Reviews

The Most Precious Substance on Earth by Shashi Bhat

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princzukos's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

“... I compose a new blog entry about traveling back to when I was fourteen and living my whole life over, knowing what I know now, curating my life to resemble most Facebook timelines: a gallery of only good things. Or maybe I’ll bring a past version of myself to the present -- to the future even -- and show her how everything turns out. A crazy thing happens to you when you're fourteen, I’ll tell her, but you live a normal life. It’s just happened a long time ago, though it’s there permanently in your brain chemistry -- a wrinkle in gray matter, a flaw in a synapse. It’s almost as if it happened to someone else” (p. 251)

I loved everything about this book. It is extremely well written! I hate time skips but they were done well in this book. The MC and story were relatable: white-washed (not by choice) South Asian female, male HS teachers are creepy, self-medication is always the move, being 14 sucked and I often wish I could go back in time and give her a hug.

The point of the story wasn’t to “accept” what happened and get help or revenge, but about just continuing on with life. Shit happens, and will always happen, but it’s not the end. There is always hope.

Content Warnings

acorny's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

beth_zovko's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5. Dipped a bit in the second half, but overall really resonate of being a teen girl in the late 90s and finding your way (or not) through your 30s.

Shows, not tells, the effects unresolved childhood trauma has on an adult person: invasive thoughts, distorted perceptions, listlessness.

I loved the contrast between brash teenage Nina and the inhibited adult she becomes. The bit about the blog troll took me out of the story, though.

kmae314's review against another edition

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5.0

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that I didn’t want to put down. This was hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.

tsauxghiegh's review against another edition

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3.0

Honestly it was well written in the way that it felt like a impressionists journey of a girls life, and that kind of writing is hard to achieve. It's hard to put in frequent time-skips and also make them work, but it works in this story because it really is an impression of a girls life. As for the story, there wasn't really a major problem or issue to overcome, but just a little life bumps that show up throughout her life. Not terrible, but I wish there was a little more substance to it, like if she thought more about what happened to her at 14 or what happened to her high school friend instead of them dropping out of the book only to reappear in the closing pages.