pandora_1019 's review for:

Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini

4.0

funny reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Like most musical theater nerds, I read this after obsessively listening the the soundtrack for months on end, lamenting the fact that I'll likely never see the show live. It was a pretty easy read with it being a YA novel, but it was still pretty good. It is quite different from the story of the musical, but it's important to remember that the target audiences for the book and the show are different. The book itself was written in 2004 and meant for younger high school aged boys, and therefore some may say it has "outdated" and "unsavory" language and content. The musical (popularized in 2019/2020) is meant more for older teens of all genders and younger adults up to (I would argue) 30ish years old, so it follows more of the language and norms that we would expect in today's media. As an adult female who loves the musical soundtrack, and is very much not the target audience of this book, I still really liked it and would recommend it to fans of the musical.