Reviews with content warning for Death - You'd Be Home Now

I think the premise of this book has a lot of potential. A story about how addiction can shape a family is powerful, and the parts of the book that touch on that are good and moving. Emmy's family's stress and anxiety around Joey's addiction, the way they try to cope with death and pain, and Emmy's deep love for Joey feel very raw and real.

However, the rest of the book falls flat. The characterization of Emmy's high school experience is incredibly trite. Every character seems almost like a stereotype. Emmy hating the girl that has one interaction with her, maybe two lines of dialogue all together, because she is pretty and likes the same popular boy Emmy likes? Come on. The parts about shoplifting and The Portrait of a Lady seem to be out of place/not well used as compelling parts of characterization. I found the introduction to Emmy's former best friend to be clunky - all you know is Emmy's mother ended the friendship and the reader is left to wonder if the wealthy, strict, appearance-focused mother is also racist or if something else happened. You don't find out the truth until ~100 pages later, but the way it's left wide open does not do Emmy and her family any favors for sympathy.

A lot of potential, but several times throughout the book I thought things weren't necessary or wondering how much longer the book was going to go on. If Emmy's interactions with her siblings was kept, and 70% of the other material was cut/reworked, it wouldn't have been so flat.

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ecravens's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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blueberryelf's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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pages_rewritten's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

5.0

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kayleyayley's review against another edition

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emotional 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

5.0

Yet another amazing book by Kathleen Glasgow. Real depictions of addiction and the effects on family and community, along with how addicts are treated and the stigma around mental illness. The reality of recovery and relapse. Realistic character flaws and development. I love Kathleen Glasgow.

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lindseyhall44's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

A thought provoking read on addiction and its affect on others, this novel is hard to forget.
“You’d be Home by Now,” follows Emory as her brother struggles with addiction and what it means to truly recover. It was an interesting choice to depict this struggle from the eyes of a loved one instead of the person dealing with addiction, but one I truly appreciated. From a different standpoint readers saw the impact of drugs on everyone around the user, shaping life as they know it.
The conversation surrounding this topic were handled well, and so were discussions on slut shaming and economic class.
There were some plot points which weren’t my favorite as well as social media and gen z comments which felt forced. It was hard for me to rate this unbiased, because How to Make Friends with the dark was such a staple in my own grieving process.
Overall, I would recommend (but please check trigger warnings before reading).

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jil_m's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A book about an invisible girl with a lot of vision.

Summary:
We follow Emory, a freshman who is traumatized by a car crash. Her brother, Joey is in rehab, to slowly get rid of his drug addiction. After the summer holiday she has to get back to school where she gets confronted by a girls death caused by her? Joey is not doing well, even in rehab he had more freedom. Their parents are making a cage for both of them. Joey has no life anymore and Emory has to deal with two awful lives. But they will escape, eventually.

Review:
She did it. Kathleen Glasgow did it once again. She made me cry, laugh, freak out, fell in love, think about life and many more emotions I can’t explain. This is a story that many others experience. “There are many other Emory’s and Joeys who should not be invisible.” And the writing made it even more real. Her way of describing situations, characters and feelings is absolutely incredible. Books are made to be thought about, and this novel really succeeded that mission.
:))

Content Warnings

aliinkaa's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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