You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
fihli 's review for:
Leah on the Offbeat
by Becky Albertalli
1.5 stars
Leah on the Offbeat is a story with no plot and an insufferable main character.
Leah, the main character, is a flawed character. I could somewhat relate to her in that she was a very passive person and also self-sabotagingly stubborn. Which would have been fine, if her list of flaws ended there. But nope that word was soooo overused, she had a huuuuge inferiority complex, was hostile to everyone for no reason at all (like her mom, who was a very sweet person), didn't care for her friends , excluded herself but whined a whole damn lot.
Apart from that her reaction to a character being vulnerable and telling her that the person came out to her parents as bisexual - a situation that Leah should very well understand - was gate-keeping bisexuality and shouting until the other character actually cried, she also lead on one guy in her friend group and used him to feel better. But that was supposed to be overlooked because of the cookie cutter ending where
In addition to that, Leah was very self-righteous, because despite her flaws, everyone else has to be perfect, right? What Morgan did wasn't ok, but she tries to be an ally, apologized to, felt obviously bad about it and learned a lesson, and Leah was still not ready to forgive her?
Also, she was a music snob which gets on my nerves very quickly. It's so unsympathetic, just let everyone enjoy whatever they want! No need to be a gatekeeper. But oh right, we already established that Leah likes to gatekeep. And I don't know what it is about YA contemporary authors and their insistance to give their character only the personality traits of 1) being a snob about music and 2) loving Harry Potter, but it's unoriginal and annoying.
All of that wouldn't even have been that much of a problem if Leah had developed and matured, of if she'd had even a hint of self-awareness or introspection. But nope, she was the same unlikable person throughout the entire book, she didn't develop, nothing happens story-wise which begs the question of: what's the point?
At least the diversity was nice, as was thepoorly excuted body positivity. The half star is for the audiobook though, Shannon Purser was the perfect fit for Leah and nailed her snarky voice. She managed to give Leah some personality, without her I would have easily DNF'd it at the 20% mark (and I don't mean that in a backhanded-compliment kind of way, she genuinely did a great job!)
Leah on the Offbeat is a story with no plot and an insufferable main character.
Leah, the main character, is a flawed character. I could somewhat relate to her in that she was a very passive person and also self-sabotagingly stubborn. Which would have been fine, if her list of flaws ended there. But nope
Spoiler
Nick was supposed to be her best friend, but that was only ever told and never shown!Apart from that her reaction to a character being vulnerable and telling her that the person came out to her parents as bisexual - a situation that Leah should very well understand - was gate-keeping bisexuality and shouting until the other character actually cried, she also lead on one guy in her friend group and used him to feel better. But that was supposed to be overlooked because of the cookie cutter ending where
Spoiler
everyone is happy because they all end up with someone! Yay!In addition to that, Leah was very self-righteous, because despite her flaws, everyone else has to be perfect, right? What Morgan did wasn't ok, but she tries to be an ally, apologized to
Spoiler
AbbyAlso, she was a music snob which gets on my nerves very quickly. It's so unsympathetic, just let everyone enjoy whatever they want! No need to be a gatekeeper. But oh right, we already established that Leah likes to gatekeep. And I don't know what it is about YA contemporary authors and their insistance to give their character only the personality traits of 1) being a snob about music and 2) loving Harry Potter, but it's unoriginal and annoying.
All of that wouldn't even have been that much of a problem if Leah had developed and matured, of if she'd had even a hint of self-awareness or introspection. But nope, she was the same unlikable person throughout the entire book, she didn't develop, nothing happens story-wise which begs the question of: what's the point?
At least the diversity was nice, as was the