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venusdapoopiehead's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
one thing that i think i loved the most about this book was the style of the writing, where we (the readers) get like little snippets of the past and what happened, as a way to try to fully understand and comprehend why parker is the way that she is, i thought that was a nice touch to the book overall since i wanted to know more about such an interesting main character. apparently some couldn’t tell that said snippets in the book were from the past, personally if you just simply look at the fact that they’re in italics and use context clues, it’ll be easy to tell that it’s clearly talking about parker’s past. i am slightly curious about how parker’s life goes from there-like i think i’d love a little sequel where she’s an adult and we get a glimpse into how she’s doing now that she’s older and how much progress she made in terms of self improvement, if she made any progress at all, etc, but obviously the chances of a sequel are pretty slim, so oh well.
also personally wasn’t a fan of parker and jake’s relationship? situationship? idk but i didn’t care, especially since jake was kind of a weirdo at times (which ig is to be expected cause he’s a teenage boy but still) so each time they interacted (which was a lot, pretty much half of the book) i just did not care whatsoever.
TLDR: loved the relatability of the main character and how realistic she felt (cause let’s be honest here what high schooler isn’t super depressed and extremely flawed). also loved the writing style, wish i could see into the main character’s future tho cause now im way too invested into the life of someone who doesn’t even exist, but im fine with the fact that there won’t ever be a sequel to this. didn’t care about parker and jake’s “relationship” or whatever, but other than that, good soup.
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Infidelity
tripleareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Rape, and Animal death
ravensandlace's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Rape, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Murder
tw: underage drinking, missing children, hospitalization, animal death, rape, death, attempted suicide, suicidal ideation, infidelityellainalisa's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Cursing and Alcoholism
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Rape, Animal death, and Death
thebooknook180's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Suicide attempt
shannanigans92's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Rape and Murder
abbeyrose0329's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism and Self harm
Moderate: Rape
fountain_of_book's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Bold
Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, and Death
inmidnights's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
And it’s true. Cracked Up To Be delivers with her simple prose that tells as much as it holds back, the masterful use of mystery that teases you with just enough that you simultaneously want and don’t want to skip ahead to ruin the reveal, and a protagonist that you can’t help but feel for.
Straight A+, honor student with distinction, cheerleading captain, popular girl Parker is in her senior year of college—and is on suicide watch. Hellbent on a path to self-destruct, Cracked Up To Be is about the event that led perfectionist Parker to this point, juxtaposed with her current interactions with her peers, a new kid in school, her family, and school authority figures.
The story is told through Parker’s point of view. We experience her blackouts and flashbacks, her attempts to shut down feelings and follow her thought proces as she tries to self-destruct. While we are meant to ‘feel’ her firsthand, there were a couple of instances in the present timeline that weren’t clear narratively because Parker blacked out/had a flashback. These two instances in particular (spoiler):
When the mystery is finally revealed, I do like that it wasn’t just the single event of that night that caused Parker to ‘change’. Rather, it was the nail in the coffin of something that had been there all along, something underneath the surface—something that her best friend and her boyfriend saw and were trying to help her with.
Perfection really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
“And it’s awkward and I hate it, but I have to accept it because I’m supposed to be accepting things now and working with what’s left. Because that’s what my psychiatrist told me to do.”
I also really liked that Parker had a solid circle of people that genuinely cared for her—from her (ex)boyfriend who never left her no matter how often she tried pushing him away, her family, the school authority figures, a girl she looked at as beneath her (and who was simultaneously jealous of her and craved her approval, yet was there for her in all the major moments that mattered), and even a new kid in school. Though, while Jake was instrumental in making Parker feel alive/want to live again, it did feel like he liked Parker as a manic pixie dream girl at the beginning.
However, as good as Summers is in engrossing us into a protagonist’s troubled head/voice, when that moment of confession in the present day and the beginning stage of acceptance came, we’re instead shoved to a quick gloss-over and fast forward. While we’ve been with Parker and her thoughts and negative emotions, we don’t get to experience her sharing her story, we don’t get to be with her in taking that small step to begin healing.
Reading a Summers’ book is like entering the protagonist’s head and experiencing their mental health problems firsthand. I wish she could’ve given us that little bit of catharsis that comes from finally unburdening as well.
Moderate: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Rape