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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse
A pretty interesting story with undertones of abuse...
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was not what I expected it to be. It is crazy but amazing how authors write their stories with different point of views from the characters. Books like that are something you have to read.
Anyway. This book was very interesting and good. Someone who can take pain away? I never even thought about something like that before. It's something very different, but interesting by the way Neal Shusterman put it, taking away physical and emotional pain. That is what made me like this book. But I do wish at the end it was more than just the phone calls and knowing that Brew was okay.. but maybe that's because I like to know what would happen farther in the characters lives but that would just make a book a too long of a book. Haha.
This book was simply amazing and different. I very much liked it! Also, this book made me realize that we shouldn't take things for granted and be able to be strong to take on any pain so we can know how pain feels and to be able to have the real emotion and physical feeling no matter what.
Anyway. This book was very interesting and good. Someone who can take pain away? I never even thought about something like that before. It's something very different, but interesting by the way Neal Shusterman put it, taking away physical and emotional pain. That is what made me like this book. But I do wish at the end it was more than just the phone calls and knowing that Brew was okay.. but maybe that's because I like to know what would happen farther in the characters lives but that would just make a book a too long of a book. Haha.
This book was simply amazing and different. I very much liked it! Also, this book made me realize that we shouldn't take things for granted and be able to be strong to take on any pain so we can know how pain feels and to be able to have the real emotion and physical feeling no matter what.
Honestly, you know this book probably couldn't happen in real life, but it was one of the most realistic things ever.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
Bruiser was a quick read. In fact, I finished it in one sitting on the plane from Florida to Baltimore!
I picked this up with know prior knowledge besides my love for Neal Shusterman, and let me tell you, this did not disappoint. The first few chapters seem to set up a story of a boy from the wrong side of the tracks and the girl who falls for him, but soon you find out that this is something of a fantasy or sci-fi. Bruiser, the "bad boy," keeps his distance from people because he literally bears the pain for those he cares about. As a result, he is covered in the scrapes, bruises, and broken bones of the ones he loves.
The story is told in alternating perspective of Bruiser, has s girlfriend Bronte, her brother Tennyson, and Bruiser's younger brother Cody. As Shusterman discusses in interviews at the end of the book, each of these narrators tells a different part of coping with this curse.
I think the most interesting moral introspection that this novel brings up is that love is never selfless. Tennyson takes advantage of his friend's power. Bronte treats him as a charity project. And Cody, in my opinion the most interesting character, has no consideration whatsoever for the immense pain his brother suffers.
Leave it to Shusterman to come up with such a unique concept. The "magic" of Brewster's curse is never explained, but that didn't bother me one bit. Really it's just a tool to explore these characters and the inter workings of their lives. Well done as always, sir!
I picked this up with know prior knowledge besides my love for Neal Shusterman, and let me tell you, this did not disappoint. The first few chapters seem to set up a story of a boy from the wrong side of the tracks and the girl who falls for him, but soon you find out that this is something of a fantasy or sci-fi. Bruiser, the "bad boy," keeps his distance from people because he literally bears the pain for those he cares about. As a result, he is covered in the scrapes, bruises, and broken bones of the ones he loves.
The story is told in alternating perspective of Bruiser, has s girlfriend Bronte, her brother Tennyson, and Bruiser's younger brother Cody. As Shusterman discusses in interviews at the end of the book, each of these narrators tells a different part of coping with this curse.
I think the most interesting moral introspection that this novel brings up is that love is never selfless. Tennyson takes advantage of his friend's power. Bronte treats him as a charity project. And Cody, in my opinion the most interesting character, has no consideration whatsoever for the immense pain his brother suffers.
Leave it to Shusterman to come up with such a unique concept. The "magic" of Brewster's curse is never explained, but that didn't bother me one bit. Really it's just a tool to explore these characters and the inter workings of their lives. Well done as always, sir!
Reading this book as someone who considers themselves empathic was a fucking mistake. These selfish ass people. That poor boy.
This was an awful experience
This was an awful experience
I thought this book was absolutely fascinating. I loved the multiple narrators and viewpoints. I thought brewster's story was tragic yet hopeful at the same time. the questions raised about abuse and whether he should open himself up emotionally really made you think. I also loved how thosein his life could become so dependent on brewster that they could have no fear or could be addicted. and in order to save him they really had to save him from themselves. it was another fascinating book from an author who never fails to deliver.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.8