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A review by ccleeds7
It Helps with the Blues by Bryan Cebulski
3.0
*I received an e-arc of this book from BookSirens in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.*
CW: references to suicide.
It Helps With the Blues was... different.
Not necessarily bad different. And I thought the idea was good, just maybe not for me.
It Helps With the Blues is a short book, around the length of a novella, that is loosely inspired by The Great Gatsby (which becomes meta, as the main character becomes obsessed with TGG as well as Fitzgerald's other works, and compares himself to Nick, who is the model for this character).
It hit me about 2/3 of the way through the story that that was what was happening. The story was disjointed, but also meant to feel that way, but it also wasn't until that point when I realized when I didn't know the main character's name. The story is told in the first person, a bisexual 18yo boy getting ready to graduate from high school when a younger boy from his school kills himself. The rest of the story is how that impacts the MC and his friends/acquaintances, all of whom we seem to know better than the MC. The MC almost vanishes within the stories and feelings of everyone else, as the story becomes about them, rather than the MC.
I liked that the story showed how someone's suicide can affect those who survive them, even if they didn't necessarily know each other well, or even more than in passing. It illustrated mental health, but didn't really name anything, which I didn't like, and it seemed to blame the issues on stupid things - but it's the other characters making those assumptions, and I disagree with them often. While the writing is really good stylistically, and the execution of this idea was really good, I realized as I neared the book's end that I didn't really like any of the main characters, which got worse as the story progressed, building over time. Too many characters were making too many assumptions of other people, especially of the boy who died, even the characters who had known him well. Ironically, I like The Great Gatsby more than this. Did I really like the characters in that either - not really, but I thought they were more interesting and less annoying. The characters here, especially Jules, Joshua, and Gabriel, make so many assumptions, and they seem increasingly more condescending and presumptuous.
All in all, I would recommend this for those who are looking for a ya story that is written more as a piece of literary fiction, stylistically and characteristically.
CW: references to suicide.
It Helps With the Blues was... different.
Not necessarily bad different. And I thought the idea was good, just maybe not for me.
It Helps With the Blues is a short book, around the length of a novella, that is loosely inspired by The Great Gatsby (which becomes meta, as the main character becomes obsessed with TGG as well as Fitzgerald's other works, and compares himself to Nick, who is the model for this character).
It hit me about 2/3 of the way through the story that that was what was happening. The story was disjointed, but also meant to feel that way, but it also wasn't until that point when I realized when I didn't know the main character's name. The story is told in the first person, a bisexual 18yo boy getting ready to graduate from high school when a younger boy from his school kills himself. The rest of the story is how that impacts the MC and his friends/acquaintances, all of whom we seem to know better than the MC. The MC almost vanishes within the stories and feelings of everyone else, as the story becomes about them, rather than the MC.
Spoiler
The culmination of the story is the MC realizing that he needs to find help for himself as dealing with everyone else's problems, but not having anyone to support him, becomes too much.I liked that the story showed how someone's suicide can affect those who survive them, even if they didn't necessarily know each other well, or even more than in passing. It illustrated mental health, but didn't really name anything, which I didn't like, and it seemed to blame the issues on stupid things - but it's the other characters making those assumptions, and I disagree with them often. While the writing is really good stylistically, and the execution of this idea was really good, I realized as I neared the book's end that I didn't really like any of the main characters, which got worse as the story progressed, building over time. Too many characters were making too many assumptions of other people, especially of the boy who died, even the characters who had known him well. Ironically, I like The Great Gatsby more than this. Did I really like the characters in that either - not really, but I thought they were more interesting and less annoying. The characters here, especially Jules, Joshua, and Gabriel, make so many assumptions, and they seem increasingly more condescending and presumptuous.
All in all, I would recommend this for those who are looking for a ya story that is written more as a piece of literary fiction, stylistically and characteristically.