Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by sleepysamreads
The Law of Inertia by Sophie Gonzales
1.0
TRIGGER WARNINGS: suicide, self-harm, child abuse, drug abuse
Special thanks to NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
I don't ever rate books 1 star. Especially if I have finished the entire thing. To me, that at least warrants 2 stars. The Law of Inertia is the first book I have read in a long time that really just left me feeling quite disturbed. Sometimes when a book does this it's a good thing, but not in this case.
I'm going to be as vague as possible so I don't spoil anything for those of you who would like to read it. Because of this, it might not make a ton of sense as to why I did not like it. I'll try my best though.
I believe books about suicide and self-harm can be educating to people. I don't expect every book to have a happy ending. That being said, I also don't want these type of books to be damaging, and I fear that this one can be.
I liked Ash well enough in the beginning. He has suffered with depression and suicidal ideation for the majority of his life and that's something I can really relate to. I also relate to him being queer. I also liked James a lot. He's an incredibly caring boyfriend and I loved how much he did for Ash. I think the lengths James went to to discover what happened to Ash the night he committed suicide really speaks to how much James loved him.
I did not like Elliot or Louise very much. Elliot seemed like he wanted to do the best for his brother, he's still just a teenager. As someone who was a teenager not very long ago I remember vividly not trusting anyone else and wanting to believe I could do everything. But that isn't always how it really is and that was the case with Elliot. He wanted to provide a good life for Ash, but he was also just a teenager who wanted to party. He also had a drug problem, which was handled very poorly in this book.
Louise was just a boring character. She didn't really have much a story line outside of Elliot and I found myself skimming her chapters.
I HATED the ending. It was what ultimately drove me to rate this so low. It was supposed to be a shocking twist, but I saw it coming and desperately hoped I was wrong. I'm not going to say what happened, but I will say that it perpetuates the idea that mentally ill people shouldn't be held accountable for their actions and I strongly disagree with that. Mentally ill people can be toxic.
The only positive thing I have to say about this book is that it was racially diverse. James is half Filipino and Louise is Hispanic. I really appreciated that.
Overall, I really disliked this book. Anyone who has read this or who is okay with spoilers is welcome to contact me and I can discuss more in depth why I did not like this book.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
I don't ever rate books 1 star. Especially if I have finished the entire thing. To me, that at least warrants 2 stars. The Law of Inertia is the first book I have read in a long time that really just left me feeling quite disturbed. Sometimes when a book does this it's a good thing, but not in this case.
I'm going to be as vague as possible so I don't spoil anything for those of you who would like to read it. Because of this, it might not make a ton of sense as to why I did not like it. I'll try my best though.
I believe books about suicide and self-harm can be educating to people. I don't expect every book to have a happy ending. That being said, I also don't want these type of books to be damaging, and I fear that this one can be.
I liked Ash well enough in the beginning. He has suffered with depression and suicidal ideation for the majority of his life and that's something I can really relate to. I also relate to him being queer. I also liked James a lot. He's an incredibly caring boyfriend and I loved how much he did for Ash. I think the lengths James went to to discover what happened to Ash the night he committed suicide really speaks to how much James loved him.
I did not like Elliot or Louise very much. Elliot seemed like he wanted to do the best for his brother, he's still just a teenager. As someone who was a teenager not very long ago I remember vividly not trusting anyone else and wanting to believe I could do everything. But that isn't always how it really is and that was the case with Elliot. He wanted to provide a good life for Ash, but he was also just a teenager who wanted to party. He also had a drug problem, which was handled very poorly in this book.
Louise was just a boring character. She didn't really have much a story line outside of Elliot and I found myself skimming her chapters.
I HATED the ending. It was what ultimately drove me to rate this so low. It was supposed to be a shocking twist, but I saw it coming and desperately hoped I was wrong. I'm not going to say what happened, but I will say that it perpetuates the idea that mentally ill people shouldn't be held accountable for their actions and I strongly disagree with that. Mentally ill people can be toxic.
The only positive thing I have to say about this book is that it was racially diverse. James is half Filipino and Louise is Hispanic. I really appreciated that.
Overall, I really disliked this book. Anyone who has read this or who is okay with spoilers is welcome to contact me and I can discuss more in depth why I did not like this book.