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jay_jade736's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Pros
1. The flow between chapters was smooth and it made reading quite easy. They were short and the passages just fits together well (not in a lyrical or grammatical sense, but I guess metaphorical).
2. Max’s mom.
Cons
1. There’s absolutely no plot. The book’s description clearly states a food truck and how that impacted their lives, but in the later half of the book, the food truck just get sidelined for other subplots that weren’t properly executed. Heck, the rape plot, Jordan’s mom plot, and the food truck plot are not even fully addressed by the end of the book. The book’s lack of cohesion and direction in plot line is that bad ☠️.
2. Jordan is insufferable. Constantly whining and flat as a whole. Max keeps on saying that he’s so beautiful but Jordan doesn’t know it, but how? How is Jordan beautiful when the only things we know about him are that he’s skinny, white, weak, frail, gay, a virgin, and has green eyes?
3. Jordan’s mum is atrocious. I hate how the book presents here mental illness and the way other characters makes fun of her (it’s 2024 now, grow up Bill Konigsberg), but no development for her whatsoever despite the book focusing on her as part of Jordan’s character development.
4. Max is better but he’s also quite annoying. He literally belittles Jordan in his mind in the early parts of the book and then states later on that he’s so attractive. HUHHHH??? He also dismissed Jordan’s vulnerability when he asked max “do you hate me?”. The boy literally responded with “SHUT UP” ☠️☠️. Also, you don’t like Jordan if the only reason you like him is that he’s Jordan. Saying things like “I like his arms” or “I like his green eyes” doesn’t count. Furthermore, can we talk about the allusion that Max wants Jordan to also have a dude bro build? Bill Konigsberg may have fooled others, but he surely didn’t fool me.
5. The coupling isn’t good whatsoever. No chemistry between the two. Idk why Jordan likes Max, and Max only likes Jordan because he’s “Jordan”.
6. The writing style is bad. I’m not sure if this is Konigsberg’s style of writing but who tf writes something like this:
“I can’t stop thinking. About who she likes”
LIKE JUST COMBINE THE SENTENCES SERIOUSLY ☠️☠️☠️
I expected to hate this book, which I do, but the early to mid parts of it made me think otherwise. Too bad, the mid to ending segment was atrocious. Wasted potential. Will not be reading another book from the author. Also, a waste of time and money.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
jainabee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Biphobia, Cursing, Kidnapping, Cultural appropriation, and Abandonment
Remarkably realistic and accurate portrayal of rape, dissociation, gaslighting, addiction, and moving through various stages of trauma. The challenging material is handled with great care and shows healthy, functional family and community responses to trauma.samantha_dhanda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Hope this helps! 🖤
Graphic: Cursing and Rape
ricardo_sb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Rape and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Violence and Vomit
davidbythebay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
TW: parent death, grief, addiction, gambling, rape, sexual assault, gaslighting, bullying
Graphic: Addiction, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia and Vomit
justreaditem's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Not only does it show an honest story between two young gay boys, it shows the relationship between mother and son, father and son, and friendships. It shows how men can just as easily be sexually assaulted and raped as women; and and that addiction comes in many forms. If I didn't know any addicts, I wouldn't have been able to sympathise with Jordan's mum. For addicts to truly get the help they need, they have to want it because nothing is more important than their fix, not even their kids. I adored that Max was Hispanic/Latino, as it showed brought another layer of male posturing and homophobia, not only within sports but also within other cultures.
Jordan and Max had a really cute relationship, the way they argued and grew as a couple, with all their own issues before realising that a problem shared is a problem halved, and eventually knew that they could rely on each other no matter what.
I can't wait for this author's next book.
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Grief
Moderate: Racial slurs and Toxic relationship
rebecca_t's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
phew, I'm really disappointed in this book. I thought I was going to like it a lot but the opposite is the case. If it hadn't been so easy to read (writing style-wise, not content-wise) I would've stopped after the first 50 pages. I absolutely disliked the writing style. It wasn't necessarily bad, but every conversation made me cringe and didn't feel authentic at all. The relationship felt rushed and there were so many instances where Max and Jordan made certain comments or had thoughts about each other that gave the impression that Max and Jordan didn't even like each other.
On the topic of liking, I absolutely hated both Jordan's and Max's friends. Some people might be okay with their behavior but I think you should dump friends who don't listen to you, don’t take you seriously and who just generally make you feel like shit. Like seriously, the girls only befriended Jordan because they wanted to help him out himself, like they have any say in this as some random classmates and then only really wanted Jordan to be their stereotypical gay best friend. And then Betts, Max's friend, was just the worst straight, white and not even subtly racist guy ever. I get that the person who is subjected to racism has to decide if they're hurt by it or not, but I feel like it’s such a bad representation to not have him be actually confronted about his disgusting behavior.
Also, all the heavy topics discussed in this book felt like they were just thrown in there to make the story more dramatic. I do absolutely not want to take away from the importance of discussing things such as rape, addiction and racism, however from my point of view it was executed so so poorly. I felt like the author just wrote in the rape for the purpose of giving Max a difficult background too, as if Jordan's problems were enough. Obviously bad things in life don‘t come to you one by one, and sometimes you get hit by several ones at the same time, but this is a fictional story with only so much time to discuss the consequences and difficulties of such things, so if you're gonna mention these, do it properly.
In short: I would've skipped this book if I could go back in time. This is not some cute enemies-to-lovers story, it is annoying to read and discusses way to many heavy topics to do be able to do them justice.
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment