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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
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
emotional
inspiring
sad
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent
I started reading this book without looking at any reviews or spoilers. I’ve been going through a reading slump that’s lasted around a year so I thought that this book could potentially be an interesting read to get me out of it. It did help me get out of it, but mostly just by forcing me to finish it as quickly as possible so I could move onto something else. At least the book was really quick to read.
I had the same problems as many other reviewers had, the writing style and the weird dialogue made reading this book almost painful. The constant ”…” and random all caps-moments in the book made me feel frustrated and took me out of the story. The dialogue felt awkward and I couldn’t really ”get” Jonathan and Web’s relationship that just felt quite unrealistic with how they talked to each other and how quickly they’d share intimate details with each other.
The book felt like a bizarre mix of pure trauma and juvenile something (don’t really know how to describe it). I do understand that Jonathan (the first person perspective in this book) is 17, but multiple times in this book he felt a lot more younger. While the topics central to this book (homophobia, conversion therapy, racism and Indigenous rights) are complex and dark, the way they were handled in this book felt shallow and juvinile. The mean and bigoted people in this book were physically ugly (often described very much in detail), the imaginary conversations Jonathan would have with Ziggy Stardust (and other people) and how Web (the Indigenous love interest) seemed more like a plot device a lot of the time, teaching the MC about Indigenous peoples and how it’s okay to be yourself all just made this book feel more juvenile and shallow.
The only reason why I stuck with this book was to see how it would resolve itself, but by the time there was 20 pages left I realised that it would probably not be satisfactory, and it indeed was not. While technically most of the plotlines had an ending, it felt really rushed, unrealistic and undeserved.
Just so this review isn’t fully negative, I did enjoy some of the characters in this book, namely Web’s family and Jonathan’s best friend Starla. I’d like to know more about them, but maybe just not in this writing style.
In general reading this book was not a pleasant experience, due to my issues with the writing style and the heavy details during possibly triggering scenes (surrounding conversion therapy and racist characters) felt borderline trauma/torture porn and unnecessary at times.
I had the same problems as many other reviewers had, the writing style and the weird dialogue made reading this book almost painful. The constant ”…” and random all caps-moments in the book made me feel frustrated and took me out of the story. The dialogue felt awkward and I couldn’t really ”get” Jonathan and Web’s relationship that just felt quite unrealistic with how they talked to each other and how quickly they’d share intimate details with each other.
The book felt like a bizarre mix of pure trauma and juvenile something (don’t really know how to describe it). I do understand that Jonathan (the first person perspective in this book) is 17, but multiple times in this book he felt a lot more younger. While the topics central to this book (homophobia, conversion therapy, racism and Indigenous rights) are complex and dark, the way they were handled in this book felt shallow and juvinile. The mean and bigoted people in this book were physically ugly (often described very much in detail), the imaginary conversations Jonathan would have with Ziggy Stardust (and other people) and how Web (the Indigenous love interest) seemed more like a plot device a lot of the time, teaching the MC about Indigenous peoples and how it’s okay to be yourself all just made this book feel more juvenile and shallow.
The only reason why I stuck with this book was to see how it would resolve itself, but by the time there was 20 pages left I realised that it would probably not be satisfactory, and it indeed was not. While technically most of the plotlines had an ending, it felt really rushed, unrealistic and undeserved.
Just so this review isn’t fully negative, I did enjoy some of the characters in this book, namely Web’s family and Jonathan’s best friend Starla. I’d like to know more about them, but maybe just not in this writing style.
In general reading this book was not a pleasant experience, due to my issues with the writing style and the heavy details during possibly triggering scenes (surrounding conversion therapy and racist characters) felt borderline trauma/torture porn and unnecessary at times.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated