Reviews

You'd Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow

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falllover12's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

sydneythekydneybean's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.25

This is a sad day indeed, but You'd Be Home By Now left me incredibly disappointed to what I thought this book was going to be. And that's saying a lot coming from someone who loved Girl in Pieces so so so much. I loved the way Kathleen Glasgow wrote a young girl going through addiction and up-and-down recovery. I loved the concentrated storyline that leaves you feeling as stuck as the main character is in her own life. I loved the realism of mental health issues and self-harm. And while I got some of those things from You'd Be Home By Now, I felt like what I did get fell flat.

The story never seems to find it's footing, taking a little step in one direction before jumping back to another direction. Is this a book about a girl dealing with her brothers addiction and her mixed emotions that come with having a family member with a drug addiction? Is this a book about a girl going through her own addiction and being taught differently by others before she can go down that road? Is this a book about how society treats addicts and how we as individuals can make a difference? Somehow it's all of those things, and I feel like each of these components could have been stronger if we removed the filler.

You'd Be Home By Now is nearly 400 pages, but it definitely could have been 50-80 pages shorter. The second half of the book is so much stronger than the first half, but I wish we could have gotten there sooner and stayed there longer. There were some scenes and storylines that I felt could have been consolidated or shortened

(i.e. the drama club scenes felt unnecessary and the English class riots just pissed me off, so maybe we make these two seperate storylines one and have the English teacher be the one who gives her confidence to write her own poetry and give her that inspiration speech in the graveyard towards the end of the book)

. I also felt like there were too many characters. Going into You'd Be Home By Now, I expected this to be an incredibly family-centric novel about having a family member in the throes of addiction, but the parents are emotionally absent for the first half, the sister is quite literally absent while she's off at college, and in their place are Emmy's friends. And don't get me wrong, friends are incredibly important, but if you promise me a family-centered addiction story, I expect a family-centered addiction story. The relationship between Joey and Emmy is so beautiful that I just wish I got that with the rest of the family as well.

Thank god for that second part of the book that gives me some character development in the mom and an active parent in the dad. The sister is still in like three scenes max, but hey, take what you can get, right?

This is an incredibly important novel and I just wish that it was handled better. I don't believe that it's a bad book by any means, but I only wished that the contents challanged what I thought I knew about addictions in families instead of pandering that what I already know. The characters are strong, the addiction and recovery process is realistic and dark and I'm glad Kathleen Glasgow does not shy away from those topics, and I believe this could be a good entry point for teenagers who are faced with a loved one with addiction issues, but the lack of more challanging themes holds it back.

"I keep thinking how much I love you. I keep wanting love to be enough. Because if it was, you'd be home by now."

izzy_from_ap_calc's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

lucyjones10x's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

daviesam's review against another edition

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4.0

An uncomfortable book that sends home the main point of someone with an addiction is still a someone. A book I didn’t appreciate until the back half, and am now in awe of. As an Ohioan who saw the opioid crisis hit my hometown, it was a painful and relatable read.

Have compassion & help others. Once you get past the first 150 pages, which are admittedly a little slow and repetitive, the final 200 are remarkable.