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A review by ajb24
Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley
2.0
I wasn't planning on making a list-rant-review, but I guess this is what it is now. I'll say here that I think this is an interesting concept for a book, but I don't like how it was executed. This book covers mental health and sexuality well and these are important topics for a YA book.
Initially I gave this book 2 stars because I feel like all books have merits, and what I think about it is just personal preference and doesn't detract from its inherent value. However, after my rant below I'm tempted to give a 1 star because I just really don't like this book :/
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>:(
Don't make it gay if it's not going to be gay!!
I guess I'm just upset because I wanted MLM romance but just got a bunch of "hints" for it to lead to nothing and awkwardness and drama.
Also, all these characters are WEIRD. They just don't act how real teens act??? Especially Lisa. NO teenager is this insanely driven and also willingly wakes up at 7am on a summer weekday.
Do Lisa and Clark not have lives outside of school and Solomon?? ""Conveniently"" Clark hates his teammates and apparently has ZERO other friends except Lisa. And then Lisa is somehow a huge, obnoxious extrovert but has one friend (Janis). BUT she also is really involved in school activities??? This doesn't make sense??
Why are Solomon's parents never home??? They seem to work jobs that would have regular hours but what do I know.
Why was there this weird subplot where everyone's families are messed up?? The worst was Lisa's mom/stepfather drama WHY WAS THAT THERE. WHAT DID IT ADD. A reason for Lisa to want to leave Upland forever?? She could've just had an absent mother. If the mom was a necessary character for Lisa to discuss Solomon/Clark with, and the subsequent coded-homophobic mother/teen defense, that could have happened without any weird stepfather history.
Why was it important to include Drew (Clark's younger sister) when she doesn't add anything to the plot?
What was this whole weird religious/born-again Christianity undercurrent included but then never explained? Personally, it didn't add anything of value it just became some excuse for vague homophobia and word count-extending. For example: Clark "doesn't believe in global warming" and it's because his mom is a born-again Christian or whatever. WHY?!? This book was written in 2016, and belief in global warming SHOULD NOT be a question, especially in a mainstream YA book. Unless you write cult Christian novels, or the characters laugh in his face/argue with him about it, or if that character trait was important IN ANY WAY to the rest of the story, I don't think it's important. AND it's potentially damaging because it's not funny to just say something utterly stupid like "the water is cold so lol global warming isn't real" and just move on without any explanation! It's such a small detail that I'm harping on here, I know, but listen. It added NO VALUE to the story. It's irrelevant information, and if you're going to have this "progressive" novel discussing mental health issues and gay issues in respectful, easy-to-digest ways, adding this nonsense doesn't do anything.
Lastly, the dialogue was so fast paced and the constant banter-ful remarks felt almost unrealistic at times. Idk, it was just one-liner after one-liner and I feel like real people don't have conversations like that.
Initially I gave this book 2 stars because I feel like all books have merits, and what I think about it is just personal preference and doesn't detract from its inherent value. However, after my rant below I'm tempted to give a 1 star because I just really don't like this book :/
---------------------------------------------------
>:(
Don't make it gay if it's not going to be gay!!
I guess I'm just upset because I wanted MLM romance but just got a bunch of "hints" for it to lead to nothing and awkwardness and drama.
Also, all these characters are WEIRD. They just don't act how real teens act??? Especially Lisa. NO teenager is this insanely driven and also willingly wakes up at 7am on a summer weekday.
Do Lisa and Clark not have lives outside of school and Solomon?? ""Conveniently"" Clark hates his teammates and apparently has ZERO other friends except Lisa. And then Lisa is somehow a huge, obnoxious extrovert but has one friend (Janis). BUT she also is really involved in school activities??? This doesn't make sense??
Why are Solomon's parents never home??? They seem to work jobs that would have regular hours but what do I know.
Why was there this weird subplot where everyone's families are messed up?? The worst was Lisa's mom/stepfather drama WHY WAS THAT THERE. WHAT DID IT ADD. A reason for Lisa to want to leave Upland forever?? She could've just had an absent mother. If the mom was a necessary character for Lisa to discuss Solomon/Clark with, and the subsequent coded-homophobic mother/teen defense, that could have happened without any weird stepfather history.
Why was it important to include Drew (Clark's younger sister) when she doesn't add anything to the plot?
What was this whole weird religious/born-again Christianity undercurrent included but then never explained? Personally, it didn't add anything of value it just became some excuse for vague homophobia and word count-extending. For example: Clark "doesn't believe in global warming" and it's because his mom is a born-again Christian or whatever. WHY?!? This book was written in 2016, and belief in global warming SHOULD NOT be a question, especially in a mainstream YA book. Unless you write cult Christian novels, or the characters laugh in his face/argue with him about it, or if that character trait was important IN ANY WAY to the rest of the story, I don't think it's important. AND it's potentially damaging because it's not funny to just say something utterly stupid like "the water is cold so lol global warming isn't real" and just move on without any explanation! It's such a small detail that I'm harping on here, I know, but listen. It added NO VALUE to the story. It's irrelevant information, and if you're going to have this "progressive" novel discussing mental health issues and gay issues in respectful, easy-to-digest ways, adding this nonsense doesn't do anything.
Lastly, the dialogue was so fast paced and the constant banter-ful remarks felt almost unrealistic at times. Idk, it was just one-liner after one-liner and I feel like real people don't have conversations like that.