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A review by sidneyellwood
The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin
2.0
Trigger warning for discussion of suicidal ideation, self-harm, and mental illness. Oh, and there's a warning at the beginning of the book, too, so definitely pay attention to that if you have triggers.
Confession time: it's been a while since I read the original Mara Dyer trilogy, and I can't remember it very well, so definitely chalk up some of my confusion to that, though I don't think it has much impact on a lot of the problems I had with this book. Noah Shaw was my favourite character, I think, along with Jamie, so knowing that both of them were coming back - and that Noah was headlining this series - was really exciting to me.
Things I really loved: Noah's voice. He's bitter and dark and sarcastic, and unapologetically so, and I could relate to him a lot (which is probably a bad thing, as Noah is ... really quite unhealthy. But Michelle Hodkin described suicidal ideation really well. Unfortunately, a lot of other things were handled ... not quite as well. fairly badly, in fact.Honestly, I just read the book for Noah and Jamie, because they were the two most well-written characters in the book. Jamie is a good break from the Noah and Mara Show and all the turmoil and angst surrounding them. He's definitely the most fun character, but he also has depth to him. Mara was all right - I do love good antiheroes - but I just did not feel any connection between her and Noah at all, even though the book was supposedly about them. Seeing Mara through Noah's eyes was really interesting because he definitely idolizes and romanticises her, but I was really frustrated by it sometimes.
I really was expecting more to happen in this book, plot-wise, but it was ... very slow and boring, for the most part, and I wanted to find out more about Noah that I wasn't getting in this book (but I suppose this is a trilogy). Again, a lot of focus was on Mara and Noah's relationship, but I felt like the book got started ... right at the end. So much of it could have been cut out. Obviously, I don't know what Hodkin has planned for the next books but I feel like it could easily be a duology.
The big problem I had with The Becoming of Noah Shaw, though, was the romanticisation of mental illness throughout a lot of the story - and, well, through the series too. A lot of it was awful and skewed, such as when Noah tells Mara, "You're my favourite form of self-harm." After a scene where Mara. And that left me absolutely dismayed, because one of the things I know about self-harm intervention is that you're not supposed to make relapses a big deal. People around you are not supposed to make relapses a big deal. How Mara dealt with it was infuriating. And Noah's response was too. That's the big one, but really, this problem is prevalent throughout the entire book.
Confession time: it's been a while since I read the original Mara Dyer trilogy, and I can't remember it very well, so definitely chalk up some of my confusion to that, though I don't think it has much impact on a lot of the problems I had with this book. Noah Shaw was my favourite character, I think, along with Jamie, so knowing that both of them were coming back - and that Noah was headlining this series - was really exciting to me.
Things I really loved: Noah's voice. He's bitter and dark and sarcastic, and unapologetically so, and I could relate to him a lot (which is probably a bad thing, as Noah is ... really quite unhealthy. But Michelle Hodkin described suicidal ideation really well. Unfortunately, a lot of other things were handled ... not quite as well. fairly badly, in fact.Honestly, I just read the book for Noah and Jamie, because they were the two most well-written characters in the book. Jamie is a good break from the Noah and Mara Show and all the turmoil and angst surrounding them. He's definitely the most fun character, but he also has depth to him. Mara was all right - I do love good antiheroes - but I just did not feel any connection between her and Noah at all, even though the book was supposedly about them. Seeing Mara through Noah's eyes was really interesting because he definitely idolizes and romanticises her, but I was really frustrated by it sometimes.
I really was expecting more to happen in this book, plot-wise, but it was ... very slow and boring, for the most part, and I wanted to find out more about Noah that I wasn't getting in this book (but I suppose this is a trilogy). Again, a lot of focus was on Mara and Noah's relationship, but I felt like the book got started ... right at the end. So much of it could have been cut out. Obviously, I don't know what Hodkin has planned for the next books but I feel like it could easily be a duology.
The big problem I had with The Becoming of Noah Shaw, though, was the romanticisation of mental illness throughout a lot of the story - and, well, through the series too. A lot of it was awful and skewed, such as when Noah tells Mara, "You're my favourite form of self-harm." After a scene where Mara