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michelle_pink_polka_dot's review against another edition
4.0
Sadie, Emerson, and Miles... 3 teens interconnected in all the worst ways. Sadie has just been kicked out of her final boarding school amid criminal charges. Emerson is hiding from his dark and angry past. And Miles is a sickly boy with dark thoughts. Sadie knew the 2 brothers when they were kids, and it seems her coming home for the first time in years has ignited some sort of fuse. In the end, only Miles (who sees visions) knows where they're all headed.... and it doesn't seem good.
My Thoughts:
What. Did. I. Just. Read? I feel insane after reading this book. It's like nothing I've ever read before. I feel like I need a Dr. Call-Me-Tom (the school psychologist that Miles and Sadie briefly speak with) to explain some of this stuff to me.
Basically this book is about 3 teens who are missing vital pieces of their personalities. Sadie is missing the empathy part. She's a girl who does things to entertain herself, out of boredom, and just because. Mean things. And she doesn't care what the person she's doing it to is feeling. She just doesn't know how. Emerson feels more empathy than Sadie... at least he feels guilt over the things he's done. But he has a dark side that he can't really control. Miles is tougher to figure out. He's this sickly kid who gets bullied constantly. But at the same time, it's not like he's sad about the lack of human interaction. He doesn't want any.
Of all the characters Sadie stood out the most for me. I just kept wanting her to care, knowing she was never going to. That's just not how sociopaths work. They can't learn to care. The author tried really hard to make me hate this girl, but something about her, I just didn't. This is probably going to sound stupid, but I almost got to the giving up point on her when she went to the bathroom and didn't wipe just because she could. I mean EWW!!! And there were many of those random moments where I was completely disgusted with this character. And somehow I kept on hoping she would feel bad for what she did in her previous school, and hoping she would save Miles somehow.
The ending of this book is just???? I'm really not sure what I just read. I think the coolness of the writing and the short poignant chapters won me over. Also the uniqueness and feel of the entire book. But I still wished for more of an ending. And I also wished for more from Miles. I felt like he had a much bigger story inside of him and I wanted to hear it.
OVERALL: This author is not afraid to tell it. This book is creepy, chilling, frustrating, scary, (gross at times), and tries to do something out of the box. I'm not sure it completely succeeded with me, but I could not put it down. It's definitely not going to be for everyone, but I feel like it's worth a try to see if it clicks with you. If nothing else, you'll get to read good writing and something completely new and fresh.
My Blog:
My Thoughts:
What. Did. I. Just. Read? I feel insane after reading this book. It's like nothing I've ever read before. I feel like I need a Dr. Call-Me-Tom (the school psychologist that Miles and Sadie briefly speak with) to explain some of this stuff to me.
Basically this book is about 3 teens who are missing vital pieces of their personalities. Sadie is missing the empathy part. She's a girl who does things to entertain herself, out of boredom, and just because. Mean things. And she doesn't care what the person she's doing it to is feeling. She just doesn't know how. Emerson feels more empathy than Sadie... at least he feels guilt over the things he's done. But he has a dark side that he can't really control. Miles is tougher to figure out. He's this sickly kid who gets bullied constantly. But at the same time, it's not like he's sad about the lack of human interaction. He doesn't want any.
Of all the characters Sadie stood out the most for me. I just kept wanting her to care, knowing she was never going to. That's just not how sociopaths work. They can't learn to care. The author tried really hard to make me hate this girl, but something about her, I just didn't. This is probably going to sound stupid, but I almost got to the giving up point on her when she went to the bathroom and didn't wipe just because she could. I mean EWW!!! And there were many of those random moments where I was completely disgusted with this character. And somehow I kept on hoping she would feel bad for what she did in her previous school, and hoping she would save Miles somehow.
The ending of this book is just???? I'm really not sure what I just read. I think the coolness of the writing and the short poignant chapters won me over. Also the uniqueness and feel of the entire book. But I still wished for more of an ending. And I also wished for more from Miles. I felt like he had a much bigger story inside of him and I wanted to hear it.
OVERALL: This author is not afraid to tell it. This book is creepy, chilling, frustrating, scary, (gross at times), and tries to do something out of the box. I'm not sure it completely succeeded with me, but I could not put it down. It's definitely not going to be for everyone, but I feel like it's worth a try to see if it clicks with you. If nothing else, you'll get to read good writing and something completely new and fresh.
My Blog:
cousinrachel's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't feel too much for any of the characters for most of it, but I'll give it three stars for the ending, which was totally unexpected. I was anticipating something cute about Sadie getting her life together like it is in most mental health-related YA, it seems. Nope. No cuteness here.
Sadie's reasons for being a little monster never made any sort of sense. It was just stated repeatedly that she was a jerk because she could be and she found it fun, but that was it. Maybe it's just too difficult for an author to get inside the head of a person like that, but I couldn't identify with her thought processes at all. Oddly, it was hard to get mad at her for her behavior, but that might have been because I felt so detached.
Despite the end being interesting and unexpected, after the preceding events, I didn't find it believable any more than the rest of the plot was. Miles wasn't what I thought he would be from the jacket description, and Sadie seemed to be extremely out of character for the last thirty or so pages. (This is nitpicky maybe, but May's reaction to Emerson at the end did not come off authentically. Too forceful, possibly? It wasn't what I expected from her, and not in a plot-twist way.)
"Unrelatable" characters, but points for the finish that I did not see coming.
Sadie's reasons for being a little monster never made any sort of sense. It was just stated repeatedly that she was a jerk because she could be and she found it fun, but that was it. Maybe it's just too difficult for an author to get inside the head of a person like that, but I couldn't identify with her thought processes at all. Oddly, it was hard to get mad at her for her behavior, but that might have been because I felt so detached.
Despite the end being interesting and unexpected, after the preceding events, I didn't find it believable any more than the rest of the plot was. Miles wasn't what I thought he would be from the jacket description, and Sadie seemed to be extremely out of character for the last thirty or so pages. (This is nitpicky maybe, but May's reaction to Emerson at the end did not come off authentically. Too forceful, possibly? It wasn't what I expected from her, and not in a plot-twist way.)
"Unrelatable" characters, but points for the finish that I did not see coming.
snowbenton's review against another edition
4.0
A high school novel with the requisite peer pressure, bullying, high school parties, and rich vs poor dynamics. But Kuehn delves deeper into the hearts of Sadie, kicked out of school for almost killing a classmate, Emerson, the boy who killed animals all grown up but still fucked up, and Miles, the younger brother who is definitely sickly but might be crazy, too. I devoured this in one sitting. A powerful story about the darkness that hides in plain sight.
punkgremlin's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
dani005's review against another edition
4.0
”It wasn’t Sadie or society or other people that held him back. It was himself. His own guilty conscience.”
There's a fine line between accepting guilt out of compassion and suppressing compassion for the effort of staying any consequential feelings of guilt.
Stephanie Kuehn has an amazing talent for writing. Not only does she have a way of orchestrating her sentences with effortless ease, but she always has such dynamic characters that have such developed histories and such diverse direction with which to head in throughout the story. By this I mean that there's always some mysterious circumstance that has occurred in her character's past. It can be a seemingly small incident that affects the character and yet has such huge blown effects as of a result, propelling the character to behave in sometimes dark and erratic ways afterwards. It creates a riveting story as you delve deeper into the folds of each of her character's minds, discovering how their brains function and how they process their daily lives in such unique ways from my own.
It broadens my understanding of other people, and the way that we all think and understand things differently as different moralities and emotions dictate the actions and behaviours in our lives. Kuehn is a master at getting into her character's minds. For that talent alone I would love to give this book five stars.
Kuehn didn't disappoint with the characters of this book. In fact, this book dealt with three individual characters, all of whom were starkly unique from one another. It was a terrific feat, delving seamlessly into the minds of three separate teens affected by three entirely different separate mindsets. The building tension between these three different individuals created an effect of suspense that I have come to absolutely adore in Kuehn's books.
My only problem, was that the building tension just kind of lagged and then suddenly dropped off by the irresolute ending. The hidden pasts of these characters seemed not as defining as they seemed to be made out to be. In general terms, I found the plot of this story was slightly lacking, there wasn't an overall drive to bring this story to a climax. I love her writing and the ideas that she addresses in this book, and therefore this one drawback of a lacking plotline was the reason for the one star being knocked off.
That being said, there was one point that Kuehn brought up in this story that entirely intrigued me.
Sadie, the main female protagonist contemplates how within her mindset, she believes there to be two different types of people in this world. Those who are driven to act out of compassion; thus making others happy in the effect of making themselves happy, or those who know they should react out of compassion but who look for any excuse not too, simply because they are not made happy themselves as a result of other people's happiness.
It presented a new perspective. I'd always grown up, having the need for empathy instilled in me by my parents. Thinking of the concerns of others has become second nature to me, as easy as blinking when dust gets caught in my eye. Its a reaction that is instinctive; an impulse. However, for other people, this may not be the case. Empathy may be something that is a conscious effort, one which they may not always concern themselves in making. Does this make them bad people, or does it simply mean they are wired differently and I simply have to accept that as a part of who they are, just as much as being an introvert or an extrovert is wired into a person's personality as they grow up.
Kuehn is an exceptional writer, who does a fantastic job of effortlessly integrating controversial subjects into her stories. Every book she has written has been one of my favourites and I look forward to her next one.
There's a fine line between accepting guilt out of compassion and suppressing compassion for the effort of staying any consequential feelings of guilt.
Stephanie Kuehn has an amazing talent for writing. Not only does she have a way of orchestrating her sentences with effortless ease, but she always has such dynamic characters that have such developed histories and such diverse direction with which to head in throughout the story. By this I mean that there's always some mysterious circumstance that has occurred in her character's past. It can be a seemingly small incident that affects the character and yet has such huge blown effects as of a result, propelling the character to behave in sometimes dark and erratic ways afterwards. It creates a riveting story as you delve deeper into the folds of each of her character's minds, discovering how their brains function and how they process their daily lives in such unique ways from my own.
It broadens my understanding of other people, and the way that we all think and understand things differently as different moralities and emotions dictate the actions and behaviours in our lives. Kuehn is a master at getting into her character's minds. For that talent alone I would love to give this book five stars.
Kuehn didn't disappoint with the characters of this book. In fact, this book dealt with three individual characters, all of whom were starkly unique from one another. It was a terrific feat, delving seamlessly into the minds of three separate teens affected by three entirely different separate mindsets. The building tension between these three different individuals created an effect of suspense that I have come to absolutely adore in Kuehn's books.
My only problem, was that the building tension just kind of lagged and then suddenly dropped off by the irresolute ending. The hidden pasts of these characters seemed not as defining as they seemed to be made out to be. In general terms, I found the plot of this story was slightly lacking, there wasn't an overall drive to bring this story to a climax. I love her writing and the ideas that she addresses in this book, and therefore this one drawback of a lacking plotline was the reason for the one star being knocked off.
That being said, there was one point that Kuehn brought up in this story that entirely intrigued me.
Sadie, the main female protagonist contemplates how within her mindset, she believes there to be two different types of people in this world. Those who are driven to act out of compassion; thus making others happy in the effect of making themselves happy, or those who know they should react out of compassion but who look for any excuse not too, simply because they are not made happy themselves as a result of other people's happiness.
It presented a new perspective. I'd always grown up, having the need for empathy instilled in me by my parents. Thinking of the concerns of others has become second nature to me, as easy as blinking when dust gets caught in my eye. Its a reaction that is instinctive; an impulse. However, for other people, this may not be the case. Empathy may be something that is a conscious effort, one which they may not always concern themselves in making. Does this make them bad people, or does it simply mean they are wired differently and I simply have to accept that as a part of who they are, just as much as being an introvert or an extrovert is wired into a person's personality as they grow up.
Kuehn is an exceptional writer, who does a fantastic job of effortlessly integrating controversial subjects into her stories. Every book she has written has been one of my favourites and I look forward to her next one.
nickfourtimes's review against another edition
2.0
[cw self-harm]
1) "'I tried to kill somebody,' Sadie said softly, and Chad laughed in a way that made her want to strangle him. He laughed like he didn't believe her.
'Yeah, me too.' Cigarette gripped between teeth and lips, he held his bare wrists up in the moonlight so that she could see the scars there, jagged pink lines that resembled streaks of lightning flashing across the morning sky.
'That's not what I meant,' Sadie said, although this was partially a lie. She did mean it that way, but she meant it another way, too, and she wanted Chad to understand that. She wanted him to know that she was both worse and different than him, different than everyone here, with their sadness and their anger and all their messy needs. It was bad enough, her rubbing against him like she had, taking what she wanted, just because she'd felt hot and aching and driven.
Hurting other people wasn't all that different, though. That was also a form of taking and she did it all the time. Sometimes she wished she didn't. Sometimes the things she took were unforgivable and she'd give anything to have better control over herself.
Then again, sometimes Sadie was bored.
And oftentimes, that was more than enough."
2) "Over a span of ten days they'd explored the bustling streets of Beijing and Tianjin, before moving south to Ningbo. There they'd ambled along the coast and made their way into the steep-pitched mountains, staying overnight in a forest where hot water bubbled up from the earth and the air smelled of licorice. Her father, Sadie had realized somewhere on that trip, was not a happy person. But he wasn't trying to be happy and his not trying meant he wasn't dissatisfied. At the time, this insight had pleased Sadie.
It had made sense.
Not too many things made sense to her anymore, though. Maybe that's what her therapist would try and fix. Get her to be content with her discontent and not work so damn hard to make other people miserable just because she was bored. But in truth, being alone with her boring discontent sounded like a pretty shitty time, which was the reason she planned on driving Emerson Tate a little crazy now that he thought he was better than her.
It was the reason she did a lot of things.
Sadie wandered out to the main road and waited for cars to pass so that she could throw rocks at them."
1) "'I tried to kill somebody,' Sadie said softly, and Chad laughed in a way that made her want to strangle him. He laughed like he didn't believe her.
'Yeah, me too.' Cigarette gripped between teeth and lips, he held his bare wrists up in the moonlight so that she could see the scars there, jagged pink lines that resembled streaks of lightning flashing across the morning sky.
'That's not what I meant,' Sadie said, although this was partially a lie. She did mean it that way, but she meant it another way, too, and she wanted Chad to understand that. She wanted him to know that she was both worse and different than him, different than everyone here, with their sadness and their anger and all their messy needs. It was bad enough, her rubbing against him like she had, taking what she wanted, just because she'd felt hot and aching and driven.
Hurting other people wasn't all that different, though. That was also a form of taking and she did it all the time. Sometimes she wished she didn't. Sometimes the things she took were unforgivable and she'd give anything to have better control over herself.
Then again, sometimes Sadie was bored.
And oftentimes, that was more than enough."
2) "Over a span of ten days they'd explored the bustling streets of Beijing and Tianjin, before moving south to Ningbo. There they'd ambled along the coast and made their way into the steep-pitched mountains, staying overnight in a forest where hot water bubbled up from the earth and the air smelled of licorice. Her father, Sadie had realized somewhere on that trip, was not a happy person. But he wasn't trying to be happy and his not trying meant he wasn't dissatisfied. At the time, this insight had pleased Sadie.
It had made sense.
Not too many things made sense to her anymore, though. Maybe that's what her therapist would try and fix. Get her to be content with her discontent and not work so damn hard to make other people miserable just because she was bored. But in truth, being alone with her boring discontent sounded like a pretty shitty time, which was the reason she planned on driving Emerson Tate a little crazy now that he thought he was better than her.
It was the reason she did a lot of things.
Sadie wandered out to the main road and waited for cars to pass so that she could throw rocks at them."
kyleg99's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
books_plan_create's review against another edition
1.0
Truth be told, by page 100 I had to start skimming. I had 0 connection with ANY character from the book. I didn't care about anything, just for it to be over. Which is sad because I was truly looking forward to this book.
What I did like though was the brutal honesty in the book. Kuehn hits hard on very topics:
Masturbation, sex, drinking, violence, bullies, racism, classism, etc.
But it just didn't do a damn thing for me.
What I did like though was the brutal honesty in the book. Kuehn hits hard on very topics:
Masturbation, sex, drinking, violence, bullies, racism, classism, etc.
But it just didn't do a damn thing for me.