You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
2.82 AVERAGE
2.82 AVERAGE
Toni and Gretchen fell in love at first sight -- but can that love be sustained with so many changes? Toni thought her and Gretchen would go to college together and never be apart, and Gretchen thought they'd get married one day. However, Gretchen secretly decides to go on her own to NYU instead of Boston as planned, causing a whirlwind story of two people trying to find their way in the world on their own for the first time. At Harvard, Toni joins a local GSA group and gains a large and supportive set of friends, while at NYU Gretchen meets Carroll, who openly brags of his sexuality while hiding his insecurities about life. Toni makes a life-changing decision without Gretchen, and they discover their relationship just might not be able to handle change -- especially a decision that will affect everything around them. This book gave me mixed feelings, rushing from one controversy to another without any real time to think. I would recommend this to anyone who is or knows someone who may be struggling with change or transition in their life, providing different outlooks for major life choices.
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was heavy and hard to read but eye-opening and kind of great all at once.
The story of Toni and Gretchen made me think, made me want to scream, and made me realize, over and over and over, that (in the words of the always lovely Lin-Manuel Miranda): love is love is love.
Heavy though, for me at least. Glad I picked it up though.
The story of Toni and Gretchen made me think, made me want to scream, and made me realize, over and over and over, that (in the words of the always lovely Lin-Manuel Miranda): love is love is love.
Heavy though, for me at least. Glad I picked it up though.
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Toxic relationship, Transphobia
This book is one of the more awful portrayals of trans people I've ever read. The book treats being genderqueer as a stepping stone to becoming a "full" trans person and as something completely separate from masculinity and femininity. Genderqueer people can be trans because that are not the gender they were assigned at birth. You can be genderqueer and a trans man (I certainly am). Of course it's important to show that labels can change and what it's like to search for the words that are right for you, but this book treats these words with such rigidity and absolutely no nuance.
Both main characters are also terrible people. Gretchen continues to hang out with a guy even though he's extremely transphobic, including towards Tony, but she wants a gay friend so she doesn't care. And Tony is super racist, referring to himself as the diversity of his dorm hall even though the others are people of color, and he takes another person's comment about there being so many white people at Harvard personally.
This book also made me think I hate first-person POV. As it turns out I don't. This book just isn't written well.
Both main characters are also terrible people. Gretchen continues to hang out with a guy even though he's extremely transphobic, including towards Tony, but she wants a gay friend so she doesn't care. And Tony is super racist, referring to himself as the diversity of his dorm hall even though the others are people of color, and he takes another person's comment about there being so many white people at Harvard personally.
This book also made me think I hate first-person POV. As it turns out I don't. This book just isn't written well.
I really tried. I wanted to like this book it wasn't the topic, it was the writing. the characters were never developed it was like watching paint dry.
I spent most of the time I was reading this book waiting for it to be over. Maybe this was something I could have related to more when I was 16/17 and still questioning everything myself, but for present day me, it was just a headache.
5 out of 5 stars
So well written, I loved the characters and the story so much!!
So well written, I loved the characters and the story so much!!
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Apologies if my review seems all over the place. I have a very complicated relationship with this book.
I bought it sometime between 2016 and 2018. I didn't get very far when I first tried reading it. It sat on my bookshelf until I pulled the title from a jar while selecting my books for the month.
The first chapter had me gushing because it just seemed so sweet. The one-sentence ending from Tony's perspective ("I melted") is one of my favourite things to read. However, after that is when things got more complicated.
Many of their issues could have been solved by communication. If Gretchen and Tony took the time to set down and take into consideration how the other person was feeling, being honest with each other.and they did have that sort of conversation towards the end, more or less. It was not the greatest example but they could acknowledge that things were not working out relationship-wise between them. Frankly, it wouldn't have made sense for the characters to still be in a relationship at the end of the novel.
Tony was a character that I really could not stand. The way he treated Gretchen at some points, the way he treated his friends and roommates. Especially a lot about how his exploration of his gender identity was handled.Nance calling Tony out, for a lack of a better explanation, was justified. The fact that Tony never saw it and continued to only see the worst in Nance.
I really enjoyed Gretchen's perspective, aside from some aspects of Carroll's character that rubbed me the wrong way. However, I think the dual perspective does work for this novel. If this story was told solely from Tony's perspective, we miss how the events of the novel affect Gretchen. If Tony's self-discovery regarding their gender is a major focus of the story, then it doesn't make sense for the story to be told solely through Gretchen's eyes. The dual perspective allows us to see both sides.
This is a very complex, for a lack of better wording, story. Many of the issues touched on in this novel could have been handled in a much better way.
I bought it sometime between 2016 and 2018. I didn't get very far when I first tried reading it. It sat on my bookshelf until I pulled the title from a jar while selecting my books for the month.
The first chapter had me gushing because it just seemed so sweet. The one-sentence ending from Tony's perspective ("I melted") is one of my favourite things to read. However, after that is when things got more complicated.
Many of their issues could have been solved by communication. If Gretchen and Tony took the time to set down and take into consideration how the other person was feeling, being honest with each other.
Tony was a character that I really could not stand. The way he treated Gretchen at some points, the way he treated his friends and roommates. Especially a lot about how his exploration of his gender identity was handled.
I really enjoyed Gretchen's perspective, aside from some aspects of Carroll's character that rubbed me the wrong way. However, I think the dual perspective does work for this novel. If this story was told solely from Tony's perspective, we miss how the events of the novel affect Gretchen. If Tony's self-discovery regarding their gender is a major focus of the story, then it doesn't make sense for the story to be told solely through Gretchen's eyes. The dual perspective allows us to see both sides.
This is a very complex, for a lack of better wording, story. Many of the issues touched on in this novel could have been handled in a much better way.
Yikes!!!
Basically any of the top one-star reviews here can elaborate further, because…yikes!
Basically any of the top one-star reviews here can elaborate further, because…yikes!