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A review by skmcwood
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I wanted to love this book. The cover art, the reviews, and the comparisons to Haunting of Hill House and Harry Potter - it just seemed like the perfect book for me. But I didn’t love it, and while there was a time I definitely hated it, I ended up with mixed feelings about it.
The book is a slow burn to say the least. It takes a while to get to anything really captivating. I did like Vera and her dad from the start, I thought the connection to the characters was pretty seamless. Her dad was actually my favorite person in the book for pretty much it’s entirety and I think that’s the point. We really only get him through young Vera’s eyes and young Vera completely idolized him. Her mother was horrid and her hatred of Vera created that idolized version of Vera’s dad since she climbed to him so desperately due to her mother’s neglect contempt.
It didn’t take long from when the book picked up for me to decide I absolutely hated it. I won’t say what happened because it’s a pretty vital part to the story, but I thought there was a much better way to discuss childhood abuse, neglect, and trauma than the event that occurred around the 250 page range. I still really really dislike that choice from the author. I get that we’re seeing how raw and blindly she trusted her father and his method and how badly she just wanted to be loved by her friend, but I think that was a little much for a 13 year old. Maybe I was being overly sensitive, but I continued DNFing here.
Once I decided to keep going, I thought the book got much better. The plot twist at the end was good and it seemed oddly wholesome?? Maybe I was just desperate for Vera to feel love and be accepted at this point, but the ending seemed to tie the loose ends together well for me and redeemed a bit of the book for me.
There were two instances where the writing seems to contradict itself and I hate that. At the end it makes a point ti mention he’s not wearing shoes so he could silently sneak up and then he’s suddenly in boots and there was a similar thing with her dad earlier in the book, but that I can’t temper now. The author seemed to draw your attention to something and then switch it up like it didn’t just get pointed out and that is a minor thing, but it does interfere with the story for me in the moment.
Overall, I give the book a three. It was slow, I think it had an unnecessarily plot point where it just seemed like the author felt it was necessary to go all in on a really messed up situation to make up for the really slow start and that seems really lazy to me, but the ending did tie everything together well enough that it wasn’t a total loss.
The book is a slow burn to say the least. It takes a while to get to anything really captivating. I did like Vera and her dad from the start, I thought the connection to the characters was pretty seamless. Her dad was actually my favorite person in the book for pretty much it’s entirety and I think that’s the point. We really only get him through young Vera’s eyes and young Vera completely idolized him. Her mother was horrid and her hatred of Vera created that idolized version of Vera’s dad since she climbed to him so desperately due to her mother’s neglect contempt.
It didn’t take long from when the book picked up for me to decide I absolutely hated it. I won’t say what happened because it’s a pretty vital part to the story, but I thought there was a much better way to discuss childhood abuse, neglect, and trauma than the event that occurred around the 250 page range. I still really really dislike that choice from the author. I get that we’re seeing how raw and blindly she trusted her father and his method and how badly she just wanted to be loved by her friend, but I think that was a little much for a 13 year old. Maybe I was being overly sensitive, but I continued DNFing here.
Once I decided to keep going, I thought the book got much better. The plot twist at the end was good and it seemed oddly wholesome?? Maybe I was just desperate for Vera to feel love and be accepted at this point, but the ending seemed to tie the loose ends together well for me and redeemed a bit of the book for me.
There were two instances where the writing seems to contradict itself and I hate that. At the end it makes a point ti mention he’s not wearing shoes so he could silently sneak up and then he’s suddenly in boots and there was a similar thing with her dad earlier in the book, but that I can’t temper now. The author seemed to draw your attention to something and then switch it up like it didn’t just get pointed out and that is a minor thing, but it does interfere with the story for me in the moment.
Overall, I give the book a three. It was slow, I think it had an unnecessarily plot point where it just seemed like the author felt it was necessary to go all in on a really messed up situation to make up for the really slow start and that seems really lazy to me, but the ending did tie everything together well enough that it wasn’t a total loss.