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novelinsights's review against another edition
4.0
Forget This Ever Happened is a unique, almost "diet Night Vale" story about a teenage girl in the 90s (the exact year of my birth, to be specific) who goes to stay with her ailing grandmother for the summer and discovers some significant quirks about her grandmother's town of Indianola, Texas that make her summer incredibly weird and pretty dangerous.
Firstly, I want to note that I listened to the GraphicAudio production of this novel. It was my first GraphicAudio novel and I enjoyed the full cast production. It took a little while to get used to the sheer volume of sound effects (projecting every footstep felt like overkill when you wouldn't even hear them that well in real life) but you get used to it and don't even question it after a while.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the general vibe of the novel itself. Again, it's somewhat reminiscent of Night Vale in that really weird, sort of inexplicable things happen in this one specific town, and people outside of the town don't quite perceive of it accurately. Also like Night Vale, it's delightfully queer, chronicling a bisexual or pansexual protagonist's discovery of her sexuality. I also appreciated that the protagonist and her love interest did not fall into the trappings of stereotypical gender roles; despite being girls, they could still bond over a mutual love of video games and horror movies. The video games in particular were important to me because I've been into video games all my life, but girls weren't frequently shown enjoying video games in media until recently, and this does take place in the 90s. It was just refreshing.
The writing style of this book came across as very amateurish to me, however. Lots of telling rather than showing. For example, the protagonist has two main friends she hangs out with in the book, and she gets along with one far better than the other. Instead of allowing the audience to deduct this difference by observing her very different styles of interaction with the two girls, the narration literally states in several repetitive sentences that she prefers and feels more comfortable with the one friend than the other. I don't have the text in front of me, but it goes something very much like: "She really liked spending time with X. Y made her uncomfortable. She preferred hanging out with X than Y." None of those sentences should be needed in a well-written book, let alone all three of them, let alone all three of them back-to-back. It felt almost like I was being talked down to, or reading a children's book, when the narration did this.
My other complaint about this book is more difficult for me to make with any certainty, and that is that I felt as though the ending could have been better explained or wrapped up. I really appreciated the general ending of the story, but I just felt like I was missing a few pieces when it all came together in the end. However, the reason it's difficult for me to feel confident in making this complaint is that I have very poor audio comprehension, and since I listened to this in audiobook format, I'm afraid I just missed some things during the ending that would have made it feel more full and finished. I'm considering re-listening to the last 30-45 minutes of the book a second time to make sure that I didn't miss anything. If I do, I may come back an edit my review (or perhaps even change my rating) accordingly.
As previously alluded to, I would recommend this book to fans of Welcome to Night Vale, as well as to people who generally like 90s stories, queer YA, and YA horror.
Firstly, I want to note that I listened to the GraphicAudio production of this novel. It was my first GraphicAudio novel and I enjoyed the full cast production. It took a little while to get used to the sheer volume of sound effects (projecting every footstep felt like overkill when you wouldn't even hear them that well in real life) but you get used to it and don't even question it after a while.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the general vibe of the novel itself. Again, it's somewhat reminiscent of Night Vale in that really weird, sort of inexplicable things happen in this one specific town, and people outside of the town don't quite perceive of it accurately. Also like Night Vale, it's delightfully queer, chronicling a bisexual or pansexual protagonist's discovery of her sexuality. I also appreciated that the protagonist and her love interest did not fall into the trappings of stereotypical gender roles; despite being girls, they could still bond over a mutual love of video games and horror movies. The video games in particular were important to me because I've been into video games all my life, but girls weren't frequently shown enjoying video games in media until recently, and this does take place in the 90s. It was just refreshing.
The writing style of this book came across as very amateurish to me, however. Lots of telling rather than showing. For example, the protagonist has two main friends she hangs out with in the book, and she gets along with one far better than the other. Instead of allowing the audience to deduct this difference by observing her very different styles of interaction with the two girls, the narration literally states in several repetitive sentences that she prefers and feels more comfortable with the one friend than the other. I don't have the text in front of me, but it goes something very much like: "She really liked spending time with X. Y made her uncomfortable. She preferred hanging out with X than Y." None of those sentences should be needed in a well-written book, let alone all three of them, let alone all three of them back-to-back. It felt almost like I was being talked down to, or reading a children's book, when the narration did this.
My other complaint about this book is more difficult for me to make with any certainty, and that is that I felt as though the ending could have been better explained or wrapped up. I really appreciated the general ending of the story, but I just felt like I was missing a few pieces when it all came together in the end. However, the reason it's difficult for me to feel confident in making this complaint is that I have very poor audio comprehension, and since I listened to this in audiobook format, I'm afraid I just missed some things during the ending that would have made it feel more full and finished. I'm considering re-listening to the last 30-45 minutes of the book a second time to make sure that I didn't miss anything. If I do, I may come back an edit my review (or perhaps even change my rating) accordingly.
As previously alluded to, I would recommend this book to fans of Welcome to Night Vale, as well as to people who generally like 90s stories, queer YA, and YA horror.
ashleereads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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
3.0
abookdork's review against another edition
4.0
Quirky, scary sci-fi story. I listened to the audio book featuring full a full cast and sound effects, which added to the experience of the book. This book won't be for everyone because you have to suspend your belief in reality for this one, but I enjoyed it immensely!
adunnells's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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? No
3.75
_jeeyareads_'s review against another edition
4.0
So this was a random book my sister picked for me to read at the library so i knew nothing going in and tbh it wasn’t what i expected at all but in a good way. I didn’t think i was going to like it bc from the first few chapters it was giving off science fiction vibes and i don’t read that much science fiction but i actually ended up enjoying it a lot. I mean i was confused for a good majority of the time but everything kind of makes sense now. It was a fun and different read and it got me out of my reading slump so !!!
carly_golightly's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
cramaley's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
losangalex's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
Instant favorite
sophc's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I liked how fast paced the book was, but the writing wasn’t my favorite. it felt very juvenile & that’s not just because it’s a ya book