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caresays 's review for:
Her Name in the Sky
by Kelly Quindlen
I think, for many young LGBTQ teens, this book will resonate deeply. It is a perfect book for them. I think it really tackles the question of religion and faith and queerness. Which is awesome, and I hope those young people are able to read this.
As for me -- I admit that I'm a little allergic to Christian iconography and lots of chatter about Jesus (in a modern setting), so this was not really my cup of tea. I've been lucky enough that my beliefs and my sexuality have never clashed, and I've never faced a struggle like the one Hannah and Baker face. I ended up skimming a lot of the more religious dialogue. I did enjoy experiencing Hannah's journey as she discovers herself, and it was certainly wonderful to have a queer story where.
I never entirely got into this book though. I did read this book pretty late at night, so maybe that was part of it, but I think I was thrown by the beginning. It was like going to a house party where everyone knew everyone else, but I was the only stranger. The six teen characters are never really explained as to their relationship to Hannah at first, except maybe Baker. I could have used slightly more exposition. I had Luke and Wally muddled up in my head for the first few chapters. I also never entirely got a good handle on Luke and Wally as distinct characters, which, Luke does feature a lot less than the others. Wally I really chalked up to "a nice, sweet boy", but there wasn't too much else to him.
Joanie and Hannah's relationship was great. Very heartfelt, very complex -- just the way sisters are. I thought that was well done.
Man, Clay. It's probably just me. I wanted to see him suffer so much more than he did. He basically turned their whole graduating class against Hannah and caused Baker's accident, so I'm pretty unforgiving of that. I get why Hannah forgives him, and yeah, he's a dumb teenager, but I'm still a little... :| I was hoping a little that the jock stereotype would be turned on its head, but it wasn't so much, which was fine.
The parts I really skimmed where the parts where Hannah describes her feelings as like...blood or tears and there was lots of Christian metaphor and my brain had an automatic reaction of NO NO NO I DO NOT LIKE THIS. I needed a little bit of a trigger warning on this. I find a lot of talk about Jesus to be extremely uncomfortable, even in positive settings, so. But idk. That's just me. There were moments where it felt so intensely religious that I, as a non-believer, felt alienated.
The book dragged a bit for me at parts. It felt like there was some filler. Hannah crying a lot, Baker crying a lot, etc etc etc. But overall I felt like it was a strong story, and I really think it speaks to so many people's experience. It's very evocative of adolescence and high school and at times felt a little suffocating in that way (which was good, I guess; or at least effective). Faith and sexuality are so crucial and personal to people, and this book does an elegant job of twining the two. Once again, not my thing, but I'm glad it exists.
As for me -- I admit that I'm a little allergic to Christian iconography and lots of chatter about Jesus (in a modern setting), so this was not really my cup of tea. I've been lucky enough that my beliefs and my sexuality have never clashed, and I've never faced a struggle like the one Hannah and Baker face. I ended up skimming a lot of the more religious dialogue. I did enjoy experiencing Hannah's journey as she discovers herself, and it was certainly wonderful to have a queer story where
Spoiler
the parents are supportive and loving and willing to learnSpoiler
I also liked that Hannah and Baker were given a happy ending.I never entirely got into this book though. I did read this book pretty late at night, so maybe that was part of it, but I think I was thrown by the beginning. It was like going to a house party where everyone knew everyone else, but I was the only stranger. The six teen characters are never really explained as to their relationship to Hannah at first, except maybe Baker. I could have used slightly more exposition. I had Luke and Wally muddled up in my head for the first few chapters. I also never entirely got a good handle on Luke and Wally as distinct characters, which, Luke does feature a lot less than the others. Wally I really chalked up to "a nice, sweet boy", but there wasn't too much else to him.
Joanie and Hannah's relationship was great. Very heartfelt, very complex -- just the way sisters are. I thought that was well done.
Man, Clay. It's probably just me. I wanted to see him suffer so much more than he did. He basically turned their whole graduating class against Hannah and caused Baker's accident, so I'm pretty unforgiving of that. I get why Hannah forgives him, and yeah, he's a dumb teenager, but I'm still a little... :| I was hoping a little that the jock stereotype would be turned on its head, but it wasn't so much, which was fine.
The parts I really skimmed where the parts where Hannah describes her feelings as like...blood or tears and there was lots of Christian metaphor and my brain had an automatic reaction of NO NO NO I DO NOT LIKE THIS. I needed a little bit of a trigger warning on this. I find a lot of talk about Jesus to be extremely uncomfortable, even in positive settings, so. But idk. That's just me. There were moments where it felt so intensely religious that I, as a non-believer, felt alienated.
The book dragged a bit for me at parts. It felt like there was some filler. Hannah crying a lot, Baker crying a lot, etc etc etc. But overall I felt like it was a strong story, and I really think it speaks to so many people's experience. It's very evocative of adolescence and high school and at times felt a little suffocating in that way (which was good, I guess; or at least effective). Faith and sexuality are so crucial and personal to people, and this book does an elegant job of twining the two. Once again, not my thing, but I'm glad it exists.