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A review by roctothorpe
Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel by Val Emmich
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It's difficult to evaluate this because I love the musical so much and it's pretty much impossible for me to separate my memories and nostalgia for the show from the reading experience of this book.
What I enjoyed:
The audiobook narration was fantastic and contributed heavily to my overall enjoyment. It's read by Ben Levi Ross (my favorite Evan, who originated the role on the national tour), Mike Faist (who originated the role of Connor on Broadway), and features singing(!!) by Mallory Bechtel (who played Zoe on Broadway).
Seeing Connor's POV added depth to his character that I appreciated. I wish the POVs were more evenly split because I wanted to spend more time in the sideplot that is introduced with Connor's past.
The core message, I think, is still a worthy one: no matter your faults, you are not alone, and you are enough.
What I'm conflicted over:
The book feels like it just doubled down on and exacerbated problems that already existed in the musical. I found myself having much less sympathy for Evan in the book, in a way that does not feel intentional on the part of the authors.
Firstly, I think the book made undoubtedly the wrong choice in depicting what leads Evan to take the actions that set the story into motion. Conceivably, Evan's motivations are some mixture of:
What I enjoyed:
The audiobook narration was fantastic and contributed heavily to my overall enjoyment. It's read by Ben Levi Ross (my favorite Evan, who originated the role on the national tour), Mike Faist (who originated the role of Connor on Broadway), and features singing(!!) by Mallory Bechtel (who played Zoe on Broadway).
Seeing Connor's POV added depth to his character that I appreciated. I wish the POVs were more evenly split because I wanted to spend more time in the sideplot that is introduced with Connor's past.
The core message, I think, is still a worthy one: no matter your faults, you are not alone, and you are enough.
What I'm conflicted over:
The book feels like it just doubled down on and exacerbated problems that already existed in the musical. I found myself having much less sympathy for Evan in the book, in a way that does not feel intentional on the part of the authors.
Firstly, I think the book made undoubtedly the wrong choice in depicting what leads Evan to take the actions that set the story into motion. Conceivably, Evan's motivations are some mixture of:
- to escape an extremely uncomfortable misunderstanding (neutral intentions)
- to bring closure to the Murphys (good intentions but morally ambiguous)
- to get together with Zoe and/or for social capital (unambiguously bad intentions)
In the stage production, Evan does have a crush on Zoe but seems for the most part to be driven by reasons 1 and 2. Through his physicality and his internal conflict portrayed as conversations with an imaginary Connor, we get the feeling that Evan is someone who is flawed and understands that what he's doing is wrong, but is not a fundamentally bad person. On the other hand, when we got Evan's internal dialogue in the book, it was focused on how the lies and fallout would impact him, not the Murphy's, and leans much more strongly towards trying to justify his actions. On top of that, the flashbacks from before the main plot make it very explicit how Evan was borderline stalking Zoe, which was deeply uncomfortable to read and gives his actions a sinister undertone. His lies feel more self-serving, more directly tied to his obsession over Zoe, and paint him as more malicious and manipulative.
A second point: Evan's remorse and the consequences of his actions come through much clearer in the musical. The book cuts the song "Good For You", which comes from a POV other than Evan's and is very important for showing how his actions are selfish and hurting others. Book Evan did not seem to me like he grasped the true impact of what he did and as a whole the book cast off Evan’s mom and the Murphy’s to the side, to the detriment of the overall narrative.
Lastly, Connor as a ghost getting to have agency and observe the aftermath of his death feels very problematic, in that it makes it seem like you get to have this closure after you die. This strikes me as a dangerous way to downplay the finality of suicide, and most of the context we get on Connor could have been delivered through flashbacks instead.
Overall, this was fine as a YA novel but I don't think it stands on its own and I wouldn't have picked it up if not for the musical. The suspension of disbelief that comes with theater makes me feel like this story simply works better onstage and leads me to wonder did this even need to be a book? Having said that, I love this story for sentimental reasons and therefore I'm glad that I listened to it and even enjoyed it.