Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Holding Up the Universe

Trigger warnings for Holding Up The Universe include: fatphobia and body shaming; anxiety and panic attacks and bullying.
☆
☆
One of the biggest morals (I guess that's the right word for it), of this whole story is that no matter what anyone says, your opinion of yourself is what matters. You have to believe in you, and damn everyone else. Because if you don't believe in yourself, and everyone else doesn't believe in you, then what have you actually got.
~
I know that the point of this book, aside from the message of 'believe in yourself' is that it's a love story, but honestly, for me, that was the least interesting thing. When I read things, regardless of the type of representation, whether that's religious, racial, sexuality and/or gender, often I'm looking for something where those things are just a feature in the story, and not the front and centre focus. But for this book, the fact that the main character describes herself (and is described by others) as being fat, is the main point, and I feel like for the story this book is telling, that's important, and necessary.
~
This book has been sitting on my TBR list for quite a while now, and I'm so glad to finally got round to reading it, because personally, I think the message of it is really important, and it's something everyone should learn and hold onto.

Content Warnings

annahamburger's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

mirandap442's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad slow-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

2.0

Content Warnings

duchess16's review against another edition

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3.75

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.

Content Warnings

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

Content Warnings

jessicohen15's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

3.0

Warm and heartfelt story of two teenagers dealing with their own issues: fatphobia and not recognizing peoples faces. Really good story, easy read, and fun descriptions!

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