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A review by jocelyn_marie
Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel by Val Emmich
3.0
This book had me in the first half, and then it just slowed down. It got very repetitive, Evan being nervous about the same things and whatnot, but I will say it did pick up. I did feel at the end it was hard to follow the timeline they were on, but that's ok because I mostly skimmed it.
This book was originally a 2-star rating, but some of Connor's POVs really brought it up. I wanted to see more of him and Miguel, but at the same time, I appreciate that the authors picked a plot line and stuck with it. Some of the details were unnecessary, and that just made it confusing. I also felt Evan not taking his anxiety meds anymore really could have been taken out because it was only discussed a couple times.
I have a couple more things I did not like about this book:
1. Evan made many mental jabs at "generously proportioned students" as he liked to call them, about how they envied him sitting out of gym class, which is not ok. One of the unnecessary details I was talking about earlier.
2. They never had an important conversation on mental health, drugs, or suicide. Connor commited suicide and Evan attempted suicide, and while Connor's death was the driving point of the story and people were talking about this a little bit more, no character had a sit-down talk about this. I think that could have been addressed a bit more.
3. Evan and his anxiety meds. In the beginning of the book he was taking them like every 5 seconds, and then at the end he stopped taking them entirely because he "didn't want to be that person anymore". I feel like he should have gone through some medical withdrawal because of this, and it's not healthy to be taking medication like that. I know he did go through a lot mentally, but I feel like this should have taken a toll on his body as well. I don't know, that just bothered me.
I did really like a few things about this book, though:
1. Connor's POVs made the book. I wish they were longer, or that he could have narrated the whole story. I would love to read a book about his life, a more detailed one than this. He just understood things, and I thought it was interesting to hear how he thought certain events went down.
2. The message of "you matter, I matter, we all matter". Always an important one to hear, but I felt like the authors hyped it up a bit too much and then I didn't see much of the theme in the book (still important, though). I did like the second-chance theme a little bit with Evan and Zoe too.
Anyway, I felt like the book could have been a lot shorter, but I did like the overall themes and messages. I do know though, that a lot of times I don't like books because I can't related to the situation, and I did not find Evan's anxiety relatable, and I have never suffered from depression, so I can't relate to that either.
While I did not love this book, I am going to watch the musical and see what I think of it.
This book was originally a 2-star rating, but some of Connor's POVs really brought it up. I wanted to see more of him and Miguel, but at the same time, I appreciate that the authors picked a plot line and stuck with it. Some of the details were unnecessary, and that just made it confusing. I also felt Evan not taking his anxiety meds anymore really could have been taken out because it was only discussed a couple times.
I have a couple more things I did not like about this book:
1. Evan made many mental jabs at "generously proportioned students" as he liked to call them, about how they envied him sitting out of gym class, which is not ok. One of the unnecessary details I was talking about earlier.
2. They never had an important conversation on mental health, drugs, or suicide. Connor commited suicide and Evan attempted suicide, and while Connor's death was the driving point of the story and people were talking about this a little bit more, no character had a sit-down talk about this. I think that could have been addressed a bit more.
3. Evan and his anxiety meds. In the beginning of the book he was taking them like every 5 seconds, and then at the end he stopped taking them entirely because he "didn't want to be that person anymore". I feel like he should have gone through some medical withdrawal because of this, and it's not healthy to be taking medication like that. I know he did go through a lot mentally, but I feel like this should have taken a toll on his body as well. I don't know, that just bothered me.
I did really like a few things about this book, though:
1. Connor's POVs made the book. I wish they were longer, or that he could have narrated the whole story. I would love to read a book about his life, a more detailed one than this. He just understood things, and I thought it was interesting to hear how he thought certain events went down.
2. The message of "you matter, I matter, we all matter". Always an important one to hear, but I felt like the authors hyped it up a bit too much and then I didn't see much of the theme in the book (still important, though). I did like the second-chance theme a little bit with Evan and Zoe too.
Anyway, I felt like the book could have been a lot shorter, but I did like the overall themes and messages. I do know though, that a lot of times I don't like books because I can't related to the situation, and I did not find Evan's anxiety relatable, and I have never suffered from depression, so I can't relate to that either.
While I did not love this book, I am going to watch the musical and see what I think of it.