Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell by Tobias Madden

2 reviews

pey333's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

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beautifulpaxielreads's review

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

3.5

I have a couple of confessions to make.

  1. I'm a total musical theatre nerd. Which was part of the reason I picked up Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell.
  2. When a book is as fast-paced and easy to read as this one is, I tend to dive in headfirst, ripping through 100 pages in one sitting, losing track of time completely. It's a really bad habit of mine and I need to stop doing it, because I always, always regret that I didn't take the time to fully absorb what I was reading. And that's in part what happened here.

If you've read the blurb for this book, you would know that a large part of the plot involves deception. Our MC, Noah, joins his mother's community theatre production of Chicago because he finds out that his online gaming buddy and massive crush - who he only knows as an avatar on the screen - is in the cast of said production. Noah, who spends most of his time gaming and has no other social life, plans to meet the guy he's fallen for, make the guy fall for him, and then - only then - tell him the truth.

Unfortunately for me, this deception affected my enjoyment of much of this novel, as I felt like I was holding my breath the whole time, waiting for that moment of truth to come.

Now you might look at this review, look at the star rating I gave it, and wonder why I'm being so negative. That's because, in spite of this plot device, this is actually really well-written. Tobias Madden captures exactly the awkwardness of adolescence - the body image issues, the self-esteem, the hormones, and the pressure you feel from peers and family members. It's all there, all in excruciating detail (maybe too much detail, at times). It also really captures the camaraderie of musical theatre folk and the hard work that goes into making a successful production.

I also felt that the climax and ending of this book went some way towards redeeming the issues I had with it. Madden clearly does not condone Noah's deceptive behaviour, and expresses this view through
the character of Eli, Noah's aforementioned crush, who tells Noah in no uncertain terms why what he did was wrong, which Noah accepts with grace and regret
. I also liked how you can see at the very end that
Eli has not yet fully forgiven Noah, and will probably take some time to do so
. That felt more realistic to what would happen in real life, which I appreciated.

All in all, a well-written novel with some flaws, and I'm glad I read it.

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