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A review by ciuli
Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
2.0
2/5
CW: fat-shaming, manipulative behavior, homophobia, internalized homophobia, homophobic slurs
Let's say that there are few things in this book (fat-shaming, blatant disrespect for Ollie, mysogeny, manipulative behaviour) that were thrown in there without any regard for what the readers might feel towards these behaviors, that I would overlook in a fan-fiction but that definitely rub me the wrong way in a published book that goes through an editing process.
On the one hand, I can totally understand Ollie and his weakness towards Will's behavior. As soon as Will gives him some attention, he is back to square one and I totally understand that feeling, having been on the receiving hand of that same behavior from a guy. The thing is, when I finally got over that guy and started to see things rationally, I understood what a douchebag he had been to me all along, how manipulative his behavior was and how stupid I was to believe everything he said.
And the end, Will even managed to guilt trip Ollie into thinking that it was his fault for not being able to express his feelings?
I'm sorry but this book justifies every wrong thing the characters do and has them face no consequences whatsoever, and even worse, it wants us to perceive those characters as the victims. That's bullshit.
Lara fatshaming Neimh? Oh, but that's her character, and she's in love with someone who doesn't require her feelings, so can you really blame her for venting her anger on her friends?
Will totally treating Ollie like shit, even going as far as making fun of him in front of him? Oh, but he's scared of coming-out, also, isn't it Ollie's fault for only thinking about how he is feeling instead of having his life revolve around Will's feelings?
The side characters were all underdeveloped, some even not developed at all. Ollie's "best-friends" from California disappear after 1 videocall. He then meets these three girls on his first day at school and decides that they are basically his only chance of getting new friends, so he stuck to them even though one of them his rude to him over and over. His parents are non-existant, the only times we see them they are screaming at Ollie not to be so selfish, even though he has moved to another state, babysat his cousins whenever asked and done everything they asked of him without complaining once. The only time he tries to tell his mother to shut up because she is talking to him like a hippy at Woodstock, she gets angry because he dared have an opinion. Same thing for Will's friends and parents.
The idea was nice, but the overall development of the story was very underwhelming.
CW: fat-shaming, manipulative behavior, homophobia, internalized homophobia, homophobic slurs
Let's say that there are few things in this book (fat-shaming, blatant disrespect for Ollie, mysogeny, manipulative behaviour) that were thrown in there without any regard for what the readers might feel towards these behaviors, that I would overlook in a fan-fiction but that definitely rub me the wrong way in a published book that goes through an editing process.
On the one hand, I can totally understand Ollie and his weakness towards Will's behavior. As soon as Will gives him some attention, he is back to square one and I totally understand that feeling, having been on the receiving hand of that same behavior from a guy. The thing is, when I finally got over that guy and started to see things rationally, I understood what a douchebag he had been to me all along, how manipulative his behavior was and how stupid I was to believe everything he said.
And the end, Will even managed to guilt trip Ollie into thinking that it was his fault for not being able to express his feelings?
I'm sorry but this book justifies every wrong thing the characters do and has them face no consequences whatsoever, and even worse, it wants us to perceive those characters as the victims. That's bullshit.
Lara fatshaming Neimh? Oh, but that's her character, and she's in love with someone who doesn't require her feelings, so can you really blame her for venting her anger on her friends?
Will totally treating Ollie like shit, even going as far as making fun of him in front of him? Oh, but he's scared of coming-out, also, isn't it Ollie's fault for only thinking about how he is feeling instead of having his life revolve around Will's feelings?
The side characters were all underdeveloped, some even not developed at all. Ollie's "best-friends" from California disappear after 1 videocall. He then meets these three girls on his first day at school and decides that they are basically his only chance of getting new friends, so he stuck to them even though one of them his rude to him over and over. His parents are non-existant, the only times we see them they are screaming at Ollie not to be so selfish, even though he has moved to another state, babysat his cousins whenever asked and done everything they asked of him without complaining once. The only time he tries to tell his mother to shut up because she is talking to him like a hippy at Woodstock, she gets angry because he dared have an opinion. Same thing for Will's friends and parents.
The idea was nice, but the overall development of the story was very underwhelming.