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A review by the_chaotic_witch
Above All Else by Dana Alison Levy
1.0
1.5/5☆
TO BE PUBLISHED OCT 13, 2020
*SPOILER-FREE*
trigger warnings: depression, PTSD, panic attacks, anxiety, heights, cold, death, severe illness, sexual content, parent-child tensions
Now, this is an ACR I read over NetGalley and it started my current contemporary mood. It is about Rose and Tate, about to finish school but dropping out for a few months to fulfil the dream they worked for for years: summiting Mount Everest. With Tate's father Jordan and their friend Paul, they set off to Nepal to begin their trip up high into the air while all of them are struggling with their very own problems.
Rose is guild-ridden, Tate's trying to convince himself he can just ignore his PTSD, Jordan just wants his son to make something of himself and he wants to summit. Paul is the one giving advice to everyone. Also on the team are Yoon Su, Korean overachiever and Luc a french guy who just wants to prove that he can.
I had two main issues with this story but first, a few minor things I disliked: a bilingual person talking 50/50 their first and second language in daily conversations, sexism to make a character funny, talking about the importance of mental illness and making healthy decisions based on what you need to heal only to brush that all aside at the end to be heroic, childhood friends to lovers (in this context), characters just not listening to each other because they're too "stubborn", etc.
Now the main issue I had because it basically is one that shows in two dimensions. On the one hand the story-telling, on the other hand, the characters. What all of them had in common was complete and total inconsistency.
Not only do they jump between "I am feeling so terrible and I do not want to do this" to "I am so excited about this let's head out right now" about five times per pages (exaggerating obviously but that's what it felt like), but there is also is an inconsistency in their interactions with one another. The depression and anxiety rep felt like it came out of nowhere, PTSD.1 felt very well developed(!!) but PTSD.2 didn't make sense in how we were guided through the story and felt like it was only there to round the story up.
I know these are not many points of critique but they bothered me immensely. Also, the characters blamed themselves for things and were told certain things that should have been discussed differently to bring across that these things are not a healthy way to interact with other people.
But, I'll say it again: The whole climbing and Everest felt very very well researched!
TO BE PUBLISHED OCT 13, 2020
*SPOILER-FREE*
trigger warnings: depression, PTSD, panic attacks, anxiety, heights, cold, death, severe illness, sexual content, parent-child tensions
Now, this is an ACR I read over NetGalley and it started my current contemporary mood. It is about Rose and Tate, about to finish school but dropping out for a few months to fulfil the dream they worked for for years: summiting Mount Everest. With Tate's father Jordan and their friend Paul, they set off to Nepal to begin their trip up high into the air while all of them are struggling with their very own problems.
Rose is guild-ridden, Tate's trying to convince himself he can just ignore his PTSD, Jordan just wants his son to make something of himself and he wants to summit. Paul is the one giving advice to everyone. Also on the team are Yoon Su, Korean overachiever and Luc a french guy who just wants to prove that he can.
I had two main issues with this story but first, a few minor things I disliked: a bilingual person talking 50/50 their first and second language in daily conversations, sexism to make a character funny, talking about the importance of mental illness and making healthy decisions based on what you need to heal only to brush that all aside at the end to be heroic, childhood friends to lovers (in this context), characters just not listening to each other because they're too "stubborn", etc.
Now the main issue I had because it basically is one that shows in two dimensions. On the one hand the story-telling, on the other hand, the characters. What all of them had in common was complete and total inconsistency.
Not only do they jump between "I am feeling so terrible and I do not want to do this" to "I am so excited about this let's head out right now" about five times per pages (exaggerating obviously but that's what it felt like), but there is also is an inconsistency in their interactions with one another. The depression and anxiety rep felt like it came out of nowhere, PTSD.1 felt very well developed(!!) but PTSD.2 didn't make sense in how we were guided through the story and felt like it was only there to round the story up.
I know these are not many points of critique but they bothered me immensely. Also, the characters blamed themselves for things and were told certain things that should have been discussed differently to bring across that these things are not a healthy way to interact with other people.
But, I'll say it again: The whole climbing and Everest felt very very well researched!