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sreddous 's review for:
The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King
by Harry Trevaldwyn
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a MASTER CLASS in writing an "unreliable" first-person narrator.
It is hard, as an adult author, to write dialogue that sounds realistically-enough like the way teens and young people talk. This month I've read a few books that IMO don't always do this very well. THIS book is astonishing in how accurate it is. My friends and I definitely, absolutely talked and thought like this. Even with the lens of "this book is on-purpose a very dramatic and over-the-top slice-of-life story" it's very easy IMO to get immersed in why Patch thinks and feels the way he does about things. That's what makes this book earn its 5-star rating to me. I can both see why he reaches the conclusions he does AND also grind my teeth waiting for him to fix his mistakes, and it's very satisfying to get both!
I think the ending was maybe a bit "not dramatic enough" which feels like a silly thing after the whole book was so over-the-top, but maybe that's actually a good thing and really shows how Patch can grow and can do a better job of realizing how his behavior affects other people.
Overall, this is a lot of fun. It's got some serious topics here and there but otherwise is a lighthearted take on a theater kid's attempts at socializing, communication, and romance, and, yeah, that's all fun stuff to be dealing with in high school.
It is hard, as an adult author, to write dialogue that sounds realistically-enough like the way teens and young people talk. This month I've read a few books that IMO don't always do this very well. THIS book is astonishing in how accurate it is. My friends and I definitely, absolutely talked and thought like this. Even with the lens of "this book is on-purpose a very dramatic and over-the-top slice-of-life story" it's very easy IMO to get immersed in why Patch thinks and feels the way he does about things. That's what makes this book earn its 5-star rating to me. I can both see why he reaches the conclusions he does AND also grind my teeth waiting for him to fix his mistakes, and it's very satisfying to get both!
I think the ending was maybe a bit "not dramatic enough" which feels like a silly thing after the whole book was so over-the-top, but maybe that's actually a good thing and really shows how Patch can grow and can do a better job of realizing how his behavior affects other people.
Overall, this is a lot of fun. It's got some serious topics here and there but otherwise is a lighthearted take on a theater kid's attempts at socializing, communication, and romance, and, yeah, that's all fun stuff to be dealing with in high school.