Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - The Inexplicable Logic of My Life

This was a rollercoaster and I absolutely loved it! The prose were great, and the author had me in tears one minute, and smiling the next. Definitely exceeded my expectations considering that I’d seen a lot of mixed reviews. It’s a bit slow paced in the beginning, but it is definitely worth it in my opinion.

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mckinnley16's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

After reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe I decided I needed to read Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s entire YA backlog and this was the second book of his I picked up.

A very interesting take on what makes a family. Is it the people who’s genetics you share? The people who raise you? Or the people who accept you for who you are and care for you regardless of blood? This is a book about love, loss, found families, and finding out who you are. I absolutely adored it!

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arhazobooks's review

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dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

How do you read a book that interested you enough, but didn't fully win you over? It was a page turner and yet not extraordinary. Like a good one time read and that's it. What's the equivalent for one-time-use- and-discard, in the book world? OR those disposable plastic cutleries (even when you plan on keeping it when it's not meant to be). Is there a concept? One-time-read, it is then.

It's about Sal a 17 year old boy who is confused about who he is. His adoptive father gave him a letter from his dead mother, and it's up to him as to whether or not he wants to open it or not. It's his story as much as it's the story of his best friends Sam, and Fito.

This book was one sad thing after another. I know if I were a character in this friend group I would have called it the worst year of my life given how much stress went down. But the way this book was executed, it made me feel warmer too. They bonded and got closer, and you could see the love they have for one another especially with all that was going on. So it feels wrong to say some good came out of the bad...it's more like the bad existed and really amplified the good that was always there.'

All round love and distress... It's basically life.

-

It's not a perfect book of course (what is a perfect book?)

Spoiler

Like some things I question, like what was that and Fito's comment about gays refusing to act like men 'I be a girl' just say nah I be a man (something along those lines). I'm not sure if I read it right.

Also When Sam insisted on reading Fito's journal...

Or when Sam slapped Sal even though he was trying to defend her from a guy who nearly raped her...

I still can't rate it. It's not quite a 3 nor is it fully a 4...so
3.75/5

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nefari_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

“She knew I hated being called white boy. Even though I was technically a white boy, I was raised in a Mexican family. So I didn’t qualify as your average white boy. “

“The B word is the N-word for girls. I hate that. What kind of feminist are you, anyway? “

“One of the great things about Sam was that she didn’t throw like a girl. “

“You know, for a gay guy, my dad was pretty straight. “

“And Fito’s such a schizophrenic dork. “

These direct quotes….speak for themselves 🙃. I can’t believe this is the same author who wrote 2 of my favorite books.

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bebidocrimes's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This writing style is kinda choppy, like it's mostly simple sentences, but I guess that's what makes the 450 pages feel like an easy read. Not sure the author really knows any teenagers in real life, but they don't text like that. Who shortens don't to dn't keeping the apostrophe? Besides minor nitpicky things like that, this really was a beautiful book. It was light and heartfelt, but what really hit me was being reminded of last April and everything me and my family went through while my Meemaw was in hospice. Grief really is love with nowhere to go.

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raesengele's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

As much as I enjoyed this book and Benjamin Alire Sáenz's writing, I'm not entirely sure what happened with this one. His writing seems to have taken a bit of a dip compared to his adult novels/short stories. Not that it's bad, don't get me wrong, just not what I'm used to seeing from him. The language is very simplistic with some unnecessary repetition. For instance, on page 5:

And her shoes? Sandals. Sandals? I waited all this time for a pair of sandals she bought at Target?

"Great day," she said, all smiles and enthusiasm.

"Sandals?" I said. "That's what I was waiting for?"

It would have come across just the same if the first bit had simply been, "And her shoes? Sandals." then moved into the dialogue from there. It's nitpicky, I know, but with how simple the language was little things like that just kept standing out.

Other than that, it's beautifully written the way Sáenz's books always are. Quiet and contemplative, exploring human nature through the small mundane moments of life. So, great book, just linguistically not his best.

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alylentz's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

2021 reread: I still think this is lovely and warm, but I did realize how slowly it moved this time and maybe wished there was a little more plot driving things along. I don't think I loved it quite as much as the first time, but still found it beautiful and an enjoyable reread.

I probably read this in a little over 24 hours. His style is just so readable and his stories always hook me immediately and I can't put them down. I enjoyed seeing a different kind of plot than Aristotle and Dante (which I loved so much I still think about it probably like every day) but with a lot of similar coming of age and community themes. I couldn't help comparing them, and while I do think that one was probably a better novel overall, this one is still extremely strong. At times things seem to fall into place too easily or there was something about the narration that seemed like it wasn't as natural as A&D, but overall, I got completely sucked in and couldn't predict what was going to happen. And of course, I cried at the end! Anyway, I loved this--it's a quick read that still manages to feel soulful, fresh, and honest.

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