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A review by skylarkblue1
Play by Luke Palmer
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Representations: https://trello.com/c/0lc0KtpT/89-play-by-luke-palmer
This book is bleak and isn't the most fun of reads. But damn it's good and pretty well written.
The story focuses on 4 boys and their life through high school. Their troubles and wins, their concerns and games. Drugs, abuse and more are discussed alongside toxic masculinity and what it means to be a boy growing up. Vulnerability is portrayed in quite a realistic way through the eyes of these young boys and through the way this book was written as well.
It's a heavy book, it really pushes how innocence is used against children for manipulation and how upbringing can shape a kid. I can't say too much as it's quite a straightforward plot (as it's mainly about the characters) but it's possible to guess what the ending will be around 2/3 of the way through. Though that isn't a negative, it's more so a testament to how well the emotions are written into the story.
The characters are a complicated bunch. One of them is horrific and honestly, I feel like he needed more consequences but unfortunately his story was actually pretty realistic feeling - which again I don't think was a negative at all. Luc's story felt decently well written with enough tact even though if he was a real person I'd probably punch him in the face tbh - though I do feel slightly bad for him (not for *those* parts though he can sit with his feelings for that).
For the other characters I quite enjoyed them. Queer and neurodiverse characters (though the neurodiversity isn't specifically labelled, ADHD is there as confirmed by the author) are decently well represented, though I would have personally preferred some more representation on the side of neurodiversity. Queerness in the book I did quite enjoy - and did bring back some painful memories of my own school life aha... Playing the "game" of acting straight and "normal" to fit in.. yeah that one hit hard.
I think the topics this book explores are something worth talking about. Toxic masculinity, how naivety can be manipulated, different types of parents from abusive to absent to loving and more. It is certainly a perspective of masculinity that isn't explored often, and often left unsaid too.
While I did love the writing overall, some parts where a tad confusing. During Mark's section it felt like it was swapping between regular book writing and writing like you'd find in a journal kinda thing. While you could take it as a proper inner monologue, personally for my brain it made it a tad confusing to process - could be my dyslexia, could be me just being dumb lol.
On that note as well, if you're dyslexic/have low vision/can't read non-normal fonts easily it might be worth looking into an ebook version of this. The print version has a different font for each POV - which, while it *really* helps to differentiate between the POVs, can make it harder for dyslexics to parse as a couple of the fonts are a bit.. odd.
Overall, I do recommend this but as with a few of my recommendations - do read the content warnings fully beforehand. This might be a YA book but it's heavy, very heavy. I picked up the author's first book - Grow - and I can't wait for future releases!
And for anyone else confused, "Comeup" is an energy drink!
This book is bleak and isn't the most fun of reads. But damn it's good and pretty well written.
The story focuses on 4 boys and their life through high school. Their troubles and wins, their concerns and games. Drugs, abuse and more are discussed alongside toxic masculinity and what it means to be a boy growing up. Vulnerability is portrayed in quite a realistic way through the eyes of these young boys and through the way this book was written as well.
It's a heavy book, it really pushes how innocence is used against children for manipulation and how upbringing can shape a kid. I can't say too much as it's quite a straightforward plot (as it's mainly about the characters) but it's possible to guess what the ending will be around 2/3 of the way through. Though that isn't a negative, it's more so a testament to how well the emotions are written into the story.
The characters are a complicated bunch. One of them is horrific and honestly, I feel like he needed more consequences but unfortunately his story was actually pretty realistic feeling - which again I don't think was a negative at all. Luc's story felt decently well written with enough tact even though if he was a real person I'd probably punch him in the face tbh - though I do feel slightly bad for him (not for *those* parts though he can sit with his feelings for that).
For the other characters I quite enjoyed them. Queer and neurodiverse characters (though the neurodiversity isn't specifically labelled, ADHD is there as confirmed by the author) are decently well represented, though I would have personally preferred some more representation on the side of neurodiversity. Queerness in the book I did quite enjoy - and did bring back some painful memories of my own school life aha... Playing the "game" of acting straight and "normal" to fit in.. yeah that one hit hard.
I think the topics this book explores are something worth talking about. Toxic masculinity, how naivety can be manipulated, different types of parents from abusive to absent to loving and more. It is certainly a perspective of masculinity that isn't explored often, and often left unsaid too.
While I did love the writing overall, some parts where a tad confusing. During Mark's section it felt like it was swapping between regular book writing and writing like you'd find in a journal kinda thing. While you could take it as a proper inner monologue, personally for my brain it made it a tad confusing to process - could be my dyslexia, could be me just being dumb lol.
On that note as well, if you're dyslexic/have low vision/can't read non-normal fonts easily it might be worth looking into an ebook version of this. The print version has a different font for each POV - which, while it *really* helps to differentiate between the POVs, can make it harder for dyslexics to parse as a couple of the fonts are a bit.. odd.
Overall, I do recommend this but as with a few of my recommendations - do read the content warnings fully beforehand. This might be a YA book but it's heavy, very heavy. I picked up the author's first book - Grow - and I can't wait for future releases!
And for anyone else confused, "Comeup" is an energy drink!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking, Homophobia, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Drug use, Addiction, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Child death
I believe trafficking is the correct term in this context of this book. A child manipulated and blackmailed into becoming a drug smuggler and dealer is the main plot of this book.
Homophobic slurs are also used, and a transphobic slur is used at the start of the book but as completely unrelated slang for an object and not a slur.