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A review by ghoulizabeth
In Case You Missed It by Sarah Darer Littman
2.0
i originally gave this book 3 stars, but i’m bumping it down to two. there are just too many issues in this book that are just brushed over or completely ignored.
in case you missed it is about sammy, a girl who’s father is the ceo of a major banking corporation. a group of hacktivists gets a hold of all of her family’s information and yikes!! her diary, which she keeps on her computer, is exposed to the world.
at first, this sounded like an interesting read about what happens when you can’t hide your secrets any longer. but i was vERY quickly turned off by the writing style, the characters, and the modern issues that instead of being addressed, are easily forgiven.
let’s begin with the big question: why the ever-loving hell is this classified as a young adult book? sammy’s first person narrative reads like middle grade, which is one reason why i sped through it and didn’t connect with the characters very well. of course, there are some amazing middle grade books out there (i’ll take percy jackson for 100) but the writing style felt lazy overall. i wouldn’t be shocked if this showed up at a middle school scholastic book fair (no hate to the book fair i loved those chocolate calculators)!!
the characters were also a combination of stereotypes. we have nerdy, attractive girl Sammy who’s so quirky but also so beautiful! then we have the asshole jock who is terrible but oh my GoD he’s hot! the horrible mother and father! the annoying little brother! the cute geeky guy who is obviously the book’s love interest from the moment he first appears! oh, and in a book that’s supposed to be about racism, we have the token non-white friend, who is lovable and funny and forgiving. i’m not kidding. the main family is jewish, but they’re written as a white family- they definitely have white privileges, so the one best friend is the only main character that is clearly depicted as non-white.
also, about the whole race thing, sammy’s family is jewish, and her dad is the ceo of a banking corporation. even though he makes a lot of money, sammy goes to public school and the only indication of the family having any wealth is the mom owning a designer sweater. that’s it. sound familiar?
i am not jewish, so i cant determine if these issues are truly offensive or not, but they rubbed me the wrong way. i felt uncomfortable when it was revealed that the family is jewish... it was just an odd choice that didn’t contribute to the plot whatsoever, so i don’t know why the author went through with it and sprinkled some stereotypes in in the meantime.
furthermore! the hacktivists that steal the family’s information are actually doing the lord’s work. why? because the father is a racist, misogynistic piece of shit. and when sammy finally confronted him about his transgressions and his horrible self, he just cries. and that’s it. the author says nothing else about it. he doesn’t even really apologize!! he just says “that’s the way the business world is.” if that doesn’t bother you..
you know what i said earlier about this book reading like it’s middle grade? yeah, maybe don’t give this book to anyone who is still in their formative years. they might be given the impression that racism and sexism can be excused with tears, and that these issues are just because of the way the world is, and therefore they can’t be fixed!
in conclusion: this is fluffy with a side of awful.
~ i read this as “a book about or involving social media” for the 2020 popsugar reading challenge. ~
in case you missed it is about sammy, a girl who’s father is the ceo of a major banking corporation. a group of hacktivists gets a hold of all of her family’s information and yikes!! her diary, which she keeps on her computer, is exposed to the world.
at first, this sounded like an interesting read about what happens when you can’t hide your secrets any longer. but i was vERY quickly turned off by the writing style, the characters, and the modern issues that instead of being addressed, are easily forgiven.
let’s begin with the big question: why the ever-loving hell is this classified as a young adult book? sammy’s first person narrative reads like middle grade, which is one reason why i sped through it and didn’t connect with the characters very well. of course, there are some amazing middle grade books out there (i’ll take percy jackson for 100) but the writing style felt lazy overall. i wouldn’t be shocked if this showed up at a middle school scholastic book fair (no hate to the book fair i loved those chocolate calculators)!!
the characters were also a combination of stereotypes. we have nerdy, attractive girl Sammy who’s so quirky but also so beautiful! then we have the asshole jock who is terrible but oh my GoD he’s hot! the horrible mother and father! the annoying little brother! the cute geeky guy who is obviously the book’s love interest from the moment he first appears! oh, and in a book that’s supposed to be about racism, we have the token non-white friend, who is lovable and funny and forgiving. i’m not kidding. the main family is jewish, but they’re written as a white family- they definitely have white privileges, so the one best friend is the only main character that is clearly depicted as non-white.
also, about the whole race thing, sammy’s family is jewish, and her dad is the ceo of a banking corporation. even though he makes a lot of money, sammy goes to public school and the only indication of the family having any wealth is the mom owning a designer sweater. that’s it. sound familiar?
i am not jewish, so i cant determine if these issues are truly offensive or not, but they rubbed me the wrong way. i felt uncomfortable when it was revealed that the family is jewish... it was just an odd choice that didn’t contribute to the plot whatsoever, so i don’t know why the author went through with it and sprinkled some stereotypes in in the meantime.
furthermore! the hacktivists that steal the family’s information are actually doing the lord’s work. why? because the father is a racist, misogynistic piece of shit. and when sammy finally confronted him about his transgressions and his horrible self, he just cries. and that’s it. the author says nothing else about it. he doesn’t even really apologize!! he just says “that’s the way the business world is.” if that doesn’t bother you..
you know what i said earlier about this book reading like it’s middle grade? yeah, maybe don’t give this book to anyone who is still in their formative years. they might be given the impression that racism and sexism can be excused with tears, and that these issues are just because of the way the world is, and therefore they can’t be fixed!
in conclusion: this is fluffy with a side of awful.
~ i read this as “a book about or involving social media” for the 2020 popsugar reading challenge. ~