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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 :)
alexis_h's review against another edition
3.0
This was a a good read at the beginning and towards the middle it kinda dragged on a bit and once it hit the climax it finally got good. I just feel that the ending left on an awkward not because I feel that there could have been more done with Evan's character and the others involved with the situation around him
thrscldrn's review against another edition
5.0
This book hurt my heart in ways I never expected it to. I adore the songs from the musical and I thought I already had a clear picture of how the story went, but was I wrong. Reading this just makes me want to see the musical in real life more.
hayley_henderson22's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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? Yes
3.75
cosmo_junk's review against another edition
1.0
tw really problematic literary usage of a character's suicide
meh. i mean, the writing was not revolutionary. none of the characters were interesting, least of all the main character. and what is it with popular internet musicals and being severely problematic in some way?
this boy evan hansen had no idea who this kid who killed himself was, yet he still dragged himself into a whole situation involving him writing imaginary letters to himself and connor in order to... boost his status? talk to connor's sister? dumb!
meh. i mean, the writing was not revolutionary. none of the characters were interesting, least of all the main character. and what is it with popular internet musicals and being severely problematic in some way?
this boy evan hansen had no idea who this kid who killed himself was, yet he still dragged himself into a whole situation involving him writing imaginary letters to himself and connor in order to... boost his status? talk to connor's sister? dumb!
codysseus's review against another edition
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? Yes
3.0