Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by powisamy
What Goes Down by Natalie K. Martin
3.0
3.5 stars
Book Review:
When I first heard about What Goes Down, I was really interested in the premise as I knew that it dealt with mental health and often do search for books around this topic. What Goes Down did live up to this notion, being an honest and engaging look at mental health and family.
So I should probably get the negatives out the way first. At times, this book didn't engage me as much as I hoped it would but I feel like this was because it is an adult fiction novel and was about someone who was older than me so I couldn't really relate to there experiences. Saying that this was the only negative to the book that I often found.
The plot still did interest me and I was really excited to see where the story would go as we are literally dropped straight into the story from the first page and therefore need and want to find out what happened. There is also a big twist at the end of the book which I was also really shocked about and I just had to read it faster after that.
The narrative is also told in a past and present narrative juggling her mum's perspective in the 1980s as well as a present-day narrative. I really do think this worked in the story and developed Laurel, Seph's mum character much more as we really do understand why she does what she does throughout the novel. The development of a mother character is not something that is done often in YA so, therefore, I really liked seeing it in this book. Although, not one for the 1980s setting due to the overload of 80s nostalgia in pop culture this did not affect me when reading.
I also really enjoyed Seph as a character and the way that she interacted with her father after they met up and did find her to be quite interested and likeable although she had some bumpy times ahead in the book.
I also did like the honest way that this book dealt with mental health as it was dealt with in a careful way although I personally can not say if the portrayal of Bipolar it might be worth seeing if anyone who has the condition says when and if they read the book.
This may be slightly weird but I really like the dialogue in the book, it never felt forced and was quite natural which is always something nice to see when reading.
The Verdict:
What Goes Down is an interesting and engaging novel that balances the past and present as well as family life to make a good, solid read.
Book Review:
When I first heard about What Goes Down, I was really interested in the premise as I knew that it dealt with mental health and often do search for books around this topic. What Goes Down did live up to this notion, being an honest and engaging look at mental health and family.
So I should probably get the negatives out the way first. At times, this book didn't engage me as much as I hoped it would but I feel like this was because it is an adult fiction novel and was about someone who was older than me so I couldn't really relate to there experiences. Saying that this was the only negative to the book that I often found.
The plot still did interest me and I was really excited to see where the story would go as we are literally dropped straight into the story from the first page and therefore need and want to find out what happened. There is also a big twist at the end of the book which I was also really shocked about and I just had to read it faster after that.
The narrative is also told in a past and present narrative juggling her mum's perspective in the 1980s as well as a present-day narrative. I really do think this worked in the story and developed Laurel, Seph's mum character much more as we really do understand why she does what she does throughout the novel. The development of a mother character is not something that is done often in YA so, therefore, I really liked seeing it in this book. Although, not one for the 1980s setting due to the overload of 80s nostalgia in pop culture this did not affect me when reading.
I also really enjoyed Seph as a character and the way that she interacted with her father after they met up and did find her to be quite interested and likeable although she had some bumpy times ahead in the book.
I also did like the honest way that this book dealt with mental health as it was dealt with in a careful way although I personally can not say if the portrayal of Bipolar it might be worth seeing if anyone who has the condition says when and if they read the book.
This may be slightly weird but I really like the dialogue in the book, it never felt forced and was quite natural which is always something nice to see when reading.
The Verdict:
What Goes Down is an interesting and engaging novel that balances the past and present as well as family life to make a good, solid read.