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hey_hail's review against another edition
1.0
I hated it. I really did.
The beginning was promising and I related to the invisible in High School feeling (despite being very much no longer in HS) and then the Connor Murphy event happened. Everything turned so sour. Benefiting off of someone's suicide? Not okay, not cool at all. Evan's repercussions for doing this are NOT at all fitting for what he did. His life doesn't crumble, families don't react the way they should really. He, for the most part, gets off scott free. His biggest "downfall" is losing his girlfriend.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the "let's not make the anxiety ridden also slightly suicidal for that one moment kid pay too hard for his crimes" but? It doesn't work that they don't apply more effect for the cause. He rode someone's suicide off into the sunset. Gaining a family, a girl friend, and notoriety. and nothing really bad happens to him. He's not called out via the Connor Murphy project, Jared doesn't spill his secret, the Murphys barely even yell at him, and his mom says nothing about the situation. It's ultimately unsatisfying. Especially after you spend the entire book waiting for everything to crash and burn. It just doesn't. There's nothing.
All around I'm incredibly disappointed. The idea of a kid benefiting from someone else's mental issues is terrible. I'm sure the broadway play was great
The beginning was promising and I related to the invisible in High School feeling (despite being very much no longer in HS) and then the Connor Murphy event happened. Everything turned so sour. Benefiting off of someone's suicide? Not okay, not cool at all. Evan's repercussions for doing this are NOT at all fitting for what he did. His life doesn't crumble, families don't react the way they should really. He, for the most part, gets off scott free. His biggest "downfall" is losing his girlfriend.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the "let's not make the anxiety ridden also slightly suicidal for that one moment kid pay too hard for his crimes" but? It doesn't work that they don't apply more effect for the cause. He rode someone's suicide off into the sunset. Gaining a family, a girl friend, and notoriety. and nothing really bad happens to him. He's not called out via the Connor Murphy project, Jared doesn't spill his secret, the Murphys barely even yell at him, and his mom says nothing about the situation. It's ultimately unsatisfying. Especially after you spend the entire book waiting for everything to crash and burn. It just doesn't. There's nothing.
All around I'm incredibly disappointed. The idea of a kid benefiting from someone else's mental issues is terrible. I'm sure the broadway play was great
wordsbetweenlines's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I’ve been meaning to read this for a very long time but I keep putting it off. So audiobook it was.
I liked it, but it didn’t hit as hard as I expected. I usually love a good mental health rep but I never cared about Evan Hansen it seems.
I’ve read a few YA books recently that I’ve just absolutely loved and this just didn’t hold up to them.
susanneverreads's review against another edition
4.0
*I don't see much being a spoiler expect the last paragraph*
The only thing I knew going into this book was that it's a musical and maybe one song from said musical.
This book caught my interest early on. I was excited to see where the story would go. Then I reached a little over halfway and was just frustrated. Evan had so many opportunities to be honest yet didn't. I think the reason I got so frustrated is because of how realistic his situation was. We can say we wouldn't lie but until in the situation, who knows what we would really do.
Once again, I did get frustrated with the book towards the end and was thinking it was going to be a two or three star review. The way is was going, Evan wasn't going to come clean and keep on lying. The fact this book didn't have a fairytale ending is what made it four stars. The ending just shows that everything is getting better rather than everything being amazing and perfect.
The only thing I knew going into this book was that it's a musical and maybe one song from said musical.
This book caught my interest early on. I was excited to see where the story would go. Then I reached a little over halfway and was just frustrated. Evan had so many opportunities to be honest yet didn't. I think the reason I got so frustrated is because of how realistic his situation was. We can say we wouldn't lie but until in the situation, who knows what we would really do.
Once again, I did get frustrated with the book towards the end and was thinking it was going to be a two or three star review. The way is was going, Evan wasn't going to come clean and keep on lying. The fact this book didn't have a fairytale ending is what made it four stars. The ending just shows that everything is getting better rather than everything being amazing and perfect.
storybrooke13's review against another edition
5.0
when I say this book is so good and caught my by surprise…
I really enjoyed seeing Connor’s perspective at different points but man
I really enjoyed seeing Connor’s perspective at different points but man
mealosh's review against another edition
1.0
I can't even list all the things that are wrong with this book. It's like "Turtles all the way down" and any bad teen drama had a one night stand and got pregnant, gave birth to this thing but forgot to raise it properly and teach it morals.
jocelyn_marie's review against another edition
3.0
This book had me in the first half, and then it just slowed down. It got very repetitive, Evan being nervous about the same things and whatnot, but I will say it did pick up. I did feel at the end it was hard to follow the timeline they were on, but that's ok because I mostly skimmed it.
This book was originally a 2-star rating, but some of Connor's POVs really brought it up. I wanted to see more of him and Miguel, but at the same time, I appreciate that the authors picked a plot line and stuck with it. Some of the details were unnecessary, and that just made it confusing. I also felt Evan not taking his anxiety meds anymore really could have been taken out because it was only discussed a couple times.
I have a couple more things I did not like about this book:
1. Evan made many mental jabs at "generously proportioned students" as he liked to call them, about how they envied him sitting out of gym class, which is not ok. One of the unnecessary details I was talking about earlier.
2. They never had an important conversation on mental health, drugs, or suicide. Connor commited suicide and Evan attempted suicide, and while Connor's death was the driving point of the story and people were talking about this a little bit more, no character had a sit-down talk about this. I think that could have been addressed a bit more.
3. Evan and his anxiety meds. In the beginning of the book he was taking them like every 5 seconds, and then at the end he stopped taking them entirely because he "didn't want to be that person anymore". I feel like he should have gone through some medical withdrawal because of this, and it's not healthy to be taking medication like that. I know he did go through a lot mentally, but I feel like this should have taken a toll on his body as well. I don't know, that just bothered me.
I did really like a few things about this book, though:
1. Connor's POVs made the book. I wish they were longer, or that he could have narrated the whole story. I would love to read a book about his life, a more detailed one than this. He just understood things, and I thought it was interesting to hear how he thought certain events went down.
2. The message of "you matter, I matter, we all matter". Always an important one to hear, but I felt like the authors hyped it up a bit too much and then I didn't see much of the theme in the book (still important, though). I did like the second-chance theme a little bit with Evan and Zoe too.
Anyway, I felt like the book could have been a lot shorter, but I did like the overall themes and messages. I do know though, that a lot of times I don't like books because I can't related to the situation, and I did not find Evan's anxiety relatable, and I have never suffered from depression, so I can't relate to that either.
While I did not love this book, I am going to watch the musical and see what I think of it.
This book was originally a 2-star rating, but some of Connor's POVs really brought it up. I wanted to see more of him and Miguel, but at the same time, I appreciate that the authors picked a plot line and stuck with it. Some of the details were unnecessary, and that just made it confusing. I also felt Evan not taking his anxiety meds anymore really could have been taken out because it was only discussed a couple times.
I have a couple more things I did not like about this book:
1. Evan made many mental jabs at "generously proportioned students" as he liked to call them, about how they envied him sitting out of gym class, which is not ok. One of the unnecessary details I was talking about earlier.
2. They never had an important conversation on mental health, drugs, or suicide. Connor commited suicide and Evan attempted suicide, and while Connor's death was the driving point of the story and people were talking about this a little bit more, no character had a sit-down talk about this. I think that could have been addressed a bit more.
3. Evan and his anxiety meds. In the beginning of the book he was taking them like every 5 seconds, and then at the end he stopped taking them entirely because he "didn't want to be that person anymore". I feel like he should have gone through some medical withdrawal because of this, and it's not healthy to be taking medication like that. I know he did go through a lot mentally, but I feel like this should have taken a toll on his body as well. I don't know, that just bothered me.
I did really like a few things about this book, though:
1. Connor's POVs made the book. I wish they were longer, or that he could have narrated the whole story. I would love to read a book about his life, a more detailed one than this. He just understood things, and I thought it was interesting to hear how he thought certain events went down.
2. The message of "you matter, I matter, we all matter". Always an important one to hear, but I felt like the authors hyped it up a bit too much and then I didn't see much of the theme in the book (still important, though). I did like the second-chance theme a little bit with Evan and Zoe too.
Anyway, I felt like the book could have been a lot shorter, but I did like the overall themes and messages. I do know though, that a lot of times I don't like books because I can't related to the situation, and I did not find Evan's anxiety relatable, and I have never suffered from depression, so I can't relate to that either.
While I did not love this book, I am going to watch the musical and see what I think of it.
greenleafbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This was surprisingly really good, because I’ve heard a lot of people not like it. As someone who has suffered with anxiety and loneliness before, this really hit home for me. Because of the anxiety Evan Hansen experiences through the whole book, it was slightly uncomfortable for me to read at points, but I thought it was very realistic to how having anxiety feels for me at least. I’ve listened to the musical many times and I think this book did a good job of translating the story of the musical to a book format. Was this the perfect adaptation? No. But did I thoroughly appreciate it? Yes. I cried at the ending and overall enjoyed my experience reading this book. Welp, time to listen to sincerely me and waving through a window again :)