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A review by ironi
The Downside of Being Charlie by Jenny Torres Sanchez
3.0
Gosh, I haven't read some realistic ya for ages. I forgot how I'm fond of this genre, despite everything.
I struggled with giving this book a rating. I'll start by saying it's a very average book and that's my rating. It's another ya, there are bullies, a crush, an odd best friend, art, family issues, the whole deal.
That's okay. Not every book needs to be super original and I did have a nice time reading this, even if it wasn't particularly beaconing.
There were plenty of good things about this book. As someone who's overweight, in a way, that's one of my worst nightmares. I've grown to understand losing weight doesn't equal a healthy self esteem, that you need to work separately on them. I felt like Charlie's struggle was reasonably realistic, even if he was kind of passive about it.
I also liked how it just worked. It's a book build that works. I was happy by the end. Everything was wrapped up nicely, everything was happy by the end. That's why ya is so great. I suppose I'm slowly outgrowing this.
I hated how the dialogues were unrealistic, dammit, why is it hard to write teenagers that speak like normal people. So unbelievable. Chickies? Who says that? And, as usual, I hated how women are shown here and it's ridiculous as the author is a woman.
what I'm taking with me
• Maybe all my life problems will also be magically solved in 15 pages.
• Charlie will always be the guy from Perks of Being a Wallflower.
• Apparently I don't really like ya anymore.
I struggled with giving this book a rating. I'll start by saying it's a very average book and that's my rating. It's another ya, there are bullies, a crush, an odd best friend, art, family issues, the whole deal.
That's okay. Not every book needs to be super original and I did have a nice time reading this, even if it wasn't particularly beaconing.
There were plenty of good things about this book. As someone who's overweight, in a way, that's one of my worst nightmares. I've grown to understand losing weight doesn't equal a healthy self esteem, that you need to work separately on them. I felt like Charlie's struggle was reasonably realistic, even if he was kind of passive about it.
I also liked how it just worked. It's a book build that works. I was happy by the end. Everything was wrapped up nicely, everything was happy by the end. That's why ya is so great. I suppose I'm slowly outgrowing this.
I hated how the dialogues were unrealistic, dammit, why is it hard to write teenagers that speak like normal people. So unbelievable. Chickies? Who says that? And, as usual, I hated how women are shown here and it's ridiculous as the author is a woman.
what I'm taking with me
• Maybe all my life problems will also be magically solved in 15 pages.
• Charlie will always be the guy from Perks of Being a Wallflower.
• Apparently I don't really like ya anymore.