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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
Tw: self-harm, rape
Okay so I was genuinely prepared to give this five stars, but then the ending happened? Like the last 50 pages? And I'm so incredibly confused right now and I think I need to finally come to the realization that no matter how many of his books I read, I will never be the type of person to enjoy Shaun David Hutchinson. The mental health discussions, the queer rep, and the romance is always good and on point; the writing is fantastic. I just...I can't do the weird sci-fi stuff. And don't get me wrong!! I love sci-fi, but I don't love it when it's blended with contemporaries to the point that it doesn't make complete sense nor is it fully explained. I dunno, just me.
-Book Hugger
Okay so I was genuinely prepared to give this five stars, but then the ending happened? Like the last 50 pages? And I'm so incredibly confused right now and I think I need to finally come to the realization that no matter how many of his books I read, I will never be the type of person to enjoy Shaun David Hutchinson. The mental health discussions, the queer rep, and the romance is always good and on point; the writing is fantastic. I just...I can't do the weird sci-fi stuff. And don't get me wrong!! I love sci-fi, but I don't love it when it's blended with contemporaries to the point that it doesn't make complete sense nor is it fully explained. I dunno, just me.
-Book Hugger
“I didn’t even need to check my phone to know that the universe had shrunk again, and the stars had vanished.
No. They hadn’t vanished. I’d given them away to someone who hadn’t deserved them, and I’d never get them back.”
trigger warnings in this book for: rape, statutory rape, racism, child abuse, graphic violence, self-harm, drugs, homophobia, ableism
I don't think its any secret I was a massive fan of Shaun David Hutchinson's 2016 release, [b:We Are the Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034], so his newest release was high on my 2017 anticipated list.
Fans of We Are the Ants will definitely enjoy At the Edge of the Universe - it features some of the same aspects that drew me into We Are the Ants - an honest look at mental illness and living as a gay teenager, beautiful prose, a sci-fi twist and raw emotion.
(by rykesmeadow on tumblr)
At the Edge of the Universe follows Oswald Pinkerton, aka as Ozzie - who's pretty sure the universe is shrinking. His evidence? The boy he was dating, Tommy, has disappeared from the memory of everyone who knew him, including Tommy's family. This book follows Ozzie as he tries to unravel the mystery behind Tommy's disappearance and try to outlast the universe as it quickly shrinks around him.
I found At the Edge of the Universe a much harder read then We Are the Ants - the issues and themes covered are definitely heavy and you can practically feel the weight the characters are bearing. It's very gritty reading, but I think the issues were dealt with very gracefully and carefully. The characters are incredibly complex, and very very flawed - but while their choices may not be the best in each circumstance, I like that it was clear they weren't endorsed out of text. I also liked there is genuine growth for these characters, and that despite the truly horrible circumstances these characters are enduring, the ending is relatively happy.
I really liked the diversity in this one ! Ozzie is gay, Tommy is gay and biracial (one white one black parent), Lua, Ozzie's best friend, is gender-fluid and they're referred to with differing pronouns throughout the story. Ozzie's other best friend Dustin is asexual and Chinese-American, and another character Calvin is bisexual. I loved the amount of diversity in this story, especially Lua as a gender-fluid character because it is the first representation of gender-fluidity I've encountered personally.
“The funny thing is,' Calvin said, 'I thought I'd been breathing underwater this whole time, but I guess I've been drowning.”
My main issues with this book is the ending, and the beginning. It took me a while to get into this, with the beginning being a little meandering and slow-paced. It took a while for me to figure out in what direction the book was going. I also wasn't the biggest fan of the final act, I don't think I really "got" the ending and I felt a little unsatisfied with some of the ending.
I was also a little irked about the ableism in this book - a character who cannot walk is referred to as "broken" and laments how no one will ever love him or want to be with him when he is a paraplegic. This was never challenged, and in the end there was a kind of "cure-all" for his situation.
Despite this, I really enjoyed the main content of this story. The story is definitely gritty, and there are bits and pieces I really felt horror reading - but I also think these issues were written and dealt with so well. This is ownvoices for mental illness and gay rep and I think it's important to tell our stories as marginalised people - both the good and the bad.
The prose, as expected, is beautiful. Shaun David Hutchinson has a very poetic and lyrical style, but it's very simple and not bogged down in overly flowery writing. I genuinely enjoy his writing so much. I also loved that Henry and Diego from We Are the Ants had a little cameo!
“It's impossible to let go of the people we love. Pieces of them remain embedded inside of us like shrapnel. Every breath causes those fragments to burrow through our muscles, nearer to our hearts. And we think the pain will kill us, but it won't. Eventually, scar tissue forms around those twisted splinters like cocoons. They remain part of us, but slowly hurt less. At least, I hoped they would.”
Shaun David Hutchinson has earned a spot on my instant buy list. At the Edge of the Universe is written with the same raw emotion, quirkiness and hard grit that made me fall in love with his stories. He constantly presents his readers with flawed, complex characters who must exist in incredibly difficult, but honest situations.
I love his books, and while this one didn't blow me away as much as We Are the Ants did, it's still a beautiful book. It' brutal and hard in places, but I think it is always honest and the narrative is layered I love Hutchinson's brand of sci-fi contemporary, and if you have enjoyed his previous books there will definitely be something for you here. If you haven't picked up one yet, I implore you too. At the Edge of the Universe would be a good place to start.
“Don't get so focused on where you're going that you forget the people you're travelling with. There's no point reaching a destination if you arrive alone.”
4/5 stars
Will Shaun David Hutchinson ever write an ending that isn't bittersweet and breaks my heart? After reading three of his books, I think I'm going to be waiting a while for that, honestly.
One thing that always sticks out for me in Hutchinson's books is that he's really good at writing complicated family relationships, without making it into the outright hatred a lot of books end up achieving. Ozzie is struggling with his family, and you can see that- his mum and dad are divorcing and he feels like he has to pick a side, and his brother Renny is joining the army, something he's actively against while his parents fight with each other instead of paying attention to what their sons are going through. But despite that, they care about each other, and you can tell that through the way they interact, especially in the last half of the book. I've grown to love the way Hutchinson writes family dynamics, and I always find that stands out the most in his books.
I also love how complicated his friendships and romantic relationships are. Lua is absolutely amazing, a gender-fluid rockstar in the making who wants to tour the world; Dustin, who is implied as being asexual, is super laid back but close with Lua and Ozzie; an there's Calvin, the potential love interest, working through demons of his own while also trying his best to be a nice guy, the exact same thing Ozzie is trying to do. I really loved Calvin, and I rooted for him and Ozzie.
The reason I didn't completely love this book is Tommy. I just didn't care about him. I got that he meant a lot to Ozzie, but I just couldn't become attached to him in the same way I did with Henry and Jesse in We Are the Ants. I just didn't feel there was any sort of loss, and because I loved Calvin, I just found myself wanting to scream and throw Ozzie at him.
The science elements are really well done, yet again, although I felt this one was heavier with the science rather than it being sci-fi. Their stories are all heartwrenching, so if you struggle with heavier material like bullying, self-harm, rape, etc., I would go into this book with that in mind.
When I wrote my review about We Are the Ants, I called it a sad book with a happy ending. At the Edge of the Universe, however, is a sad book with a bittersweet ending.
My favourite quote:
'I didn't know how many stars had already vanished, but I couldn't help feeling their loss.'
Will Shaun David Hutchinson ever write an ending that isn't bittersweet and breaks my heart? After reading three of his books, I think I'm going to be waiting a while for that, honestly.
One thing that always sticks out for me in Hutchinson's books is that he's really good at writing complicated family relationships, without making it into the outright hatred a lot of books end up achieving. Ozzie is struggling with his family, and you can see that- his mum and dad are divorcing and he feels like he has to pick a side, and his brother Renny is joining the army, something he's actively against while his parents fight with each other instead of paying attention to what their sons are going through. But despite that, they care about each other, and you can tell that through the way they interact, especially in the last half of the book. I've grown to love the way Hutchinson writes family dynamics, and I always find that stands out the most in his books.
I also love how complicated his friendships and romantic relationships are. Lua is absolutely amazing, a gender-fluid rockstar in the making who wants to tour the world; Dustin, who is implied as being asexual, is super laid back but close with Lua and Ozzie; an there's Calvin, the potential love interest, working through demons of his own while also trying his best to be a nice guy, the exact same thing Ozzie is trying to do. I really loved Calvin, and I rooted for him and Ozzie.
The reason I didn't completely love this book is Tommy. I just didn't care about him. I got that he meant a lot to Ozzie, but I just couldn't become attached to him in the same way I did with Henry and Jesse in We Are the Ants. I just didn't feel there was any sort of loss, and because I loved Calvin, I just found myself wanting to scream and throw Ozzie at him.
The science elements are really well done, yet again, although I felt this one was heavier with the science rather than it being sci-fi. Their stories are all heartwrenching, so if you struggle with heavier material like bullying, self-harm, rape, etc., I would go into this book with that in mind.
When I wrote my review about We Are the Ants, I called it a sad book with a happy ending. At the Edge of the Universe, however, is a sad book with a bittersweet ending.
My favourite quote:
'I didn't know how many stars had already vanished, but I couldn't help feeling their loss.'
An enjoyable book, but not without flaws. At nearly 500 pages, I think the book could easily have been shrunk significantly. Ozzie's endless waffling was part of the point and a stylistic choice, but it also dragged the narrative down and jacked up the page count. If a book is sufficiently engaging, I don't even notice how long or short it is.
I was also a little troubled by Calvin's portrayal.He was sexually abused and then basically imploded. Ozzie refers to him as "broken" several times, which always rubs me the wrong way. Sexual abuse is serious and can often lead to self-harm or other risky behavior, but it doesn't have to. It seemed like there was an inevitability to it, that "of course" this is how Calvin would react, and that the entirety of the rest of his life is ruined, which is not a message I think is great to sexual abuse victims. Now, granted, the real-world Calvin was the one to turn the teacher in, and appears (on the surface, to a casual acquaintance) to be coping much more healthily with everything that happened.
I'm surprised that Tommy's father's abuse has managed to go unnoticed for so long. Ozzie's parents are clearly self-involved, but they've never noticed the obvious bruises all over their son's boyfriend? The bruises are rarely in hidden places, usually the face, which makes it more difficult to explain away to teachers and authority figures.
The final explanation for the universe shrinking was a bit of a let down as well. It resonated with the themes and whatnot, but ...it just seemed self-indulgent and whiny.
I was also a little troubled by Calvin's portrayal.
I'm surprised that Tommy's father's abuse has managed to go unnoticed for so long. Ozzie's parents are clearly self-involved, but they've never noticed the obvious bruises all over their son's boyfriend? The bruises are rarely in hidden places, usually the face, which makes it more difficult to explain away to teachers and authority figures.
The final explanation for the universe shrinking was a bit of a let down as well. It resonated with the themes and whatnot, but ...it just seemed self-indulgent and whiny.
"We have to fall in love with the idea of a person before we can fall in love with the actual person."
Shaun's books have a safe place in my bookish heart. I love his characters, his stories, his style of writing. His books are unlike any other book I've read before and this one was no exception. The universe is shrinking and Ozzy's boyfriend Tommy has but nobody remembers that he existed. Only Ozzy does but, of course, no one believes him.
There are so many things that Shaun gets right. He is in touch with the young adult book community, he is aware of what occupies our minds and hearts, he listens. Which is why we get diversity and representation in the form of gay, genderfluid, bi- and asexual characters - or characters that don't know how or if to define themselves. But what might be even more important is that these characters have depth; they are relatable and not simply mere caricatures of what they represent. This is why OwnVoices authors are so important.
What is even better, Shaun uses his books to talk about things that matter. He openly discusses depression, self-harm and how important it is to talk when one is hurting. He shows that love is not always easy and fluffy and relationships grow and change and always take two people who care enough to work on this relationship together. He does not shy away from topics like rape, abuse and poverty. I think it's brave that Shaun puts these stories out there and lends his ear and shoulder to so many kids, teens and adults. He makes them feel understood and seen and I think that is what every young adult author should set out to do.
I know that I'm seriously gushing about the author at this point but there is one more thing that I have to point out: this book features sex. It's explicit. That alone is still super rare in the YA genre. But here we have two gay teenagers who sleep with each other and it's not shown as something abnormal, it's not a taboo topic, it's what happens what two people have the hots for one another. I wish we could see more sex and more non-straight sex in young adult literature. Not because I read books for their erotic content, but because sex is how we all got here in the first place.
Now the only thing I can criticise is related to the plot, so be aware of major spoilers. I shipped Ozzy and Calvin. I think I even fell for Calvin a little. So seeing his and Ozzy's relationship erased at the end of the book hurt. I understand that the story would not have worked otherwise, but I still rooted for them.
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Shaun's books have a safe place in my bookish heart. I love his characters, his stories, his style of writing. His books are unlike any other book I've read before and this one was no exception. The universe is shrinking and Ozzy's boyfriend Tommy has but nobody remembers that he existed. Only Ozzy does but, of course, no one believes him.
There are so many things that Shaun gets right. He is in touch with the young adult book community, he is aware of what occupies our minds and hearts, he listens. Which is why we get diversity and representation in the form of gay, genderfluid, bi- and asexual characters - or characters that don't know how or if to define themselves. But what might be even more important is that these characters have depth; they are relatable and not simply mere caricatures of what they represent. This is why OwnVoices authors are so important.
What is even better, Shaun uses his books to talk about things that matter. He openly discusses depression, self-harm and how important it is to talk when one is hurting. He shows that love is not always easy and fluffy and relationships grow and change and always take two people who care enough to work on this relationship together. He does not shy away from topics like rape, abuse and poverty. I think it's brave that Shaun puts these stories out there and lends his ear and shoulder to so many kids, teens and adults. He makes them feel understood and seen and I think that is what every young adult author should set out to do.
I know that I'm seriously gushing about the author at this point but there is one more thing that I have to point out: this book features sex. It's explicit. That alone is still super rare in the YA genre. But here we have two gay teenagers who sleep with each other and it's not shown as something abnormal, it's not a taboo topic, it's what happens what two people have the hots for one another. I wish we could see more sex and more non-straight sex in young adult literature. Not because I read books for their erotic content, but because sex is how we all got here in the first place.
Now the only thing I can criticise is related to the plot, so be aware of major spoilers. I shipped Ozzy and Calvin. I think I even fell for Calvin a little. So seeing his and Ozzy's relationship erased at the end of the book hurt. I understand that the story would not have worked otherwise, but I still rooted for them.
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DNF - I really don't have a very good reason to not have finished this book. It wasn't bad. I didn't have a bad writing. But I just didn't care about it. I got bored of it. I may pick it up again.
‘Even when there’d been a whole universe to explore, Cloud Lake and Tommy had been my everything.
“So that’s it?” I said. “I’m just supposed to go on living my life no matter how much the universe takes from me or how small it gets?”
Dr. Sayegh nodded. “It’s what the rest of us do, Ozzie.”
Ozzie’s boyfriend, Tommy, has vanished. Poof. Gone. But not just from their hometown, Cloud Lake. Tommy has vanished from the memories of everyone who knew him, and Ozzie is the only one who knows something has changed.
Oh, also the universe is shrinking. No one else has any idea that that’s happening, either.
I wasn’t sure what to make of At the Edge of the Universe to start with. A few bloggers I follow are huge fans of Shaun David Hutchinson, so when I saw the book pop up on Riveted Lit’s Free Reads I couldn’t resist giving it a go, but I almost abandoned it within the first few chapters because it’s just weird.
For the majority of the book, it’s impossible to tell whether Tommy is a figment of Ozzie’s imagination. I wondered whether he may have been suffering from a mental disorder causing him to personify his anxieties about the future, but the next thing the sun disappeared and no one would listen to Ozzie, let alone humour him by explaining how they thought daylight worked.
From that point on, I was hooked. I read the rest of the novel in one sitting, a direct contrast from the slow and steady pace at which I read the first half.
It helps that the cast of characters are all so intriguing. There’s Lua, a rock star whose gender identity is in flux; Dustin, the class valedictorian who has no choice but to apply for local colleges over Ivy League schools; and Calvin, Ozzie’s new physics partner who has had an unexplained and utterly drastic personality change over the summer.
Ozzie himself deserves an award for being one of the most sarcastic characters I’ve ever read: despite going through some seriously tough stuff, he retains a wry sense of humour that had me snorting through my nose at multiple moments.
I’ll be honest, although I grasped the overarching moral of the story – that losing yourself in a relationship at a young age isn’t worth it, because there’s a whole world out there to explore – I’m pretty sure there’s loads of important allegories that have completely gone over my head. This is a book filled with philosophical aspects, but I was so focused on the mystery of Tommy’s disappearance that I missed a lot of the nuance in this story.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this book finds itself on required reading lists within the next ten years, as it makes you ask yourself a lot of tough questions.
I’m still wondering whether I would be as strong-minded as Ozzie, refusing to accept that Tommy wasn’t real despite hearing it repeatedly asserted by everyone around him. How do you think you’d respond?
This review was originally posted on The Bumbling Blogger.
“So that’s it?” I said. “I’m just supposed to go on living my life no matter how much the universe takes from me or how small it gets?”
Dr. Sayegh nodded. “It’s what the rest of us do, Ozzie.”
Ozzie’s boyfriend, Tommy, has vanished. Poof. Gone. But not just from their hometown, Cloud Lake. Tommy has vanished from the memories of everyone who knew him, and Ozzie is the only one who knows something has changed.
Oh, also the universe is shrinking. No one else has any idea that that’s happening, either.
I wasn’t sure what to make of At the Edge of the Universe to start with. A few bloggers I follow are huge fans of Shaun David Hutchinson, so when I saw the book pop up on Riveted Lit’s Free Reads I couldn’t resist giving it a go, but I almost abandoned it within the first few chapters because it’s just weird.
For the majority of the book, it’s impossible to tell whether Tommy is a figment of Ozzie’s imagination. I wondered whether he may have been suffering from a mental disorder causing him to personify his anxieties about the future, but the next thing the sun disappeared and no one would listen to Ozzie, let alone humour him by explaining how they thought daylight worked.
From that point on, I was hooked. I read the rest of the novel in one sitting, a direct contrast from the slow and steady pace at which I read the first half.
It helps that the cast of characters are all so intriguing. There’s Lua, a rock star whose gender identity is in flux; Dustin, the class valedictorian who has no choice but to apply for local colleges over Ivy League schools; and Calvin, Ozzie’s new physics partner who has had an unexplained and utterly drastic personality change over the summer.
Ozzie himself deserves an award for being one of the most sarcastic characters I’ve ever read: despite going through some seriously tough stuff, he retains a wry sense of humour that had me snorting through my nose at multiple moments.
I’ll be honest, although I grasped the overarching moral of the story – that losing yourself in a relationship at a young age isn’t worth it, because there’s a whole world out there to explore – I’m pretty sure there’s loads of important allegories that have completely gone over my head. This is a book filled with philosophical aspects, but I was so focused on the mystery of Tommy’s disappearance that I missed a lot of the nuance in this story.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this book finds itself on required reading lists within the next ten years, as it makes you ask yourself a lot of tough questions.
I’m still wondering whether I would be as strong-minded as Ozzie, refusing to accept that Tommy wasn’t real despite hearing it repeatedly asserted by everyone around him. How do you think you’d respond?
This review was originally posted on The Bumbling Blogger.
Wasn't sure how this would turn out, but I'm pretty happy with the ending
Life's truest horror is a door that slams shut that can never be opened again.