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cnholly 's review for:
The You I've Never Known
by Ellen Hopkins
2.5 out of 5 stars, that .5 was only added because the ending was goodish but of course I still have questions. TW: Attempted Rape, Alcohol and Physical Abuse, Homophobia, Underage Drinking, Smoking, and Sex, (not as graphic as it could be, but still there) and Attempted Murder.
Listen, It took 380 pages to actually pick up, I wanted to DNF so bad but felt like I should give it a try only because a good friend of mine gave me this book for Christmas after asking all my friends to give me their favorite books as a Christmas present and me wanting to open my mind to other books and genre's besides Murder Mysteries,(which will always have my heart).
(spoilers..)
I tried, I really really tried to like this book, I think my problem was I read the preview of the book so i was patiently/impatiently waiting for it to pick up and talk about the kidnapping, this book is a 600page book and it took over half the book to finally talk about her mother, and it did it in the least melodramatic way, I mean I guess I get it as a 17 year old, I'd probably freak out the way she did, but i have so many questions. The ending is alright, it doesn't really go into detail about what she's going to do with the rest of her life. Just leaves it as a 'I don't know, I'll figure it out when we get there'. It talks a lot about controlling parents as well, and does it pretty accurately as well. Trying to isolate the child, refuse to let them get a job, or a Car, control who they hang out with. It did great making it actually seem like her father wanted to be a 'loving parent' instead of a narcissistic father.
The Pros: great representation of the LGBTQ+ community and how we are open about our sexuality but maybe not as open around our family and Parents, Great representation about Bisexuality and how people treat it, I've experienced a lot of things that the Main Character has experienced at a young age, especially the "you're just greedy and don't know what you want" trope. Great friends both Male and Female and is overall a great 'Coming of age' story to read for teenagers/young adults. I would have loved to have this book to read at 16-18. The characters were also really diverse, and great. Mexican characters that also spoke Spanish but translated for the non-speakers or not as diverse in the language, but if you took Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 in high school or college like I did, you'll be able to translate most if not all of the Spanish in the book.
The Cons: I honestly think i would have given it a better rating had I not read the preview on the inside cover because I wouldn't have been expecting the 'kidnapping' It was only because of that I felt as though the book was dragging on. I was very impatient. Had I not read the preview it was a great story on it's on as just a book about a girl experiencing her sexuality and trying to be a 'normal teenager', or as normal as she could be for living on the road for 14 years.
Overall, I wish we got to experience more before ending on such short notice, I wanted more, I want to experience more of her living on her own, I have so many questions for Ariel. Like experiencing trying to rebuild a connection with her Mom and her Mom's wife. More about her Mom's life. How is Zelda doing, She is as much of a victim as Ariel is. Did they ever catch her father? Did she ever try charging her Father with attempted murder? Did she graduate high school, go to college? are her and Hilary ever become good friends? How's Hilary doing/recovering? Does Ariel still work at the Barn? did she start working full time? Did she move in with Zelda? How's Gabe and his mom, is she recovering as well? I felt like after dropping a big bomb on us with less than 200 pages left there's so many questions unanswered and so much more to know about Ariel Pearson, or Casey Baxter.
Listen, It took 380 pages to actually pick up, I wanted to DNF so bad but felt like I should give it a try only because a good friend of mine gave me this book for Christmas after asking all my friends to give me their favorite books as a Christmas present and me wanting to open my mind to other books and genre's besides Murder Mysteries,(which will always have my heart).
(spoilers..)
I tried, I really really tried to like this book, I think my problem was I read the preview of the book so i was patiently/impatiently waiting for it to pick up and talk about the kidnapping, this book is a 600page book and it took over half the book to finally talk about her mother, and it did it in the least melodramatic way, I mean I guess I get it as a 17 year old, I'd probably freak out the way she did, but i have so many questions. The ending is alright, it doesn't really go into detail about what she's going to do with the rest of her life. Just leaves it as a 'I don't know, I'll figure it out when we get there'. It talks a lot about controlling parents as well, and does it pretty accurately as well. Trying to isolate the child, refuse to let them get a job, or a Car, control who they hang out with. It did great making it actually seem like her father wanted to be a 'loving parent' instead of a narcissistic father.
The Pros: great representation of the LGBTQ+ community and how we are open about our sexuality but maybe not as open around our family and Parents, Great representation about Bisexuality and how people treat it, I've experienced a lot of things that the Main Character has experienced at a young age, especially the "you're just greedy and don't know what you want" trope. Great friends both Male and Female and is overall a great 'Coming of age' story to read for teenagers/young adults. I would have loved to have this book to read at 16-18. The characters were also really diverse, and great. Mexican characters that also spoke Spanish but translated for the non-speakers or not as diverse in the language, but if you took Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 in high school or college like I did, you'll be able to translate most if not all of the Spanish in the book.
The Cons: I honestly think i would have given it a better rating had I not read the preview on the inside cover because I wouldn't have been expecting the 'kidnapping' It was only because of that I felt as though the book was dragging on. I was very impatient. Had I not read the preview it was a great story on it's on as just a book about a girl experiencing her sexuality and trying to be a 'normal teenager', or as normal as she could be for living on the road for 14 years.
Overall, I wish we got to experience more before ending on such short notice, I wanted more, I want to experience more of her living on her own, I have so many questions for Ariel. Like experiencing trying to rebuild a connection with her Mom and her Mom's wife. More about her Mom's life. How is Zelda doing, She is as much of a victim as Ariel is. Did they ever catch her father? Did she ever try charging her Father with attempted murder? Did she graduate high school, go to college? are her and Hilary ever become good friends? How's Hilary doing/recovering? Does Ariel still work at the Barn? did she start working full time? Did she move in with Zelda? How's Gabe and his mom, is she recovering as well? I felt like after dropping a big bomb on us with less than 200 pages left there's so many questions unanswered and so much more to know about Ariel Pearson, or Casey Baxter.