mjenae's review
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This is a story about relationships, mainly Shepherd's relationships with his mother and father. There are a lot of arguments, fights, and tense interactions—and of course I'm totally here for it. Even for me, though, the constant going around in circles was almost too much—maybe because I can see someone I know in both Shepherd and Joey, or perhaps just my former perception of someone, and I didn't want to be reminded about it in a book. The way neither of them ever understood each other was almost physically painful, and I was so ready for Joey to just get out of the picture already. (I never did like him. My sister read the book before me, and she said by the end she loved Joey; but I had no respect for him. I'm so glad he's not real and in my life.) The characters were very realistic, though, and I was impressed by that.
The humor was also fantastic. I laughed aloud in multiple places. Joey's the professional comedian, but Shepherd is actually quite a bit funnier than him—he has more of a dry sense of humor, and it cracks me up.
One minor thing that annoyed me: there are too many exclamation points. Exclamation points imply that the character is yelling, and although there were a lot of raised-voice arguments in the story, no one can yell that much without losing his voice.
The humor was also fantastic. I laughed aloud in multiple places. Joey's the professional comedian, but Shepherd is actually quite a bit funnier than him—he has more of a dry sense of humor, and it cracks me up.
One minor thing that annoyed me: there are too many exclamation points. Exclamation points imply that the character is yelling, and although there were a lot of raised-voice arguments in the story, no one can yell that much without losing his voice.
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