Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - Holding Up the Universe

I got a ton of “Eleanor and Park” vibes from this book except I enjoyed this one more. In this book Jack actually has things he’s struggling with. Libby is fat and jack is face-blind. Whereas in eleanor and park, parks only problem is that he’s an underrepresented minority that has never struggled a day in his life. And his only issue was he was dating a fat poor redhead. This one was more believable to me. This one made more sense. It was sometimes cliché (ahem when they first realized they had feelings omggg) but in another sense it wasn’t cliché at all. There was drama and confusion and oh no! He kissed the wrong girl again… and they worked it out. Not like every other teen romance story works issues out tho, they dealt with it like someone (imo) would work it out irl. There was a fair amount of swearing (I suppose it can be expected from public schoolers) so that bumped my rating as I didn’t enjoy it at all. But overall I did fairly enjoy this book. It had a very interesting idea of literally the worlds fattest teen and not just: oH Hi iM oVeRwEiGhT sO mY aUtHoR wRoTe Me As InSeCuRe AnD pEtTy. Ik that’s not how most fat kid novels go but I did mostly enjoy this books perspective. I really felt for Jack through his struggles tho as well.

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reclusivebookslug's review against another edition

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emotional 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

3.75

I devoured this book in one day over just two sittings. I realized partway through that I've actually read this before and forgot about it. I don't know whether that says more about my memory and the book's forgettableness.

I think I relate to Libby now more than I did then. I've always been chubby and self-conscious about my weight, but in the past few years, I've become full-blown fat (not saying this as a self-insult, just a neutral descriptor). More than that, I relate to the feeling of feeling left behind or left out of "normal" life, although for different reasons.

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hannahwillacy's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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abigailmeeks's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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nezhaouballa915's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.75

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annslee's review against another edition

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I am tired of this whole girl forgives boy because even though he did a crappy thing to me he isn’t that bad troupe. If someone knows what they did was mean, to me it makes it worse that they did it in the first place.

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randomteenreader11's review against another edition

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emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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