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A review by merri
Troublemakers by Catherine Barter
4.0
4,5 stars (when the devil is Goodreads gonna add the option for half stars???) I didn’t have any expectations when I picked Troublemakers from the library shelf. The cover (and indeed the spine) are of the painfully generic YA look but, I admit, it was the mention of growing up with a brother and his boyfriend that caught my attention and made be borrow the book.
I do enjoy a good lgbt book but as we all know they too often start or end in tears. It seems like you just can’t have a story where a gay relationship is in a key role and it works out well. This is why I always have bad feeling about a book that starts with an already ongoing gay relationship - it has to end during the book, right?
Which is why I am delighted with this book. Thank you Catherine Barter for writing a story where a gay couple who met in their teens can still be in a loving, somewhat balanced relationship as 30-somethings, also parenting a child. Alena is the protagonist but Danny and Nick are very important and the backbone of her life so it’s nice Barter lets them be, really.
Alena is an interesting, wistful character and despite what she does to make her a troublemaker she seems to be calm and surprisingly at peace with the world. The book only covers a time period less than half a year but as she’s 15 years old she grows as a person in that period too.
Danny is an unsure, worrying soon-to-be alcoholic who can never see the good before goong through all the possible worst case scenarios - like many of us are, but this personality trait is not often mentioned in books I don’t think. I liked how Danny sort of grew too and you understood more why he was so difficult at times.
Nick should have more layers as it’s a given we all love him but I’d like to have known more about him. But I’m also happy with an unproblematic, balanced, lovely character as well.
I liked the language, the plot, all the meaningful characters, the London setting. Troublemakers is a very good book that has depth but for a change is not depressing or doesn’t try to be anything it is not.
I do enjoy a good lgbt book but as we all know they too often start or end in tears. It seems like you just can’t have a story where a gay relationship is in a key role and it works out well. This is why I always have bad feeling about a book that starts with an already ongoing gay relationship - it has to end during the book, right?
Which is why I am delighted with this book. Thank you Catherine Barter for writing a story where a gay couple who met in their teens can still be in a loving, somewhat balanced relationship as 30-somethings, also parenting a child. Alena is the protagonist but Danny and Nick are very important and the backbone of her life so it’s nice Barter lets them be, really.
Alena is an interesting, wistful character and despite what she does to make her a troublemaker she seems to be calm and surprisingly at peace with the world. The book only covers a time period less than half a year but as she’s 15 years old she grows as a person in that period too.
Danny is an unsure, worrying soon-to-be alcoholic who can never see the good before goong through all the possible worst case scenarios - like many of us are, but this personality trait is not often mentioned in books I don’t think. I liked how Danny sort of grew too and you understood more why he was so difficult at times.
Nick should have more layers as it’s a given we all love him but I’d like to have known more about him. But I’m also happy with an unproblematic, balanced, lovely character as well.
I liked the language, the plot, all the meaningful characters, the London setting. Troublemakers is a very good book that has depth but for a change is not depressing or doesn’t try to be anything it is not.