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A review by eastcoastbooktart
Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. Really, really. But there are a few issues I have...
1. The characters are nothing. There's no information on them, really. There's no development. And for that reason, I found it hard to invest myself into this. I didn't feel as heartbroken as I imagine the author wanted me to. I didn't really feel heartbroken at all spare for thinking of all of the times this has happened in real life.
2. Being inspired by another novel is one thing. Essentially copying it and removing all of the good bits of it is another. This novel shares at least 7 major plot points with The Hate You Give. Now, granted, I do expect overlap if we're going to discuss the black experience in the US or police brutality in the US. But this is not that.
3. The language is very... under-developed? If you take out the swearing it reads at a junior high level.
4. Plot holes, plot holes, plot holes. The biggest of which is the whole damn point of this book.
I'm hoping his next novel is Comeback of the Year > Sophomore Slump but this did not give me a great amount of hope.
1. The characters are nothing. There's no information on them, really. There's no development. And for that reason, I found it hard to invest myself into this. I didn't feel as heartbroken as I imagine the author wanted me to. I didn't really feel heartbroken at all spare for thinking of all of the times this has happened in real life.
2. Being inspired by another novel is one thing. Essentially copying it and removing all of the good bits of it is another. This novel shares at least 7 major plot points with The Hate You Give. Now, granted, I do expect overlap if we're going to discuss the black experience in the US or police brutality in the US. But this is not that.
3. The language is very... under-developed? If you take out the swearing it reads at a junior high level.
4. Plot holes, plot holes, plot holes. The biggest of which is the whole damn point of this book.
Spoiler
I find it incredibly hard to believe a cop shot a kid, mom reports THE VERY SAME KID missing IN PERSON with his IDENTICAL F*CKING TWIN and no one is like, "oh, yeah, that kid? he's in the morgue!"I'm hoping his next novel is Comeback of the Year > Sophomore Slump but this did not give me a great amount of hope.