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skbat's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Ableism
Moderate: Car accident, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Cancer
Minor: Suicide, War, Confinement, Bullying, Racism, Blood, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Police brutality
oceanwriter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Racism, and Bullying
Minor: Rape and War
jaimc's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cancer, Grief, Death of parent, and Terminal illness
Minor: Bullying, Racism, Car accident, Rape, Suicide, and War
alexisgarcia's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Racism, Car accident, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Ableism, Death of parent, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
_david_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The main character shows some bad behavious: making quick assumptions, speaking around a nonspeaking character instead of to them, and just acting as a general teenager. However, the future main character, whose POV we're following, calls her past self out on it and voices her shame. In general I feel like Mia would've made more sense as a teenager than someone in college/uni.
The author's background in philosophy shines through, especially in the exploration of happiness. It's clearly written by someone with an academic background.
The ending left a positive lasting impression. I'm sure I will think back on it often during the rest of my life.
The reason that I'm giving the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the writer POV often annoyed me with her perspective. I specifically refer to all the moments which said something along the lines of "but with the information I know now, why [odd thing] happened made sense" without any further explanation. It happened too much and sometimes for relatively minor occurrences. It disrupted the flow of the story and was hard to take serious after a while. A small point that I disliked but not enough to affect the score, that only Mia, Adam (the dad) and Eugene were well rounded characters. Hannah (the mother) and especially John were quite flat eventhough they were very important to the story.
Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Violence, War, Death, Police brutality, Ableism, Bullying, Rape, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Car accident, Xenophobia, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Colonisation, and Mental illness
Minor: Dementia, Classism, Toxic relationship, and Cancer
ncamp214's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
After reading the acknowledgements I was FLOORED that she choose to write a book about a debunked method of communication called FC. While I am not well researched in the Autism or non-speaking communities, from I have read, writing a book on this topic seems to be at best irresponsible.
Graphic: Death of parent, Ableism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, and Bullying
Moderate: Suicide and Murder
Minor: Rape and War
astoriareader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
- One morning, Adam goes missing. Adam took Eugene, his teenage son with a dual diagnosis of autism and Angelman’s syndrome, to the park, and Adam never returned home. Rather, Eugene returned home by himself, and he’s in a bit of an unusual state. Due to Eugene’s condition, he is nonverbal, and he has some motor difficulties as well. Thus, the family cannot simply ask what happened.
- The remainder of the Korean American family consists of two college-aged twins, Mia and John, and the mother/wife.
- What happened to Adam? Did Eugene have anything to do with it?
- This was pretty good overall.
- It is told from Mia’s perspective, which I enjoyed.
- This felt less like a thriller to me, and it was more a thought-provoking, contemporary fiction & about family. All the family members slowly start to really understand each other.
- There were some parts that dragged a bit, and in my opinion, it could’ve been trimmed down a bit.
- I enjoyed how the book challenges readers to defy the notion that lack of verbal communication skills means someone is not intelligent. I liked seeing a nonverbal character, Eugene, shown to have so much more to him than the world, including his own family, has given him credit for over the last 14 years.
Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Grief, and Bullying
Moderate: Racism and Bullying
Minor: Rape, Cancer, and War
rainbowfairie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death of parent and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Bullying, Terminal illness, and Suicide
Minor: Infidelity, Racism, Police brutality, Rape, and War
allisonstockslager's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Bullying and Racism
Minor: Car accident
readingwithmeredith's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Moderate: Cursing and Bullying