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A review by awrittenwood
Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was a little of a challenge for me, because I don't enjoy reading books set in high school, especially spicy books. That's on me for not paying more attention ahead of starting the book. For some reason, I thought this started with the MCs writing to each other throughout their school years and the rest of the story would develop afterward.
That being said, I found just about every character unlikable, and it took a little too long for them to get better. I know they're teenagers and it's trying to show the shallowness and pressures of being young and working through those issues to be the person you want to be versus who your "friend group" wants you to be, but there wasn't a whole lot of "working through it". It was basically just the FMC feeling guilty about being awful but not doing much about it until way later in the book.
I rated this a 3 instead of lower because I honestly don't think this was a bad book, but I do think I was the wrong audience. It was a look at how societal pressure at a young age influences us negatively, and how grief can be even harder when we feel alone, without a strong support system.
However, there were quite a few moments in the book where it came off juvenile, even for the ages the characters are. I probably would have gone 3.5, but I absolutely detested the ending. Why? Because... I fucking hate when an author feels the need to add a pregnancy in for literally no reason, as if that's the only happy ending possible. You're giving us a 5-years later epilogue, and instead of getting more into what the MCs achieved, you give us "oh, he ended up super successful in his career, and she ended up getting pregnant which is probably what she would want because what woman recently out of college wouldn't want to be pregnant right away? She helped write the songs, and instead of crediting Ryen with that at the end and having the reporters excited to talk with her too as a huge part of that success, they only care about Misha.
That being said, I found just about every character unlikable, and it took a little too long for them to get better. I know they're teenagers and it's trying to show the shallowness and pressures of being young and working through those issues to be the person you want to be versus who your "friend group" wants you to be, but there wasn't a whole lot of "working through it". It was basically just the FMC feeling guilty about being awful but not doing much about it until way later in the book.
I rated this a 3 instead of lower because I honestly don't think this was a bad book, but I do think I was the wrong audience. It was a look at how societal pressure at a young age influences us negatively, and how grief can be even harder when we feel alone, without a strong support system.
However, there were quite a few moments in the book where it came off juvenile, even for the ages the characters are. I probably would have gone 3.5, but I absolutely detested the ending. Why? Because...