Reviews

All the Invisible Things by Orlagh Collins

tamarafreeland's review

emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

bitsofcherry's review

emotional funny medium-paced

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

2.0

This book has a serious marketing issue. Everything from the cover, to the blurb on the back and even the “romance” tag made me think this was going to be a cute queer story centering teenagers figuring themselves out. But it’s really not. 

The only parts I liked were how this book handled the feelings of loss, growing up and figuring out who you are and what you want, as well as, the cute platonic moments between Vetty and Pez. 

Some things were kinda cringy like the names of the characters and certain words used (seriously, who even says “vom”?) but I sorta expected it as it very much gives YA vibes. 

The tone was strange, certain scenes felt pointless

the whole Vetty and March going to the casting and stuff, like it was cute but I felt it didn’t lead anywhere

while others were overly dramatic and shocking for no reason.

Pez’s storyline felt like it came from nowhere (at first I was kinda hoping it was that he was Ace and struggling with that but oh well)

also the crash and hospital scenes felt so unnecessary and like author was just going for shock value which is weird as most of the tone of the book doesn’t fit that vibe.

Whilst his emotions and processing of it all felt genuine and had depth to it, I don’t know if it fit this book (especially with how it was marketed as).

Overall it just seemed like the author had a lot of different story ideas (which, individually, were good) and then mushed them all together in one book without properly connecting all of them or having a coherent tone and marketing.

chandaurtara's review

4.0

actual rating: 3.5

whew. wh-ew.

that was emotionally exhausting, often frustrating, and really, really cute.

do read this. i'm lucky to have gotten this as a teen. but whether you're a teen, or an adult, or somewhere in between, i bet this story resonates with you. some of it, if not all.

the characters are so real . so raw. it's a bit much, because i'd be thinking "oh my god... why would you do this, why is this character like this" and then i'd realise that wow, about ninety percent of the people i know - including myself, probably - would do the same thing/react the same way.

so yeah.

it really yanks your rose coloured glasses off your face and tosses them into the void.

this book also addresses some taboo issues in a sensitive, yet kinda weird manner. still appreciated though. maybe it's just weird to me because i've never spoken about or heard about those kinds of things/circumstances (i'm talking of pez's situation).

anyway, i hope my rambling made sense. all in all, this book was a lovely read. do check it out.

xo

annniiieee_333's review

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

i have to be completely honest. i dont feel bad for pez AT ALL. yes he has/had a porn addiction but i dont care. like at all. porn is really harmful to women and feeds off of their pain and suffering. i completely understand addiction is a disease but there was absolutely no need for him to continue to be like that with it for so long even after he already knew it was a problem. he admitted he had to watch really fucked up shit just to get turned on and in theory that would've been the sign to stop but no. he didn't. and he let himself become a complete asshole. so fuck him. 

ashlo26's review

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

I really liked this book. I also was really hoping that

pez's actions were because he was ace but alas

Nevertheless I really enjoyed it, and thought it developed itself nicely

missprint_'s review against another edition

3.0

This is fine for what it is. Contemporary story about a girl exploring her sexuality and coming to terms with the loss of her mother four years ago. The prose is very not American. The book includes very frank conversations about sexuality and sex as well as a character with a porn addiction which, honestly, makes it feel like the story is taking on too many things at times. Vetty should be an interesting narrator but for a lot of the story the most interesting thing is that her full name is Helvetica.

mousmoulo's review

emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

vetty might be the most relatable character in a y/a novel ever, i love her so much. her friendship with pez was everything. march was a sweetheart and i loved everything about her.

i loved how the book wasn't heavy on the romance despite the main character's conflict being her sexuality. i also appreciated how many other issues were tackled (addiction, loss, friendship, growing up), i think the author did a great job approaching and addressing all of them. especially

pez's porn addiction

was handled pretty well, in my opinion.

the writing was definitely the weakest point of the book (especially some punctuation choices were... yeah) and i'm never forgiving the font names, but generally it was very enjoyable and i'm glad i picked it up despite dnf-ing it so many years ago!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Car accident

Moderate: Death of parent, Addiction, Cancer, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Outing

internetegg's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

liralen's review against another edition

4.0

Interesting. I didn't end up being head over heels for this, but I think it's doing some interesting/valuable things in terms of bi representation—with a bonus that it's considerably grittier than the Albertalli comp in the description suggests. (I like Albertalli's books just fine, but I don't think she's a great comparison here; I think she's being used as a comparison because she's a popular YA author who writes decently diverse, queer characters, not because of writing style or plot.)

But as for that bi representation (spoiler tags here for a reason):

Spoiler

I like seeing things not work out, relationship-wise: that it's okay for another character to say no, I'm not interested or I like you, but I don't like like you (did I just quote D.E.B.S. there? *cough* surely not) and not have it be Drama, no matter what the orientation. Figuring yourself out doesn't have to mean a S/he's The One relationship at the end, and that isn't seen nearly enough in YA fiction.

Oh. And Helvetica is a rather ridiculous name, but...I pretty much love it anyway. Makes me want to go through my 1949 edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (a prized possession), half of which is examples of different fonts, and dig for the fonts that are both attractive and well-named.

my_ie's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.0