Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - More Happy Than Not

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

146 reviews

orenjiiii's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Wasn't particularly engaged with the first half but finished the second half in a night. Giving this a 4 stars because me and Aaron are very different people so I couldn't always relate to him, but I loved his arc and growth. Cried a bit. I've only finished reading a handful of books recently and I'm glad this was one of them

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prehistoricpotatoes's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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hyperballadbybjork's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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rynaissanceenby's review

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I have really mixed feelings about this book. I think the most important thing to know going into it is that it's problematic in a lot of ways, but the intention is to sort of dismantle the misconceptions that lead to those problematic takes. The problem is that it takes way too long to do that, and even once it gets there, it leans too hard into the misconceptions. It makes them feel like reasonable ways to think.

I also felt that a lot of interpersonal relationships felt unrealistic, but this might be a product of my relatively sheltered upbringing. At several points I found myself thinking, "This is ridiculous, nobody would ever get into a physical fight over this" or thoughts along those same lines, but the reality is that I don't understand why anyone would get into a physical altercation over just about anything. So maybe that's just my white suburbia upbringing talking.

Finally, I found the sci-fi-ish premise to be really dissatisfying. We were simultaneously given too many and too few details in order for me to sustain my disbelief. The basic idea is that Lateo can bury specific memories for you, but the idea that memories rarely resurface even with the triggers of being in familiar surroundings where the original memories happened is just a bit too far fetched for me. The pacing of this part of the narrative was a bit odd too. Lateo was hardly mentioned at all in the first half of the book, and it was absolutely crucial to the second half of the book. I think a little more foreshadowing would have done this book well.

All that being said, I considered DNFing this one, but it did get better in the second half, so I think it was worth my time. Especially since it was an audiobook, so I listened to it while cooking.

On that note, I felt that the choice of audiobook narrator was questionable. This story is told from the perspective of teenagers, and having a middle-aged dude narrate it...did not sound right. Furthermore, the voices the narrator did for the different characters were spotty. I was expecting to be able to tell who was talking from the different sorts of cadences and accents he was giving the different characters, but, especially when two characters were having a back and forth dialogue, their voices started blurring together and it go difficult to tell them apart.

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reader_in_the_meadow's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

3.75

The 2015 Young adult Novel More Happy Than Not by american author Adam Silvera tells the story of Aaron Soto, a teenager living in a world where Memories can practically be wiped away. In this world he has to deal with depression, coming to terms with himself as well as finding his place in this world.
The book contains the novel in five parts and 43 chapters as well as the author's note and acknowledgements.

The plot of this novel is pretty straight forward in my opinion, but takes some unexpected turns throughout itself. Following Aaron, the main character, we get to read about his struggles as a teenager, his personal trauma, depression and him finding his place in society. We also get to experience him coming to terms with his own identity, which is the main story line.
I liked this story very much. It was neither too fast-paced nor too slow-paced. I thought this was also a very relateble story for me personally, not in all parts but in some. On another note, this was also very cutesy sometimes, which made my heart bloom!

The characters in this novel are very different from each other. There Were many I liked, but also many I did not like and I think it is a great thing to actually malle characters unlikeable.
They also were unique from on another and I loved seeing all the different personalities interact with each other. Relationships between them were also very interesting and unique between each other.
Oh, and about representation in this: We have a latinx main character and side character as well as a gay main character and other non-heterosexual side characters. Personally I found the gay representation executed very well and not problematic in the least. I won't comment on other representation because I do not think it is my right to do so.
If you want more intel on any other rep, I am sure you will find it on here.

If you know me, you know that I am a huge fan of Silvera's writing style. I just think there is something to it that lets you take a look inside the minds of the different characters and let yourself be immersed in the story. It is also very easy to read and understand.
However, I do have to say that it was also very cringey at some points.

All summed up, I can recommend this book with a good conscious!
And if you do plan to read this please do not Forget to check the trigger warnings.

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kataleena's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I thought I knew how this book would play out and maybe I just didn’t read enough reviews but I was somewhat blindsided by the events that transpired. I think what made me sob my eyes out was that I could see parts of myself in Aaron’s story and I really felt for him. The only issue - if I could even call it that - with the book was that the only characters I liked were Aaron and Genevieve, everyone else was just okay, if that. I think the book would have hit that much harder if Aaron’s friends were actually likeable and characters that you can grow attached to. Regardless, I loved this book and I will be reading it again :)

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