of the graphic novels, but also if you have yet to read them like me, as it is full of mystery and adventure, easy to read and is a humorous book that could be enjoyed regardless of age!
It follows the story of Daisy, Susan and Esther, as they embark in their university experience and some weird and quirky things arise. Not only do I think this book echoes some of my experiences of my first year at university (certainly not the main plot/mystery!!) but smaller details that I thought were brilliantly thought out.
I think this book would be great if you're a fan of the graphic novels, but also if you have yet to read them like me, as it is full of mystery and adventure, easy to read and is a humorous book that could be enjoyed regardless of age!
More...