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A review by mecmccann
Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Mad Honey follows two teenagers, Lilly and Asher, as they fall in love, until tragedy strikes and Asher finds Lilly dead in her living room. The story follows Asher as he is accused of murdering her and he is left to grieve and grapple with this turn of events.
This book had a clear purpose, to shed light on the lives and dangers of queer youth, and it did achieve it. I thought this aspect of the book was poignant and thorough. However, I had some difficulty really believing the love story. Asher and Lilly were only dating for three months and they fought to the point that they weren't talking for like 8 weeks. They were very much on-again-off-again, in my opinion, but they're so set that this is the love of their life. It's not, you're not talking to each other, you've known each other for a month. This is part of the reason I tend to have issues with books about/from the perspective of teenagers. I was a teenager once, and yes I thought little issues were the end of the world, so I do see that for them. However, I felt that the immaturity of the characters and of their relationship took away from the overall impact that this story could have had.
I could also argue that the immaturity of their relationship reflects that of high school relationships, which this was, and maybe this was some people's high school experience, we all think we're in love after the first date when you're 15. But these kids were 18, seniors, almost done with high school and moving on to college where they would learn quickly how to be adults, and at that point, I think the infatuation of instalove dies down. But this was very much instalove, and that is what takes away from the purpose.
I also felt like it was written to embody tumblr circa 2014, at the height of every teenage girl's John Green era. It really threw me back to when I was 16, on tumblr, reading every book John Green wrote and Supernatural fanfic. With this, there were some similes that just didn't make sense. At least John Green's brother is a scientist, so he wasn't over here making similes about exploding inert compounds. I feel like it's not hard to do a google search to make sure you're actually saying what you want to say. Don't get your information from a tumblr poem.
So I guess TLDR; This book had a clearcut purpose that it achieved well, but it should have been written in 2014, and read and raved about by the John Green girlies on tumblr.
This book had a clear purpose, to shed light on the lives and dangers of queer youth, and it did achieve it. I thought this aspect of the book was poignant and thorough. However, I had some difficulty really believing the love story. Asher and Lilly were only dating for three months and they fought to the point that they weren't talking for like 8 weeks. They were very much on-again-off-again, in my opinion, but they're so set that this is the love of their life. It's not, you're not talking to each other, you've known each other for a month. This is part of the reason I tend to have issues with books about/from the perspective of teenagers. I was a teenager once, and yes I thought little issues were the end of the world, so I do see that for them. However, I felt that the immaturity of the characters and of their relationship took away from the overall impact that this story could have had.
I could also argue that the immaturity of their relationship reflects that of high school relationships, which this was, and maybe this was some people's high school experience, we all think we're in love after the first date when you're 15. But these kids were 18, seniors, almost done with high school and moving on to college where they would learn quickly how to be adults, and at that point, I think the infatuation of instalove dies down. But this was very much instalove, and that is what takes away from the purpose.
I also felt like it was written to embody tumblr circa 2014, at the height of every teenage girl's John Green era. It really threw me back to when I was 16, on tumblr, reading every book John Green wrote and Supernatural fanfic. With this, there were some similes that just didn't make sense. At least John Green's brother is a scientist, so he wasn't over here making similes about exploding inert compounds. I feel like it's not hard to do a google search to make sure you're actually saying what you want to say. Don't get your information from a tumblr poem.
So I guess TLDR; This book had a clearcut purpose that it achieved well, but it should have been written in 2014, and read and raved about by the John Green girlies on tumblr.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Moderate: Blood