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A review by chidimmadesiree
They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman
1.0
Umm so where should I start with this book? Let me start off by saying that the reason I hated this book wasn’t because of high school cliches or how it centered around privileged, rich, white teenagers. I actually enjoy most of those tropes in tv shows and movies, so that wasn’t the issue at all. My initial reaction to this book reading the synopsis was that I thought this would become one of my favorites. Welp I didn’t know how wrong I was going to be.
My main problem with this book are the characters. Who exactly are we supposed to be rooting for??? I really truly believe that the author thought that the narrator of this book, Jill, was supposed be this great heroine that readers cheered on. But I got the literal exact opposite effect. I saw the main character as this very needy girl who strongly sought after the approval of her peers. She only saw how she was wrong in her actions when it got flipped on her and effected her brother. All of these characters were unlikable, ALL OF THEM. I did not see a single redeeming quality in any of them. They were cruel teenagers who abused the little ounce of power they got, and the author expected me to feel bad for them. As a reader I’m supposed to believe they all woke up one morning and said “I’m going to start being a decent human being and right all my wrongs.” Like where is the logic??
The murder mystery was so painfully obvious that it was actually kind of sad. I predicted who the murderer was from the beginning. THAT’S COMING FROM THE GIRL WHO NEVER CORRECTLY GUESSES PLOT TWISTS! I wouldn’t chalk up the mediocrity of the plot twists to this book being a young adult thriller because I have read many from that genre who have genuinely shocked me with their plot twists. Overall, I’m just really disappointed in this book because the concept was stellar, but I just wished the execution lived up to it.
My main problem with this book are the characters. Who exactly are we supposed to be rooting for??? I really truly believe that the author thought that the narrator of this book, Jill, was supposed be this great heroine that readers cheered on. But I got the literal exact opposite effect. I saw the main character as this very needy girl who strongly sought after the approval of her peers. She only saw how she was wrong in her actions when it got flipped on her and effected her brother. All of these characters were unlikable, ALL OF THEM. I did not see a single redeeming quality in any of them. They were cruel teenagers who abused the little ounce of power they got, and the author expected me to feel bad for them. As a reader I’m supposed to believe they all woke up one morning and said “I’m going to start being a decent human being and right all my wrongs.” Like where is the logic??
The murder mystery was so painfully obvious that it was actually kind of sad. I predicted who the murderer was from the beginning. THAT’S COMING FROM THE GIRL WHO NEVER CORRECTLY GUESSES PLOT TWISTS! I wouldn’t chalk up the mediocrity of the plot twists to this book being a young adult thriller because I have read many from that genre who have genuinely shocked me with their plot twists. Overall, I’m just really disappointed in this book because the concept was stellar, but I just wished the execution lived up to it.