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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
“Her words sling through the room with the force of David’s stone, defiant and brave. Hannah searches [Baker’s] eyes and finds a new light in them. Not the desperate one, full of shame, but the light of love, the light that rolls aside the stone, that pierces the tomb to find the miracle of salvation”
God this was so heavy-handed with the religious metaphors I couldn’t stannnnnd it + I went to c*tholic school for 12 years ☠️ nevertheless - long live the homoerotic friendship
God this was so heavy-handed with the religious metaphors I couldn’t stannnnnd it + I went to c*tholic school for 12 years ☠️ nevertheless - long live the homoerotic friendship
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-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
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-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
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
YA realism/coming of age more than straight romance. Hannah and Baker have been friends as long as Hannah can remember. Attending their last year of Catholic high school in Baton Rouge along with their small group of friends—Clay, Baker's boyfriend; Wally, whose been crushing on Hannah for ages; Hannah's younger sister, Joanie and Joanie's boyfriend, Luke—should have been perfect. But Hannah's growing feelings for Baker are proving more and more difficult to hide.
Baker feels something for Hannah,too, Hannah discovers to her surprise. But Baker, the golden girl of the school, is scared. And so she ping pongs back and forth between clandestine make-out sessions with Hannah and dates with charismatic Clay. Things come to a head when a classmate jealous of Baker's relationship with Clay discovers an impassioned email asking for help about her same-sex attraction sent to a teacher and accuses Baker, in public, of sending it.
The storyline sounds melodramatic (and its climax certainly contain strains of melodrama), but the beauty here is in the telling. The story unfolds in lovely lyrical prose, given immediacy through the use of the present tense but distance through Hannah's third person POV. The gaps and silences that can surround early explorations of unfamiliar sexual ground, especially when that ground is regarded as sinful by one's most cherished communities, are depicted with clarity and honesty. And best of all, the story doesn't end up being the stereotypical "doomed lesbian love for one's best friend" story that lesbian YA romance has so often been in the past.
Interesting to read this in conjunction with Nancy Garden's more famous YA ANNIE ON MY MIND...
Baker feels something for Hannah,too, Hannah discovers to her surprise. But Baker, the golden girl of the school, is scared. And so she ping pongs back and forth between clandestine make-out sessions with Hannah and dates with charismatic Clay. Things come to a head when a classmate jealous of Baker's relationship with Clay discovers an impassioned email asking for help about her same-sex attraction sent to a teacher and accuses Baker, in public, of sending it.
The storyline sounds melodramatic (and its climax certainly contain strains of melodrama), but the beauty here is in the telling. The story unfolds in lovely lyrical prose, given immediacy through the use of the present tense but distance through Hannah's third person POV. The gaps and silences that can surround early explorations of unfamiliar sexual ground, especially when that ground is regarded as sinful by one's most cherished communities, are depicted with clarity and honesty. And best of all, the story doesn't end up being the stereotypical "doomed lesbian love for one's best friend" story that lesbian YA romance has so often been in the past.
Interesting to read this in conjunction with Nancy Garden's more famous YA ANNIE ON MY MIND...
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Obviously didn’t do my research bc I did not know this book was so deeply rooted in religion. Ruined it for me.
emotional
sad
tense
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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