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A review by hypergraphiac
Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover
3.0
First of all - even though this is a lesser known fact - I am a not so secret fan of Ms. Hoover and I regularly suggest few of her novels as light, but heartwarming romance reads to anyone who won't huff and puff at the first mention of the regular "no, really, it is a good book!". Clearly you have to be able to wilfully put those rose coloured glasses on to enjoy romantic stories. Having said that I want to say the few snarky or not so much remarks I had to note while reading. As spoiler-free and still true to the book as they are, I just have to express them.
I have seen quite a few leaps into characters being pushed into a corner of thorns for the sake of bleeding some personality into them. Nonetheless I have never yet before seen "AM POOR" be pushed as the personality of a protagonist, it is ironically rich. As someone who has always existed somewhere on the edge of lower middle class and not exactly poor, I am no stranger to poverty as I had the luck of being lonely enough to have friends from vastly different backgrounds. I do understand difficulty - working as a teenager, not having a relationship with either of your parents and not being the popular kid in school. Sure, I was not constaully at the edge of starvation or have to do unspeakable things for money, but dear god help me if the protagonist was not the most insufferable poor person I have ever come across. Teen angst, trauma and such aside - get a damn grip, Beyah. Being poor does not have to also become poor in street smart skills and depth of personality, making one rather shallow - isn't that something for all those snooty rich people to also have, those inconsiderable, annoying, have-it-all's?
Clearly you do not have to be from a developing nation to be in the worst and unfortunate financial bracket, but for someone who has had the wit about her to graduate, on the way to university, keeping a job that feeds her and covers bear necessities, succeeding against the odds... she has the chip of the size of an RV trailer on her shoulder. Being proud of ones achievement does not have to include inability to be grateful for people being kind and just there. Makes me feel she might have roll-eyed her way through to graduation. At least the most realistic thing about the main characters' childhood traumatic experiences and possible mental health issues steming from those is how it is glossed over and not even addressed to begin a process of being above all of it hopefully with the help of a professional because clearly the lips of on unbelievably hot, but extra mysterious boy can make all of that melt right off of anyone... right?
Lack of clearly needed therapy for better decission making skills aside... The book and some of its ridiculous dialogues made me chuckle out loud more than once.
Credit where credit is due - it is yet another entertaining read from Colleen Hoover. Just wish the main character did not make me want to slap a girl who has had enough of bad things happen to her out of sheer frustration in the first ten or so chapters. I managed. By rolling my eyes so much I almost reversed in my own age.
3/5 stars from me, would have been 2/5 if not for the over the head romantic and impossible ending that slapped me right into reality of reading an imagined story in the form of a novel and give it some slack.
I have seen quite a few leaps into characters being pushed into a corner of thorns for the sake of bleeding some personality into them. Nonetheless I have never yet before seen "AM POOR" be pushed as the personality of a protagonist, it is ironically rich. As someone who has always existed somewhere on the edge of lower middle class and not exactly poor, I am no stranger to poverty as I had the luck of being lonely enough to have friends from vastly different backgrounds. I do understand difficulty - working as a teenager, not having a relationship with either of your parents and not being the popular kid in school. Sure, I was not constaully at the edge of starvation or have to do unspeakable things for money, but dear god help me if the protagonist was not the most insufferable poor person I have ever come across. Teen angst, trauma and such aside - get a damn grip, Beyah. Being poor does not have to also become poor in street smart skills and depth of personality, making one rather shallow - isn't that something for all those snooty rich people to also have, those inconsiderable, annoying, have-it-all's?
Clearly you do not have to be from a developing nation to be in the worst and unfortunate financial bracket, but for someone who has had the wit about her to graduate, on the way to university, keeping a job that feeds her and covers bear necessities, succeeding against the odds... she has the chip of the size of an RV trailer on her shoulder. Being proud of ones achievement does not have to include inability to be grateful for people being kind and just there. Makes me feel she might have roll-eyed her way through to graduation. At least the most realistic thing about the main characters' childhood traumatic experiences and possible mental health issues steming from those is how it is glossed over and not even addressed to begin a process of being above all of it hopefully with the help of a professional because clearly the lips of on unbelievably hot, but extra mysterious boy can make all of that melt right off of anyone... right?
Lack of clearly needed therapy for better decission making skills aside... The book and some of its ridiculous dialogues made me chuckle out loud more than once.
Credit where credit is due - it is yet another entertaining read from Colleen Hoover. Just wish the main character did not make me want to slap a girl who has had enough of bad things happen to her out of sheer frustration in the first ten or so chapters. I managed. By rolling my eyes so much I almost reversed in my own age.
3/5 stars from me, would have been 2/5 if not for the over the head romantic and impossible ending that slapped me right into reality of reading an imagined story in the form of a novel and give it some slack.