Scan barcode
A review by tiffyofthemonts
Trouble by Non Pratt
3.0
Full review to come, but I think this is more of a 3.5 star book. The characters were mostly all intriguing - Katie, Tyrone, Marcy, Gideon, Aaron, Rex, Jay and of course Hannah - but I felt like they were explored and then dropped out of nowhere. I find it frustrating when an author introduces really compelling and complex characters and writes about them and gives them a sizable part of the story and then they just taper off and disappear completely. It makes no sense to me. OR when they start out as complex individuals with both negative and redeeming qualities, but then they into very black or white characters.
I guess I was expecting the story to be more in some areas than it actually was, given all the focus on specific characters who turned out only to be a means to an end (i.e. Tyrone = reason for Marcy to hate Hannah; Marcy = reason for Katie to ditch Hannah; Rex = reason for Marcy to hang out with Katie; Katie = reason for Hannah to make new friends). I was supremely disappointed that nothing ever happened with Jay. There was zero accountability and no closure either. It was hard to see why he as a person mattered so much to Hannah - he seemed like a terrible human being, tbh. The ending felt like a cop-out, or like we were missing 40 pages from the book.
I did love the way teen pregnancy was illustrated. Nothing was glorified a la Teen Mom but there wasn't a public service announcement feel to the story either. It was sort of matter of fact, like, okay she's pregnant. What next? I liked the way Hannah came to terms with pregnancy but she still remained fifteen years old. She still had exams and wanted to look good and had friend drama. I liked that realistic detail.
In general I also liked the way sex was handled in this book - it was not overly preachy (if anything, Non Pratt may have been a bit overly encouraging...) and clearly Hannah was comfortable with her own sexuality. Mostly I'm glad that there was no sex-shaming (or if there was, that it rolled right off Hannah's back).
I thought Aaron's whole backstory felt a little bit contrived and forced, but then I'm not much for reading about characters with self-hatred issues so I may be biased in that sense. There was something about Aaron, though, that made him seem kind of cardboard at times. I suppose that's the point, I mean he's tamping down all emotion and stuff. He just was not as colorful or compelling a character for me to read.
Also. Can we just talk about how I completely missed the sperm on the cover??? I kind of love it.
I guess I was expecting the story to be more in some areas than it actually was, given all the focus on specific characters who turned out only to be a means to an end (i.e. Tyrone = reason for Marcy to hate Hannah; Marcy = reason for Katie to ditch Hannah; Rex = reason for Marcy to hang out with Katie; Katie = reason for Hannah to make new friends). I was supremely disappointed that nothing ever happened with Jay. There was zero accountability and no closure either. It was hard to see why he as a person mattered so much to Hannah - he seemed like a terrible human being, tbh. The ending felt like a cop-out, or like we were missing 40 pages from the book.
I did love the way teen pregnancy was illustrated. Nothing was glorified a la Teen Mom but there wasn't a public service announcement feel to the story either. It was sort of matter of fact, like, okay she's pregnant. What next? I liked the way Hannah came to terms with pregnancy but she still remained fifteen years old. She still had exams and wanted to look good and had friend drama. I liked that realistic detail.
In general I also liked the way sex was handled in this book - it was not overly preachy (if anything, Non Pratt may have been a bit overly encouraging...) and clearly Hannah was comfortable with her own sexuality. Mostly I'm glad that there was no sex-shaming (or if there was, that it rolled right off Hannah's back).
I thought Aaron's whole backstory felt a little bit contrived and forced, but then I'm not much for reading about characters with self-hatred issues so I may be biased in that sense. There was something about Aaron, though, that made him seem kind of cardboard at times. I suppose that's the point, I mean he's tamping down all emotion and stuff. He just was not as colorful or compelling a character for me to read.
Also. Can we just talk about how I completely missed the sperm on the cover??? I kind of love it.