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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
i have found a new favorite book. the intensities of emotions this made me go through is unbelievable. hannahbaker mean the world to me now and the number of times i sobbed because of them and heart was physically aching while reading this.
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Nice balance here, for the most part. Hannah's attracted to girls (and one girl in particular), which is a major source of conflict throughout the book, but there's also a lot more going on. She and her friends are comfortably popular and getting ready to go off to college, and while they're basically good kids, they also lie to their parents and drink and occasionally cut class. They think their friendship is as solid as solid can be, but they find out soon enough that there are cracks.
There's a bit too much partying in here for my tastes—it starts to feel a little repetitive after a while—but I think it's also meant to serve as a reminder that, at their core, these are just average kids living their lives. Also considerably more religion than I'd expected: they're in Catholic school, and as such religion pervades the fabric of their school lives. Combine that with living in the South, and it's an unforgiving environment for a student (or two students) trying to figure out sexuality. This leads to a little more drama than I think I'd prefer: there's some significant violence near the end of the book, and on top of the relationship drama (I get that Baker's figuring things out too, but man, she puts Hannah through the wringer, and), it feels like a lot at times. But...generally speaking, I just really like how normal and authentic the characters feel. Their tight-knit friend group makes for some great characters, and I really love that when it unravels it does so for the reasons they can't all fully understand at the time—it's a lot more complicated than, for example, straight-up homophobia. I also have to appreciate that the parents of the book have their priorities in order, which is to say that they stand by their kid in the now and have a close look at their own biases after.
Self-published, and there are some minor proofreading errors (and a persistent one: "all right" should always be two words, never "alright"), but I'm very happy that the local library system just acquired half a dozen copies of the book. It's always nice to see additions to the available queer YA lit options.
There's a bit too much partying in here for my tastes—it starts to feel a little repetitive after a while—but I think it's also meant to serve as a reminder that, at their core, these are just average kids living their lives. Also considerably more religion than I'd expected: they're in Catholic school, and as such religion pervades the fabric of their school lives. Combine that with living in the South, and it's an unforgiving environment for a student (or two students) trying to figure out sexuality. This leads to a little more drama than I think I'd prefer: there's some significant violence near the end of the book, and on top of the relationship drama (I get that Baker's figuring things out too, but man, she puts Hannah through the wringer, and
Spoiler
I'm not super optimistic about their relationship past the end of the bookSelf-published, and there are some minor proofreading errors (and a persistent one: "all right" should always be two words, never "alright"), but I'm very happy that the local library system just acquired half a dozen copies of the book. It's always nice to see additions to the available queer YA lit options.
emotional
hopeful
slow-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
This was such an incredible book. The emotions and angst were next level and it just floored me.
This is a coming out story set in Louisiana and deals with accepting your queerness while also being religious. It really resonated with me as I was raised in a Christian church where I was told over and over that homosexuality is a sin that would send me straight to hell. This took me right back to being a teenager in a small town and dealing with my internalized homophobia.
This is also a book about best friends realizing their feelings for one another are not purely friendly. Most of the time this isn't an angsty time, just a surprising one. Here, it was devastating for Hannah and Baker to realize their feelings and it ends up not only affecting them but their friend group. I did like the different spin, even if it was such a painful reading experience lol.
This book was written in 2014 and while a lot has changed since then, so much is still the same for a lot of small towns here in the U.S. Unfortunately, for that reason, this really doesn't feel dated.
I don't know what else to say about it. I loved it and can't imagine reading anything else right now.
Thanks to Angie for recommending this!
This is a coming out story set in Louisiana and deals with accepting your queerness while also being religious. It really resonated with me as I was raised in a Christian church where I was told over and over that homosexuality is a sin that would send me straight to hell. This took me right back to being a teenager in a small town and dealing with my internalized homophobia.
This is also a book about best friends realizing their feelings for one another are not purely friendly. Most of the time this isn't an angsty time, just a surprising one. Here, it was devastating for Hannah and Baker to realize their feelings and it ends up not only affecting them but their friend group. I did like the different spin, even if it was such a painful reading experience lol.
This book was written in 2014 and while a lot has changed since then, so much is still the same for a lot of small towns here in the U.S. Unfortunately, for that reason, this really doesn't feel dated.
I don't know what else to say about it. I loved it and can't imagine reading anything else right now.
Thanks to Angie for recommending this!