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yetanothersusan's review against another edition
4.0
A geeky teenager, Gideon, and his not quite so smart brother, Ishmael, mess up a science experiment. To cover, they tell a story, and then a bigger story, and then a bigger one. The small town quickly becomes unwitting co-conspirators in a hoax that gets drastically out of hand. I felt like Gideon’s footnote comments were appropriate for his character, though some of them were unnecessary and just seemed to be there to continue the concept. Overall, this was a great story of kids in high school being kids and the unintended consequences. I’d compare this book to Kevin Wilson’s Now is Not the Time to Panic and/or Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. Well, and maybe a little Pink & the Brain! Not bad company and a really enjoyable read despite its length.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.
backshelfbooks's review against another edition
2.0
The description of this book sounds like it was made for me- a faux science fiction plot, a story told in interviews and reports, and it's a story about two (vastly different) teen brothers working together. However, there were a few things about the book that prevented it from ultimately being a book I loved.
For one, there is an MLM story line. The MLM story line is pretty central to the story, and characters view the MLM differently, with some being in favor of, against, or indifferent towards the MLM and the fact that their family member is in the MLM. I don't think this plot point was handled as delicately as it could have been, and it irked me that I didn't know about its inclusion when reading the synopsis.
Secondly, the synopsis for the book states that it is "told in a report format and comprised of interviews, blog posts, text conversations, found documents, and so much more." This is probably my *favorite* narrative format to read in fiction, so I was so excited. However, the report format means that about half of the book is written in first person, past tense. I don't have anything against first person, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting and it made for a lot of "this happened and then this happened and then this person did this." It just wasn't what I was expecting, and I was definitely a little disappointed.
The book reads like a younger YA book, but there are some heavier themes (cults, grooming, MLMs) that make it feel potentially a little too heavy for a younger YA audience. It was not the book for me, but I don't think it was a bad book.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy!
For one, there is an MLM story line. The MLM story line is pretty central to the story, and characters view the MLM differently, with some being in favor of, against, or indifferent towards the MLM and the fact that their family member is in the MLM. I don't think this plot point was handled as delicately as it could have been, and it irked me that I didn't know about its inclusion when reading the synopsis.
Secondly, the synopsis for the book states that it is "told in a report format and comprised of interviews, blog posts, text conversations, found documents, and so much more." This is probably my *favorite* narrative format to read in fiction, so I was so excited. However, the report format means that about half of the book is written in first person, past tense. I don't have anything against first person, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting and it made for a lot of "this happened and then this happened and then this person did this." It just wasn't what I was expecting, and I was definitely a little disappointed.
The book reads like a younger YA book, but there are some heavier themes (cults, grooming, MLMs) that make it feel potentially a little too heavy for a younger YA audience. It was not the book for me, but I don't think it was a bad book.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy!
backshelfbooks's review against another edition
2.0
The description of this book sounds like it was made for me- a faux science fiction plot, a story told in interviews and reports, and it's a story about two (vastly different) teen brothers working together. However, there were a few things about the book that prevented it from ultimately being a book I loved.
For one, there is an MLM story line. The MLM story line is pretty central to the story, and characters view the MLM differently, with some being in favor of, against, or indifferent towards the MLM and the fact that their family member is in the MLM. I don't think this plot point was handled as delicately as it could have been, and it irked me that I didn't know about its inclusion when reading the synopsis.
Secondly, the synopsis for the book states that it is "told in a report format and comprised of interviews, blog posts, text conversations, found documents, and so much more." This is probably my *favorite* narrative format to read in fiction, so I was so excited. However, the report format means that about half of the book is written in first person, past tense. I don't have anything against first person, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting and it made for a lot of "this happened and then this happened and then this person did this." It just wasn't what I was expecting, and I was definitely a little disappointed.
The book reads like a younger YA book, but there are some heavier themes (cults, grooming, MLMs) that make it feel potentially a little too heavy for a younger YA audience. It was not the book for me, but I don't think it was a bad book.
For one, there is an MLM story line. The MLM story line is pretty central to the story, and characters view the MLM differently, with some being in favor of, against, or indifferent towards the MLM and the fact that their family member is in the MLM. I don't think this plot point was handled as delicately as it could have been, and it irked me that I didn't know about its inclusion when reading the synopsis.
Secondly, the synopsis for the book states that it is "told in a report format and comprised of interviews, blog posts, text conversations, found documents, and so much more." This is probably my *favorite* narrative format to read in fiction, so I was so excited. However, the report format means that about half of the book is written in first person, past tense. I don't have anything against first person, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting and it made for a lot of "this happened and then this happened and then this person did this." It just wasn't what I was expecting, and I was definitely a little disappointed.
The book reads like a younger YA book, but there are some heavier themes (cults, grooming, MLMs) that make it feel potentially a little too heavy for a younger YA audience. It was not the book for me, but I don't think it was a bad book.
g533's review against another edition
The treatment of the autistic son gave me too much secondhand angst
sc104906's review against another edition
3.0
I received this as an eARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Interesting journey into the concept of pack mentality and the ability to push people to believe a prank. I love the use of narrative styles, it fleshed the world out more. I was not a fan of the main characters. While I may not personally like them, their story needed to be told and included in the teen section.
Interesting journey into the concept of pack mentality and the ability to push people to believe a prank. I love the use of narrative styles, it fleshed the world out more. I was not a fan of the main characters. While I may not personally like them, their story needed to be told and included in the teen section.
adcummings's review
funny
lighthearted
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
2.0
lisaluvsliterature's review against another edition
4.0
Wow this was a REALLY long book. I did enjoy it, when I picked it up it was something that I just kept turning the pages as I read to get through the story, and see how it would all turn out. Honestly, there was a lot in this book. Not only did we have just your regular story parts, there were pages of the extra documentation that you find in a lot of books now. Interview transcripts, website posts with their comments, text conversations, and even little interludes where our main narrator gave us kind of extra thoughts or expansions of the thoughts we got within the story parts.
I am a huge fan of the TV show, The Big Bang Theory, and so there were a lot of things in here that totally connected to that. First, our main character Gideon, is totally a Sheldon type of character. Except for he is more like the actor who plays Sheldon in that he is gay. And then, Gideon’s last name is Hofstadt, which is part of the character Leonard on TBBT’s last name, Hofstadter.
There were a lot of different things going on the story thought besides just the UFO hoax that Gideon was working on. There was his younger sister and her sudden obsession with cults. There was his father not being happy with what he’d been doing the last so many years of basically being a stay-at-home dad. His mother’s myTality business and the crazy leader of that group. Gideon’s best friends at school, learning to trust the new member of his group. Gideon worrying about having a relationship with Owen, the only other openly gay boy in the town. Wanting to get into his first choice school, M.I.T., but other things in his life dragging him down from being the valedictorian. So yeah, pretty much what a teenager feels like their life is.
It was a good story, just maybe a bit overlong, I can see some things that didn’t necessarily need as much time as they got, but that’s just my opinion. Nothing was not a part of the story, nothing didn’t fit. All in all a really good contemporary story since as we’re told from the synopsis, it is just a hoax.
Review first published on Lisa Loves Literature.
I am a huge fan of the TV show, The Big Bang Theory, and so there were a lot of things in here that totally connected to that. First, our main character Gideon, is totally a Sheldon type of character. Except for he is more like the actor who plays Sheldon in that he is gay. And then, Gideon’s last name is Hofstadt, which is part of the character Leonard on TBBT’s last name, Hofstadter.
There were a lot of different things going on the story thought besides just the UFO hoax that Gideon was working on. There was his younger sister and her sudden obsession with cults. There was his father not being happy with what he’d been doing the last so many years of basically being a stay-at-home dad. His mother’s myTality business and the crazy leader of that group. Gideon’s best friends at school, learning to trust the new member of his group. Gideon worrying about having a relationship with Owen, the only other openly gay boy in the town. Wanting to get into his first choice school, M.I.T., but other things in his life dragging him down from being the valedictorian. So yeah, pretty much what a teenager feels like their life is.
It was a good story, just maybe a bit overlong, I can see some things that didn’t necessarily need as much time as they got, but that’s just my opinion. Nothing was not a part of the story, nothing didn’t fit. All in all a really good contemporary story since as we’re told from the synopsis, it is just a hoax.
Review first published on Lisa Loves Literature.
tracy_lyons's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
danggeun's review against another edition
4.0
This was a fun silly story that I read during breaks at work. I have already recommended it to one of my students who loves astronomy like Gideon.
snchard's review against another edition
4.0
This was real cute. I love when books play with format, so I was pleased to have the print book alongside the audio to see the visual layout. The plot reminded me a lot of Dear Evan Hansen, but with much lower stakes and without making me feel gross about a story where a dead child is exploited. One of my favorite things about this book was that the main character is gay but that's not the crux of the story-- it's just a fact that is no big deal. Audiobook narration was okay, I might have preferred a full cast recording so it matched the print version better, but Christopher Gebauer did a good job as the main voice.