A review by goosemixtapes
Other Broken Things by Christa Desir

2.0

this isn't a terrible book; it's a book that is trying to do way too much in 250 pages and ends up not delving deeply enough. the main focus is natalie's struggle with addiction, but IMO the tradeoff was that the book did not focus nearly enough on the implications of natalie (17) having a relationship with a 38-year-old man. yes, everyone in her life

Spoiler

including, eventually, joe

tells her it's not a good idea, but no one ever really outlines all the reasons why, and the book ends with

Spoiler

natalie still convinced she's in love with him and not totally agreeing he's right to leave her

. i'm not saying every YA novel needs to be some kind of learning module for teenagers; in fact i think the opposite. but it still felt weird as hell not to dissect this a little more in a book that is For Teenagers. this review says it really really well. (it's a similar problem as the one i saw in Seven Ways We Lie; i vaguely remember Girl in Pieces doing it better, but i also haven't read that book in a few years now.)

and even natalie's relationship with addiction felt underdeveloped sometimes--like, there's a part where she says she would "peel off [her] own skin to be having this conversation over shots," but the reader got no indication of her feeling that way besides her saying it. half of her relationship with her mother is fixed in a few paragraphs describing her "opening up" more often. also, everyone talks in perfectly-crafted emotional speeches. it made me start feeling like this tweet


i did definitely enjoy the relationship between natalie and her mom; it's clear that natalie isn't always a reliable narrator and that her mother cares about her, and i liked how that dynamic developed! i also enjoyed that natalie was allowed to be kind of shitty. i love when characters get to be shitty. but overall, this book didn't make a huge impression on me, because it never seems to go more than skin-deep.