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A review by gabbypatricia
Old Enough by Haley Jakobson
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
this book was enjoyable, which is why i am giving it a decent rating. if you want a modern queer coming of age that is a little more mature than high school & still touches on deep topics, this is for you.
but i ofc am going to dive a bit deeper. for a debut, haley jakobson set out and conquered. her narrative fiction was addictive. however, the stereotypes were a bit over the top at times. i understand the intent - but it could afford to be dialed down. i also didn’t love that the plot feels like a build up to savannah’s sexual assault. it felt like that drove the story forward and as a reader, made it feel weird. the ending also fell flat, it definitely could have been wrapped up better and more directly.
on the positives, this book was very relatable as someone who had a huge identity-coming of age in my own college years. and the split identity between the who sav was and who sav is now was so well executed. especially the realization of friendships changing bc of it. but again - ending is left more open ended so, we don’t really know how she mends the two (if she does lol)
i do hope jakobson writes more. i would love to see her grow, her potential was the thing that shone through the most in this book.
but i ofc am going to dive a bit deeper. for a debut, haley jakobson set out and conquered. her narrative fiction was addictive. however, the stereotypes were a bit over the top at times. i understand the intent - but it could afford to be dialed down. i also didn’t love that the plot feels like a build up to savannah’s sexual assault. it felt like that drove the story forward and as a reader, made it feel weird. the ending also fell flat, it definitely could have been wrapped up better and more directly.
on the positives, this book was very relatable as someone who had a huge identity-coming of age in my own college years. and the split identity between the who sav was and who sav is now was so well executed. especially the realization of friendships changing bc of it. but again - ending is left more open ended so, we don’t really know how she mends the two (if she does lol)
i do hope jakobson writes more. i would love to see her grow, her potential was the thing that shone through the most in this book.