A review by homulucy
Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel by Justin Paul, Benj Pasek

emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I love the stage show of Dear Evan Hansen, and I’ve read the book once before…but WOW listening to this was stressful. There were many times where I wanted to yell at Evan to stop lying and being a generally crappy person. 
Jared was the best character in this entire book. He’s so funny and blunt and Evan should’ve listened to him. His reaction to finding out how Evan broke his arm was pure gold.
You fell out of a tree. What are you, an acorn?
The novel gives chapters to Connor, which the stage show wasn’t able to do. It was nice being able to see inside of him past what we see from Evan’s perspective.
The best part of listening to the audiobook instead of reading the book were the additions of sung versions of Requiem and Only Us. It was a really sweet detail, that wasn’t necessary, but enhanced the overall experience of listening to Dear Evan Hansen. They should’ve done that with the other songs, because the other songs get translated into conversation in a way that I found oddly funny. 
Overall, great for both fans and non-fans of the musical/movie.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings