Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - Before We Disappear

Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson

9 reviews

akal's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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gemstonejasper's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

Warning: Please look at the content warnings before reading this book. There are a lot and they are fairly graphic. Now on to my review.

Was this book well written? No. Did it have good worldbuilding? No. Did I feel like I was in the early 1900s? No. Was it 100 pages too long? Yes. Could I predict the entire plot? Yes. But could I put it down? No.

I read this in three days (and it's around 500 pages). That's saying something because I have dyslexia and am a really slow reader. The story follows the love story of Jack and Wilhelm, the assistants to two rival magicians performing at the same fair in 1909. I personally think that's all you should go in knowing.

If I were a critic and rating this book solely on technical aspects, I would give it a 2.5-3 star rating. The writing is nothing special. It seemed like the characters repeated the same thing too many times. Therefore it could have probably been 100 pages shorter. I got immensely frustrated with every major character. It didn't even come close to making me feel like it took place in 1909 Seattle. I could predict the entire plot from a mile away (except for how exactly they defeated the villian).

That being said, I'm not a critic. I'm a general reader who picked up this book to be entertained. So I chose to rate it based on my enjoyment level. 4.5 stars. I can't pinpoint exactly why, but I really did enjoy this book and would read it again. I literally couldn't rip myself away. Maybe it was the two adorable queer romances. Maybe it was the magical feel of the world. Maybe I was genuinely terrified of the villian. Maybe I even grew attached to the two main characters and wanted to see them succeed.

There is one reason I'm not giving this a 5 star and that is because of a conscious choice the author made. The story takes place in 1909, meaning no person of color would have been treated as mildly as Ruth was treated by the white characters. There is also no way that the two queer couples (one of which is interracial) could have been out in the open without severe consequences. The author's note at the back of the book explains his reasoning behind this. He wanted to write a happy queer story. While I respect the decision he made, I also would not have chosen that direction myself. Because of this, I had a hard time immersing myself in the story. I had to take half a star for that decision.

2nd Reading Edit

I think I was too harsh in my first review. I don't think I was quite fair. During my first read-through, I read the physical book. It felt long and sluggish and like it was repeating things over and over. This time around, I listened to the audiobook and I think that's the way to go. The audio felt so much smoother and worked much better for me. That being said, the guy who voiced Wilhelm's chapters didn't feel right. He just didn't seem to match his personality. He was a good voice actor, just not quite right for Wilhelm in my opinion. The guy who read Jack's chapters matched pretty well

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archcon's review

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hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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meliroo's review against another edition

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adventurous

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

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greyys_libraryy's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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? It's complicated

4.0

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criticalgayze's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

I hate when a book successfully makes the case against DNFing.

Coming in at 504 pages, there's a lot of room in this YA tome for streamlining. A better editor would have talked Hutchinson into slimming this down by cutting down on the performances and the ruminating on abuse and the " white gay man reflects on how hard America has been for marginalized people" and the "is this thing that is definitely the plan the plan?" Then we could have had a really great 300 page novel.

I know this is asking a lot of the "too much to read" among us, but the back 30% contains the evidence of a really great novel waiting to be edited out. Once the thing that has obviously been the plan is officially revealed to be the plan, the novel kicks into high gear. The romance becomes achingly cute (see the bottom two quotes), the tension ramps up to WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN levels, and the inclusion of illusions becomes a really fun plot device.

To add a quick note on white men including greater inequality in their MM romances, I did find it troubling how much "America was really racist" plays into the novel, yet the story also exists in a world in which sodomy laws aren't a big deal with the moments at the end of the story in which the leads display fairly public displays of affection.

Quotes:
"'I was running because I didn’t want to be late,' Wil said. 'He was waiting for me and I said I would meet him. I was afraid I had taken too long, but then I saw Jack standing by the entrance to Cairo, and he smiled when he saw me as if it were his happiest day instead of my own.'" (52%)
“'Yes. Yes to today, yes to tomorrow, and yes to whatever comes after that.'” (76%)
"I think it must’ve been a person who’d wished for love but had never known it who’d created the first clock. Because time is a reminder of how quickly the present passes and how little of the future remains, and no one in love would want to know that." (76%)

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