laviskrg's review against another edition
5.0
This novel was amazing. It took me so long to read it (one week) because I am a total noob when it comes to using my tablet as an e-reader. I am and always will be a paper book lover.
When I first started this read, I only wanted to relax my brain with a sweet, hot read after the horrendous torture of attempting "Pillars of the Earth". I was extremely surprised to find a gorgeously written piece of adult literature, filed with intense scenes, awesome dialogue, my kind of language and some of the most beautiful descriptions I have ever read. I congratulate the author, and she is definitely on the watch list. But what really set this book apart was the fantastic inner life of the protagonist. The negative, hurtful aspects of such a romantic liaison were perfectly portrayed. Thus, I believed in the couple, I rooted for them and suffered alongside them.
The characters were excellent. Maise was real, strong, complex and mature, and, to be honest, a far more realistic teenager than pathetic, whiny little bitches that reside in the never-ending hell of the young adult genre. Evan was a great love interest because he was sexual, nice, but also casual, non-threatening. He respected his lover and I found their love to be genuine.
The way in which their relationship was portrayed was perfect as well. When you're dealing with a fetish like a teacher-student affair, you need to address the numerous issues that are sure to arise and "Unteachable" does this with heart-breaking ability.
The protagonist's backstory was moving, but nothing revolutionary. The best friend was the weakest element but the story wad not at all affected. In the end, I was as addicted as the characters, as frustrated and hurt as them. The ending was sublime and well-written. So many feelings, such familiarity, so much hope for the future but nothing thrown carelessly. The reader is taken along on a glorious ride, no regrets, just emotion and a beautiful, unforgettable experience. And yes, I am a huge sucker for lyrical writing. Recommended to ALL.
When I first started this read, I only wanted to relax my brain with a sweet, hot read after the horrendous torture of attempting "Pillars of the Earth". I was extremely surprised to find a gorgeously written piece of adult literature, filed with intense scenes, awesome dialogue, my kind of language and some of the most beautiful descriptions I have ever read. I congratulate the author, and she is definitely on the watch list. But what really set this book apart was the fantastic inner life of the protagonist. The negative, hurtful aspects of such a romantic liaison were perfectly portrayed. Thus, I believed in the couple, I rooted for them and suffered alongside them.
The characters were excellent. Maise was real, strong, complex and mature, and, to be honest, a far more realistic teenager than pathetic, whiny little bitches that reside in the never-ending hell of the young adult genre. Evan was a great love interest because he was sexual, nice, but also casual, non-threatening. He respected his lover and I found their love to be genuine.
The way in which their relationship was portrayed was perfect as well. When you're dealing with a fetish like a teacher-student affair, you need to address the numerous issues that are sure to arise and "Unteachable" does this with heart-breaking ability.
The protagonist's backstory was moving, but nothing revolutionary. The best friend was the weakest element but the story wad not at all affected. In the end, I was as addicted as the characters, as frustrated and hurt as them. The ending was sublime and well-written. So many feelings, such familiarity, so much hope for the future but nothing thrown carelessly. The reader is taken along on a glorious ride, no regrets, just emotion and a beautiful, unforgettable experience. And yes, I am a huge sucker for lyrical writing. Recommended to ALL.
pattymac61's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this book a lot and loved the story and the writing is fantastic...Hoping for a second book to continue Evan and Maise's story.
diaryofthebookdragon's review against another edition
2.0
I am too old for this book. While everyone will see soulmates, I just see a teacher that had a relationship with his student. Something like that can never be OK. No matter the age difference.
If the book had a different ending I would have given it a bigger rating since its well written. But I can't just stomach a relationship that started that way labeled as true love.
If the book had a different ending I would have given it a bigger rating since its well written. But I can't just stomach a relationship that started that way labeled as true love.
itadakinasu's review against another edition
2.0
“You asked why I’m here alone.” I glanced over at him. He stared straight ahead. “I see the lights every night. It seems like the whole world has figured out how to be happy, but no one’s letting me in on the secret.” There are moments, when you’re getting to know someone, when you realize something deep and buried in you is deep and buried in them, too. It feels like meeting a stranger you’ve known your whole life.
Unteachable reads like a slightly more mature Jaden Smith.
It's filled with unnecessary, over-the-top descriptions and childish attempts at depth that sound like real Jaden Smith-isms. It walks the line between cringe and an actual, meaningful message. It plays with social taboos and tries to portray them in a multi-faceted way, but it only hits the mark about 60% of the time.
If it's not clear already, I didn't like Unteachable.
I stood at my locker as kids milled around me and felt like I was on a movie set, surrounded by extras. Their lives were so small, so simple. So scripted. No one had a secret life like this. No one was texting the teacher they’d fucked, the teacher they were planning to fuck again.
Maise is not a likable character. She's bitter and self-destructive. She simultaneously wants people to treat her as an adult while falling back on her age every time she does something wrong. Being young is a valid reason to make dumb choices and have extreme emotional outbursts, but isn't a reason to use people or to continue making dumb choices. She has a superiority complex while managing to be insecure. She's basically a hot mess of contradictions that never really sorts itself out, and worst of all, she's not like everyone else.
Some reviewers say that Wake did a good job capturing the depth of her trauma. I can agree with that. But there's danger in romanticizing this kind of relationship when he uses Maise's past as an excuse to make this unhealthy dynamic palatable. It's dangerous when Maise's behavior is justified in every situation, when everyone accepts her fucked up actions or apologizes to her when she is the one who should be apologizing.
Spoiler
Such as Wesley apologizing for daring to have a crush on her, or for trying to protect her. Or for Evan's friend who helps Evan secretly bring his student to his flat to fuck her every weekend, and who helps Evan make himself into the victim of his own stupid actions.Evan is made out to be this young-at-heart, adventurous, and progressive guy who loves Maise for who she is. He plays childish games with Maise in public (cringe) and quotes movies for her, he cries watching Casablanca and wants to get to know her after sex (not just pump and dump), which is clearly an attempt to show that Evan is not like other men his age.
Spoiler
Let's just ignore the fact that he was in trouble for not only banging another underage student at a previous job, but he got her pregnant! And then he played the victim, claiming that the student was ruining his life. The gall of this book!There's a reason that relationships between students and teachers is taboo, and there's a reason why most of society cringes at the thought of an adult hanging around teenagers, much less getting into romantic relationships with them. There's a reason that things like power imbalances are considered a major red flag. Wake tries to address these issues by having Maise pay her own way when she goes out. Wake has Maise lie about her age to justify the continuation of their relationship after Evan finds out that he's her teacher
Spoiler
even though Evan himself says that he likes fucking his student and finds it hot.I appreciate that Wake tried to tackle issues like taboos, neglect, sexuality, and power imbalances. However, I don't think that he handled these issues well in Unteachable. Instead of coming away with any real message, I felt that he wanted to excuse all of the unhealthy shit going on here and explain away sleeping with your teacher (or anyone in a position of power over you) as long as the sex is good and they cook you breakfast after.
If your fetish is fucking your teacher/student or you want to read about a dark and sexual relationship, then by all means go read Unteachable.
caramels's review against another edition
3.0
When I finished this book I automatically gave it 3 stars and I have no idea why, since for the most part I was so annoyed by this book it was a struggle to continue reading, and it was definitely worth just one tiny little star, I thought.
First of all, this book made me understand what an “unhealthy” relationship truly is. I mean, very often in YA-NA books people complain that the relationship between the two main characters is toxic or unhealthy, but I never thought that way. To me, no matter what, it was just a relationship, with its ups and downs. A relationship, I thought, is unhealthy only if the guy abuses you or beats you up or something. Well in this book the relationship was unhealthy as hell even though there was no abuse or anything of the sort. And it wasn’t because it was a teacher-student relationship either, it was because they made it toxic, they poisoned it. I mean:
“Spread your legs.” I did, my heart wild. He was telling me what to do, like a teacher. My teacher.
"What kind of people would we be without secrecy and desperation?"
If that isn’t unhealthy I don’t know what is.
They were both sick people, and by sick I mean sick. I’m not a prude or anything, but she was 18 and was obsessed with sleeping with older men, sometimes middle-aged men, so I dare you to call her otherwise, and his situation wasn’t that different since he liked to sleep with young girls, even 14 years younger than him, even if it was one of his students. But well, that was the point I guess, the troubled girl and the troubled guy meeting and falling in love, but that doesn’t mean I liked the way the whole thing was handled.
Another problem is, he is described like a haunted man, but I couldn’t really understand by what he was so haunted. There’s a back story about his family, but I didn’t think that was enough to make him this “dark” character that the author wants to sell you (at least it didn’t work for me). In fact, I kind of sort of uhm, hated Evan, because beside being described as stunning and hot, with perfect abs and a perfect body (yawn) in my opinion he didn’t have a personality at all. The only thing I got about him was that he cried during Casablanca, so he was supposed to be what? Sensitive and shit? But then, what else? I just saw him as plain and dull. In fact, I didn’t like him to the point that when the big “revelation” about him hit, I was supposed to be shocked, I think, but I just giggled because now I knew a part of me was right about hating him, because at that point I really hated him, maybe more than Maise did. I stopped hating him only during the very last scene of the book, because by then I realized it didn’t matter anymore who he was.
And my feelings about her weren’t that different. She was supposed to be this independent beautiful girl who was confident about herself and didn’t have any problems about accepting that she was hot and beautiful, unlike most of the female characters in YA-NA books that are beautiful but supposedly don’t know it. But I couldn’t buy that either, I just saw her as someone full of herself, who thinks all she has to do to get a guy is look at him, and there was this scene where she’s kind of mad at her best friend because he made plans with a girl for Halloween, while she spent every night with her boyfriend and didn’t even tell his friend who this boyfriend was, but when she’s free for one night, of course her friend has to be free too! So she makes him cancel his plans for the night (and she says she doesn’t want to lead him on.. uhm, if that’s the case you’re doing it wrong, sweetie.)
Also, by the time the story ends you realize she was just a girl who wanted to grow up fast, to feel mature, but she was just a child like everybody else, but during the story her attitude was annoying as hell. She said she was mature for her age and complained a lot about guys her age being “hairless”. I mean I’m not an expert or anything, but I’m kinda sure puberty hits at like 14-15, 16 at the most, so by the time a boy is 18 years old he shouldn’t be hairless. By the way she was disgusted by them you would have thought she was among a bunch of 12 year-old children. (But she also found Evan – a 32 year-old man- “boyish” so she really had some issues to figure out, methinks.)
She was really, really, really obsessed with her age and hated being 18 yo. Every time she did something you had to put up with her crap.
I felt like a little girl
I felt like a woman
I felt young
I felt mature
I felt girlish.
And she wasn't like that just about herself, but about Evan too.
He was boyish
He looked old
He looked like a little boy.
Ohmyeffingod. Just stop already you’re driving me crazy!
So yeah, she wanted to act mature despite being 18, but then there were times when she was petty as hell, like this time when she was alone in class with Evan and another student knocks at the door and Evan goes to see who it is and he says “I’m busy with another student” AND SHE FREAKING GETS UPSET BECAUSE SHE WASN’T “JUST ANOTHER STUDENT”! Oh my god, are you kidding me? Or when in the middle of an argument Evan says she’s naïve, and she responds, “I’m eighteen fucking years old. Excuse me for being naïve." So I guess you’re mature and grown-up only when it’s convenient for you, uh?
Which leaves us with Wesley, the only truly likeable character in the entire book, and the reasonable one, too.
“You did it in our class? I can’t believe this. You were with him in our class. That’s so fucking sick, Maise. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Yes! Thank you!
I mean it’s already unbelievable that he keeps being her friend when she acts so superior and treats him as a clueless child when she’s the one screwing their teacher. At some point her attitude gets to him and he says that she’s right and he’s “just a fucking idiot kid.” The way this book generalizes about age is unbelievable and fucked-up. You can be mature at 17 just like you can be a freaking immature prick at 35. Duh?
So, the problems I had with this books outnumbered the things I liked, and I don’t even think there were things I truly "liked", I just realized that through the good and the bad, for some reason this wasn’t a forgettable book, that at some point the characters start to change and take a step torward the person they want to be, thus the 3 stars (maybe way too generous given all the annoying parts, but oh well).
First of all, this book made me understand what an “unhealthy” relationship truly is. I mean, very often in YA-NA books people complain that the relationship between the two main characters is toxic or unhealthy, but I never thought that way. To me, no matter what, it was just a relationship, with its ups and downs. A relationship, I thought, is unhealthy only if the guy abuses you or beats you up or something. Well in this book the relationship was unhealthy as hell even though there was no abuse or anything of the sort. And it wasn’t because it was a teacher-student relationship either, it was because they made it toxic, they poisoned it. I mean:
“Spread your legs.” I did, my heart wild. He was telling me what to do, like a teacher. My teacher.
"What kind of people would we be without secrecy and desperation?"
If that isn’t unhealthy I don’t know what is.
They were both sick people, and by sick I mean sick. I’m not a prude or anything, but she was 18 and was obsessed with sleeping with older men, sometimes middle-aged men, so I dare you to call her otherwise, and his situation wasn’t that different since he liked to sleep with young girls, even 14 years younger than him, even if it was one of his students. But well, that was the point I guess, the troubled girl and the troubled guy meeting and falling in love, but that doesn’t mean I liked the way the whole thing was handled.
Another problem is, he is described like a haunted man, but I couldn’t really understand by what he was so haunted. There’s a back story about his family, but I didn’t think that was enough to make him this “dark” character that the author wants to sell you (at least it didn’t work for me). In fact, I kind of sort of uhm, hated Evan, because beside being described as stunning and hot, with perfect abs and a perfect body (yawn) in my opinion he didn’t have a personality at all. The only thing I got about him was that he cried during Casablanca, so he was supposed to be what? Sensitive and shit? But then, what else? I just saw him as plain and dull. In fact, I didn’t like him to the point that when the big “revelation” about him hit, I was supposed to be shocked, I think, but I just giggled because now I knew a part of me was right about hating him, because at that point I really hated him, maybe more than Maise did. I stopped hating him only during the very last scene of the book, because by then I realized it didn’t matter anymore who he was.
And my feelings about her weren’t that different. She was supposed to be this independent beautiful girl who was confident about herself and didn’t have any problems about accepting that she was hot and beautiful, unlike most of the female characters in YA-NA books that are beautiful but supposedly don’t know it. But I couldn’t buy that either, I just saw her as someone full of herself, who thinks all she has to do to get a guy is look at him, and there was this scene where she’s kind of mad at her best friend because he made plans with a girl for Halloween, while she spent every night with her boyfriend and didn’t even tell his friend who this boyfriend was, but when she’s free for one night, of course her friend has to be free too! So she makes him cancel his plans for the night (and she says she doesn’t want to lead him on.. uhm, if that’s the case you’re doing it wrong, sweetie.)
Also, by the time the story ends you realize she was just a girl who wanted to grow up fast, to feel mature, but she was just a child like everybody else, but during the story her attitude was annoying as hell. She said she was mature for her age and complained a lot about guys her age being “hairless”. I mean I’m not an expert or anything, but I’m kinda sure puberty hits at like 14-15, 16 at the most, so by the time a boy is 18 years old he shouldn’t be hairless. By the way she was disgusted by them you would have thought she was among a bunch of 12 year-old children. (But she also found Evan – a 32 year-old man- “boyish” so she really had some issues to figure out, methinks.)
She was really, really, really obsessed with her age and hated being 18 yo. Every time she did something you had to put up with her crap.
I felt like a little girl
I felt like a woman
I felt young
I felt mature
I felt girlish.
And she wasn't like that just about herself, but about Evan too.
He was boyish
He looked old
He looked like a little boy.
Ohmyeffingod. Just stop already you’re driving me crazy!
So yeah, she wanted to act mature despite being 18, but then there were times when she was petty as hell, like this time when she was alone in class with Evan and another student knocks at the door and Evan goes to see who it is and he says “I’m busy with another student” AND SHE FREAKING GETS UPSET BECAUSE SHE WASN’T “JUST ANOTHER STUDENT”! Oh my god, are you kidding me? Or when in the middle of an argument Evan says she’s naïve, and she responds, “I’m eighteen fucking years old. Excuse me for being naïve." So I guess you’re mature and grown-up only when it’s convenient for you, uh?
Which leaves us with Wesley, the only truly likeable character in the entire book, and the reasonable one, too.
“You did it in our class? I can’t believe this. You were with him in our class. That’s so fucking sick, Maise. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Yes! Thank you!
I mean it’s already unbelievable that he keeps being her friend when she acts so superior and treats him as a clueless child when she’s the one screwing their teacher. At some point her attitude gets to him and he says that she’s right and he’s “just a fucking idiot kid.” The way this book generalizes about age is unbelievable and fucked-up. You can be mature at 17 just like you can be a freaking immature prick at 35. Duh?
So, the problems I had with this books outnumbered the things I liked, and I don’t even think there were things I truly "liked", I just realized that through the good and the bad, for some reason this wasn’t a forgettable book, that at some point the characters start to change and take a step torward the person they want to be, thus the 3 stars (maybe way too generous given all the annoying parts, but oh well).
scrollsofdragons's review against another edition
4.0
Love, love, love. I realized I should have read Black Iris after this but thats the one that had be interested in Raeders work so it all works out. The talent that this author has, the writing, the darkness, the story, the rawness and messed up people, so very dark with just that right touch of light. I need more Raeder coming my way.
Before I didn't realize what I only rated this four stars. Now I know that ending
Before I didn't realize what I only rated this four stars. Now I know that ending
Spoiler
so cheesy and like any love story with it ending by him managing to not only catch her flight but getting the seat next to her and everything is just golden. Honestly while I supported them at this time in their life, I honestly don't think they are good for one another in the long run. Also she got over the him having an affair with a student before way too easily. They just shouldn't have stayed together and for a gritty book it had a very cheesy typical ending with her getting everything she wants.Spoiler
booksforbrooks's review against another edition
4.0
I kind of want to write an actual review about this book, and how it made me feel so deeply uncomfortable. Seriously, reading about a teacher/student relationship is never going to be a pleasant experience for me because I'm a teacher myself. But Raeder did a really good job with her heroine here; Maise is feisty and knows her own mind, she is not taken advantage of at any point and she is in charge through a lot of the book. I wanted to scream at Evan to man up a few times but overall this was incredibly readable with some genuine heart-stopping moments and quotes.
polygrapheyes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
readbycoco_yt's review against another edition
DNF @ 80%
I'm DNFing because this book just isn't going anywhere. The first half is basically just the two main characters fucking. There has been some like side-plot kinda stuff going on, but it feels really random and kinda just like its part of the plot as an excuse for a book about a student screwing their teacher to exist. At 80% i've seen no character development, and I can't really see the plot going towards an ending that is in any way redeemable. Also, this book really romanticises the story [b:Lolita|7604|Lolita|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377756377l/7604._SY75_.jpg|1268631], and if you didn't already know my opinions on that whole shit-show, I highly suggest reading my heated review here. [EDIT: I've re-read Lolita since & my opinions have changed on the book as a whole, but not the romanticism of the romanticism of the Lolita character, thus its still applicable here]
2 ⭐ because like it wasn't THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD. It just wasn't good, and like it was very shallow and surface level. Dont really know who might enjoy this book.. Maybe people who read purely erotic fiction & don't care too much about the quality of the story? People who loved the 50 Shades series? Idk. Sorry not sorry.
I'm DNFing because this book just isn't going anywhere. The first half is basically just the two main characters fucking. There has been some like side-plot kinda stuff going on, but it feels really random and kinda just like its part of the plot as an excuse for a book about a student screwing their teacher to exist. At 80% i've seen no character development, and I can't really see the plot going towards an ending that is in any way redeemable. Also, this book really romanticises the story [b:Lolita|7604|Lolita|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377756377l/7604._SY75_.jpg|1268631], and if you didn't already know my opinions on that whole shit-show, I highly suggest reading my heated review here. [EDIT: I've re-read Lolita since & my opinions have changed on the book as a whole, but not the romanticism of the romanticism of the Lolita character, thus its still applicable here]
2 ⭐ because like it wasn't THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD. It just wasn't good, and like it was very shallow and surface level. Dont really know who might enjoy this book.. Maybe people who read purely erotic fiction & don't care too much about the quality of the story? People who loved the 50 Shades series? Idk. Sorry not sorry.