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A review by venusdapoopiehead
Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
wanted to re-read this to give it another chance and i’m so glad i did considering i missed the entire point of this book the first time i read it. parker, imo, is by far one of the most realistic and relatable main characters i’ve read about in a book. the self sabotaging behavior, isolating yourself and pushing people away, the need for perfection and desperately trying to fulfill the incredibly high expectations people have of you, etc etc, all incredibly relatable and something that i think almost everyone can relate to, especially teens, and i’m just actually glad she’s not perfect (she even said so herself) cause picture perfect characters are so boring and uninteresting.
one thing that i think i loved the most about this book was the style of the writing, where we (the readers) get like little snippets of the past and what happened, as a way to try to fully understand and comprehend why parker is the way that she is, i thought that was a nice touch to the book overall since i wanted to know more about such an interesting main character. apparently some couldn’t tell that said snippets in the book were from the past, personally if you just simply look at the fact that they’re in italics and use context clues, it’ll be easy to tell that it’s clearly talking about parker’s past. i am slightly curious about how parker’s life goes from there-like i think i’d love a little sequel where she’s an adult and we get a glimpse into how she’s doing now that she’s older and how much progress she made in terms of self improvement, if she made any progress at all, etc, but obviously the chances of a sequel are pretty slim, so oh well.
also personally wasn’t a fan of parker and jake’s relationship? situationship? idk but i didn’t care, especially since jake was kind of a weirdo at times (which ig is to be expected cause he’s a teenage boy but still) so each time they interacted (which was a lot, pretty much half of the book) i just did not care whatsoever.
TLDR: loved the relatability of the main character and how realistic she felt (cause let’s be honest here what high schooler isn’t super depressed and extremely flawed). also loved the writing style, wish i could see into the main character’s future tho cause now im way too invested into the life of someone who doesn’t even exist, but im fine with the fact that there won’t ever be a sequel to this. didn’t care about parker and jake’s “relationship” or whatever, but other than that, good soup.
one thing that i think i loved the most about this book was the style of the writing, where we (the readers) get like little snippets of the past and what happened, as a way to try to fully understand and comprehend why parker is the way that she is, i thought that was a nice touch to the book overall since i wanted to know more about such an interesting main character. apparently some couldn’t tell that said snippets in the book were from the past, personally if you just simply look at the fact that they’re in italics and use context clues, it’ll be easy to tell that it’s clearly talking about parker’s past. i am slightly curious about how parker’s life goes from there-like i think i’d love a little sequel where she’s an adult and we get a glimpse into how she’s doing now that she’s older and how much progress she made in terms of self improvement, if she made any progress at all, etc, but obviously the chances of a sequel are pretty slim, so oh well.
also personally wasn’t a fan of parker and jake’s relationship? situationship? idk but i didn’t care, especially since jake was kind of a weirdo at times (which ig is to be expected cause he’s a teenage boy but still) so each time they interacted (which was a lot, pretty much half of the book) i just did not care whatsoever.
TLDR: loved the relatability of the main character and how realistic she felt (cause let’s be honest here what high schooler isn’t super depressed and extremely flawed). also loved the writing style, wish i could see into the main character’s future tho cause now im way too invested into the life of someone who doesn’t even exist, but im fine with the fact that there won’t ever be a sequel to this. didn’t care about parker and jake’s “relationship” or whatever, but other than that, good soup.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Infidelity