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cemoses's review against another edition
4.0
For a book about teenagers dying, it is not morbid or overly sad. Rather it is about teenagers acting like teenagers even under difficult circumstances.
squirrelsohno's review
2.0
Sometimes, when a blogger reads a book and she doesn’t get along with that book, a book is pushed to the back of her mind and forgotten until she realizes the book came out and she forgot to review it. That’s what happened between me and SOMEBODY UP THERE HATES YOU by Hollis Seamon, a YA contemporary debut that ended up falling far short of the mark I’d hoped from it. If you read THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green, you might as well stop there. This book tries to be the next cancer story in the same vein, but instead turns out to be a rather gross, insipid tale about a boy who wants to have sex. Oh, and he has cancer.
SOMEBODY UP THERE HATES YOU follows Richie, a boy living in a hospice as he dies from cancer, and his love interest Sylvie, the girl who lives across the room. Richie and Sylvie are as close as a couple as you’re going to get in the beginnings of a YA novel, but to be honest, they’re never developed, and their relationship is never expanded past the fact that they are teenagers who are virgins and want to no longer be virgins when they die.
Since it’s been awhile since I read this book, and since I quite frankly don’t remember much about it other than the most glaring problems (and the fact that I only rated it 2 stars), I’ll keep it brief. I mean, who wants to read 600 words about how teenagers don’t sound like Richie and Sylvie and why sex should not define a successful life? Nobody.
So here are my major problems that I had with SOMEBODY UP THERE HATES YOU.
One. Richie, our protagonist, sounds like what a 17 year old boy might sound like in a drug awareness ad written by a 60 year old conservative woman. That is not a good thing. He sounds completely fake and quite frankly an ass.
Two. How are we supposed to root for a teenage boy dying of cancer when his uncle buys him a prostitute, who is underage, and then have the boy make fun of her for the rest of the novel?
Three. It was like THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, except hyper-sexualized (basically the only other plot point besides dying of cancer is sex) and less hipster-y.
I wanted so much to like this one, given its synopsis. In fact, I thought it might be my answer to wanting a book that dealt with cancer except 1000% less pretentiously. But what I got was a book devoid of character development, devoid of awareness, and full of stereotypes about teenagers. I was highly disappointed, but hey, I have to admit – there must have been something, at least a LITTLE something, that kept this from being a one star. And I did read it in 24 hours. That’s a plus.
VERDICT: Focused less on the characters and more on the sex, SOMEBODY UP THERE HATES YOU falls flat in trying to be a tale of cancer and teenagers. Instead, it’s a book about teen sex, stupidity, and then maybe dying on the side. Skip it.
SOMEBODY UP THERE HATES YOU follows Richie, a boy living in a hospice as he dies from cancer, and his love interest Sylvie, the girl who lives across the room. Richie and Sylvie are as close as a couple as you’re going to get in the beginnings of a YA novel, but to be honest, they’re never developed, and their relationship is never expanded past the fact that they are teenagers who are virgins and want to no longer be virgins when they die.
Since it’s been awhile since I read this book, and since I quite frankly don’t remember much about it other than the most glaring problems (and the fact that I only rated it 2 stars), I’ll keep it brief. I mean, who wants to read 600 words about how teenagers don’t sound like Richie and Sylvie and why sex should not define a successful life? Nobody.
So here are my major problems that I had with SOMEBODY UP THERE HATES YOU.
One. Richie, our protagonist, sounds like what a 17 year old boy might sound like in a drug awareness ad written by a 60 year old conservative woman. That is not a good thing. He sounds completely fake and quite frankly an ass.
Two. How are we supposed to root for a teenage boy dying of cancer when his uncle buys him a prostitute, who is underage, and then have the boy make fun of her for the rest of the novel?
Three. It was like THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, except hyper-sexualized (basically the only other plot point besides dying of cancer is sex) and less hipster-y.
I wanted so much to like this one, given its synopsis. In fact, I thought it might be my answer to wanting a book that dealt with cancer except 1000% less pretentiously. But what I got was a book devoid of character development, devoid of awareness, and full of stereotypes about teenagers. I was highly disappointed, but hey, I have to admit – there must have been something, at least a LITTLE something, that kept this from being a one star. And I did read it in 24 hours. That’s a plus.
VERDICT: Focused less on the characters and more on the sex, SOMEBODY UP THERE HATES YOU falls flat in trying to be a tale of cancer and teenagers. Instead, it’s a book about teen sex, stupidity, and then maybe dying on the side. Skip it.
ankysbookbubble's review
4.0
Richie was such a fun character to read. Even though he knew he was dying, he still lived everyday to the fullest. So did Sylvie.
At first, I had thought that this book seemed so much like The Fault In Our Stars. Two teenagers, suffering with cancer fall in love.
But it's not. Because Richie and Sylvie already know they're going to die. That's why they're in the hospice. And yet they fall in love.
My favorite part though, was the ending. Because the author did not tell us whether they die or not. In a way, they're both still alive. And that's a happy ending, isn't it?
Oh and I also loved how the author didn't go into the technical (medical?) details of their illness. I'm glad Richie thought it'd be too boring for us to read, because he was absolutely right.
I picked this book up on a whim, but I'm glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
At first, I had thought that this book seemed so much like The Fault In Our Stars. Two teenagers, suffering with cancer fall in love.
But it's not. Because Richie and Sylvie already know they're going to die. That's why they're in the hospice. And yet they fall in love.
My favorite part though, was the ending. Because the author did not tell us whether they die or not. In a way, they're both still alive. And that's a happy ending, isn't it?
Oh and I also loved how the author didn't go into the technical (medical?) details of their illness. I'm glad Richie thought it'd be too boring for us to read, because he was absolutely right.
I picked this book up on a whim, but I'm glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
akgirl907's review
3.0
This book was funny but the ending made me really mad and the way the kids attitude was pretty crappy.
drako1357's review against another edition
4.0
La historia se centra en Richard Casey, un joven de 17 años que está luchando contra un cáncer terminal. Richard es un chico inteligente y sarcástico que no está dispuesto a aceptar su destino sin luchar. A lo largo de la novela, Richard se enfrenta a una serie de desafíos, tanto físicos como emocionales. Tendrá que lidiar con el dolor y la incertidumbre de su enfermedad, así como con los cambios que esta provoca en su vida y en la de su familia.
La novela está narrada desde la perspectiva de Richard. Esto permite al lector ponerse en sus zapatos y experimentar sus emociones de primera mano. Seamon escribe con un estilo sencillo pero efectivo, que transmite la fuerza y la vulnerabilidad de Richard.
Alguien allá arriba te odia es una novela conmovedora y esperanzadora. Es una historia sobre la lucha contra la adversidad, la importancia de la familia y la capacidad del espíritu humano para superar cualquier obstáculo.
La novela está narrada desde la perspectiva de Richard. Esto permite al lector ponerse en sus zapatos y experimentar sus emociones de primera mano. Seamon escribe con un estilo sencillo pero efectivo, que transmite la fuerza y la vulnerabilidad de Richard.
Alguien allá arriba te odia es una novela conmovedora y esperanzadora. Es una historia sobre la lucha contra la adversidad, la importancia de la familia y la capacidad del espíritu humano para superar cualquier obstáculo.
mckinlay's review
2.0
this book while not completely hard to get through, just lacked something. it wasn't very funny. the characters weren't very likable. and the "love story" wasn't very believable.
greenvillemelissa's review
4.0
Book #40 Read in 2014
Somebody Up There Hates You by Hollis Seamon (YA)
This is so much more than a cancer book. Richard (main character) is written in such a way that his voice is so true to life. Richard is in hospice and so is Sylvie....and both are teenagers. They try to retain some sort of normalcy with their budding romance but that creates more problems for both them and their families. The secondary characters (the harpy, Edward, Richard's mother, uncle and grandmother) are interesting and bring even more depth to the book. I could see this book being called a grittier The Fault in Our Stars...and I mean that as a compliment. Add to this that the author is 1. local and 2. was my Honors English 101 professor at college and that just completes the package. I highly recommend it.
http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com
Somebody Up There Hates You by Hollis Seamon (YA)
This is so much more than a cancer book. Richard (main character) is written in such a way that his voice is so true to life. Richard is in hospice and so is Sylvie....and both are teenagers. They try to retain some sort of normalcy with their budding romance but that creates more problems for both them and their families. The secondary characters (the harpy, Edward, Richard's mother, uncle and grandmother) are interesting and bring even more depth to the book. I could see this book being called a grittier The Fault in Our Stars...and I mean that as a compliment. Add to this that the author is 1. local and 2. was my Honors English 101 professor at college and that just completes the package. I highly recommend it.
http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com
itsmytuberculosis's review
1.0
So much promise. Such little delivery. I start reading this books because I always like brutally honest books when it comes to cancer books. Me, Earl, and They Dying Girl and The Fault in Our Stars are a couple of my favourites. However, this book was like some lust drugged version of The Fault in Our Stars for horny teenage boys. It didn't have any of the "It is what is is" behavior of MEATDG either. It was about Richard an entitled a-hole who wants to live his last month in awesomenes. Which I totally understand and do not think that a kid should be contained to a hospice unit. What he choses to do with his freedom is COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS. He goes out on halloween to a strip club with his uncle then comes back to have sex with the other teenager in the hospice unit, Sylvie, which I should mention they are both underage, which causes her to have internal hemorrhaging.
My favourite character was Edward the nurse.
That's saying something.
My favourite character was Edward the nurse.
That's saying something.