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A review by bookishlyem
Don't Overthink This by Kelly Piazza
5.0
Don't Overthink This? Well I thought about this A LOT.
This book really surprised me. I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it as much as I did. I give Kelly Piazza's book a 4-4.5/5 stars!
Spoilers :)
I thought this story would be more about Matty and Keelie's love story, but it turned out to be more about Matty's journey and finding his way back to Keelie. Matty's story really grabbed my attention and I was hooked from the moment I started reading to even now when I finished the book at 3 in the morning. I have not grown up around addiction in the way that it is presented in the book, so I cannot fully resonate with the story on a personal level, but man...this really tugged at my heart strings.
Let's talk about the characters, but mostly Matty. Matty was so interesting. What really caught my eye when I started reading was that the main character is a man and not a woman. I haven't read many stories with a male MC written by a woman. That was also one of the reasons why I enjoyed this book so much. In so many books where there is no MC, men are traditionally depicted as strong and "emotionless" with a fleeting moment of emotionality inserted in their story to add depth. This MC on the other had is male and his emotionality and negative experiences are what make the story. Matty's journey and struggle with addiction as it plays out in the book is heartbreaking, raw, and fulfilling. Seeing (or reading) Matty say no to pills or a drink made me so proud of a man that is a) fictional, and b) I have only "known" Matty for a few days. His relationship with his nieces made my heart flutter and Chris and Michelle were so amazing. I felt for him when Sam said that they lost him even before him and Keelie broke up. That must have been awful for him to experience sober, because Matty would generally drown out any negative emotion with pills back then.
Keelie's character was only fully introduced in Part II. I was pleasantly surprised at how calm and nice Keelie was despite Many having drained her savings and ruined much of their life together. But she still loved him despite all of that. Despite all of his faults and how he ruined her life and their life together, she still loved him. I want a love like that and I think I have it. Keelie was patient with Matty and he was ready to let her go if that's what she wanted. What really threw me for a loop was when Matty and Keelie [almost] hooked up on the roof at the wedding reception. I didn't take Keelie for a hook up kinda gal, but in the flashbacks she was also pretty laid back and fun. Keelie gave off a pure, wholesome vibe, so when that scene popped up I was like...woah.
Let's talk about the plot. I really enjoyed this plot. It was original as far as I know from the books I've read. It was captivating. It was magical. it took all of us on a journey that I'm sure we're glad to have been apart of. Addiction and especially opiate addiction is a really tough subject to talk about and bring lasting attention to, but I think Piazza has cemented a really important conversation into time with the creation of this book. From relying on pills to refusing to take them, Matty has really shown a lot of development and has given us all a great story to recommend.
Let's talk about the writing. Describing Matty's personality through the writing and not explicitly describing his personality was really clever. The italics let us look into his mind for periods of time and gave us all an idea of what kind of person Matty is. Matty is anxious, an over-thinker (hence the title), and relies on how people see him and equates that with his worth. I really enjoyed how Piazza felt with mental illness in this book too, There was no sugarcoating, there was just describing how it felt and affected the people around it. Rich's bipolar disorder was really heartbreaking. Even before it was specifically mentioned that he was bipolar, I could immediately tell. And the fact that Matty and the other kids couldn't tell at that age really struck a cord with me. It took Chris having to tell Matty that Rich could be dangerous when he was manic and Rich k*lling himself for the reality of Rich's illness to sink in for Matty and Keelie.
I found the flashbacks to be a little bit confusing. Going from 3 years ago, to 7 years ago, to 6, then 15, to 4, and so on was somewhat difficult for me. Because the flashbacks were not really linear, it was hard for me to keep up. There were a few different stories going on at the same time. At the beginning of the book, there were a few questions that were posed: What happened to Matty and Keelie? What happened to Rich? Is Matty going to recover? All of those were eventually answered, but the first two questioned specifically dealt with the flashbacks. The order of the flashbacks don't make or break the book, but it did kind of add an extra element of "huh?"
Eventually toward the beginning of Part II, I came to this realization that Keelie was another one of Matty's addictions. Similarly to how he was addicted to oxy, Matty was addicted to Keelie. Her skin, her scent, her being. When they slept with each other, he would equate the taste of her lips and skin to the phantom taste of oxy. I don't know if I felt good or bad about that, but I did feel better that he wasn't satiating his craving with pills, her was satiating his craving with Keelie. Sometimes there are just some people in our lives that we never forget, whether it's their scent or their image, we find ourselves craving them. keel was that for Matty.
Overall, well done Kelly Piazza!
This book really surprised me. I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it as much as I did. I give Kelly Piazza's book a 4-4.5/5 stars!
Spoilers :)
I thought this story would be more about Matty and Keelie's love story, but it turned out to be more about Matty's journey and finding his way back to Keelie. Matty's story really grabbed my attention and I was hooked from the moment I started reading to even now when I finished the book at 3 in the morning. I have not grown up around addiction in the way that it is presented in the book, so I cannot fully resonate with the story on a personal level, but man...this really tugged at my heart strings.
Let's talk about the characters, but mostly Matty. Matty was so interesting. What really caught my eye when I started reading was that the main character is a man and not a woman. I haven't read many stories with a male MC written by a woman. That was also one of the reasons why I enjoyed this book so much. In so many books where there is no MC, men are traditionally depicted as strong and "emotionless" with a fleeting moment of emotionality inserted in their story to add depth. This MC on the other had is male and his emotionality and negative experiences are what make the story. Matty's journey and struggle with addiction as it plays out in the book is heartbreaking, raw, and fulfilling. Seeing (or reading) Matty say no to pills or a drink made me so proud of a man that is a) fictional, and b) I have only "known" Matty for a few days. His relationship with his nieces made my heart flutter and Chris and Michelle were so amazing. I felt for him when Sam said that they lost him even before him and Keelie broke up. That must have been awful for him to experience sober, because Matty would generally drown out any negative emotion with pills back then.
Keelie's character was only fully introduced in Part II. I was pleasantly surprised at how calm and nice Keelie was despite Many having drained her savings and ruined much of their life together. But she still loved him despite all of that. Despite all of his faults and how he ruined her life and their life together, she still loved him. I want a love like that and I think I have it. Keelie was patient with Matty and he was ready to let her go if that's what she wanted. What really threw me for a loop was when Matty and Keelie [almost] hooked up on the roof at the wedding reception. I didn't take Keelie for a hook up kinda gal, but in the flashbacks she was also pretty laid back and fun. Keelie gave off a pure, wholesome vibe, so when that scene popped up I was like...woah.
Let's talk about the plot. I really enjoyed this plot. It was original as far as I know from the books I've read. It was captivating. It was magical. it took all of us on a journey that I'm sure we're glad to have been apart of. Addiction and especially opiate addiction is a really tough subject to talk about and bring lasting attention to, but I think Piazza has cemented a really important conversation into time with the creation of this book. From relying on pills to refusing to take them, Matty has really shown a lot of development and has given us all a great story to recommend.
Let's talk about the writing. Describing Matty's personality through the writing and not explicitly describing his personality was really clever. The italics let us look into his mind for periods of time and gave us all an idea of what kind of person Matty is. Matty is anxious, an over-thinker (hence the title), and relies on how people see him and equates that with his worth. I really enjoyed how Piazza felt with mental illness in this book too, There was no sugarcoating, there was just describing how it felt and affected the people around it. Rich's bipolar disorder was really heartbreaking. Even before it was specifically mentioned that he was bipolar, I could immediately tell. And the fact that Matty and the other kids couldn't tell at that age really struck a cord with me. It took Chris having to tell Matty that Rich could be dangerous when he was manic and Rich k*lling himself for the reality of Rich's illness to sink in for Matty and Keelie.
I found the flashbacks to be a little bit confusing. Going from 3 years ago, to 7 years ago, to 6, then 15, to 4, and so on was somewhat difficult for me. Because the flashbacks were not really linear, it was hard for me to keep up. There were a few different stories going on at the same time. At the beginning of the book, there were a few questions that were posed: What happened to Matty and Keelie? What happened to Rich? Is Matty going to recover? All of those were eventually answered, but the first two questioned specifically dealt with the flashbacks. The order of the flashbacks don't make or break the book, but it did kind of add an extra element of "huh?"
Eventually toward the beginning of Part II, I came to this realization that Keelie was another one of Matty's addictions. Similarly to how he was addicted to oxy, Matty was addicted to Keelie. Her skin, her scent, her being. When they slept with each other, he would equate the taste of her lips and skin to the phantom taste of oxy. I don't know if I felt good or bad about that, but I did feel better that he wasn't satiating his craving with pills, her was satiating his craving with Keelie. Sometimes there are just some people in our lives that we never forget, whether it's their scent or their image, we find ourselves craving them. keel was that for Matty.
Overall, well done Kelly Piazza!