Review by fionah822 - How We Fall Apart

fionah822 's review for:

How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao

1.5

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The premise of this was so good. The execution was terrible.
Four students are afraid that their big secrets will be revealed. These secrets are shockingly tame and consequence-free for how hyped up they are. I mean. For example, a character

takes Adderall as a study aid. Not great, but like... he's not the only student even in his school, I'm sure. Also, he references taking drugs "to forget" something he feels guilty for, but there's no discussion of him doing anything else!! Is he doing something more illegal? Because I don't think Adderall makes you forget your problems!

When a secret is revealed, the character affected falls over on the floor and starts convulsing like he's having a seizure. This is, apparently, what him having a panic attack looks like. This was such a terrible description it took me out of things completely.
Finally, the villain reveal was just bonkers. Even if you can't guess the villain, you should at least have them in the back of your mind as a suspect. They should NOT

literally come back from the dead, get plastic surgery, and somehow spend years at the same school unrecognized.

There was no way the reader could've expected this "twist".
It was also so infuriating to watch the main character keep

going back to Peter. She knows it's a bad idea, know's he's manipulative, knows it's a power imbalance... but she keeps going back to him. Why??

Oh, also, the main character tells us she's a poet early in the plot and makes references to writing lyrics to someone's violin music. Why does she never even think about writing a poem/lyrics for the entire book? Beyond the big stuff, there were a few small things like this that killed me.

Content Warnings