hereistheend's review against another edition
5.0
(let's just say i was not expecting this book to be like this. at all. it punched me in the face and i asked it to repeat that a few times- and then it did. wow.)
Andrew Brawley lives in a hospital. He sketches out his nightmares, dipping his fingers into the tortures of Patient F and releasing them onto paper. Aimee works with food and doesn't eat. Emma owns a disco ball. Jo would rather have the donut. Steven probably has somewhere better to be on his night off. Arnold won't stop lending him books. Lexi has cancer and she has no hair, except for the dead raccoon of a wig bought by a one time beauty queen. Trevor is going to die. And Rusty is on fire. Death, in a pencil skirt and floral top, is waiting for them all, because Andrew should be dead.
This is Andrew's story, but there are many tiny stars in this galaxy of a book.(oh look out, i'm going all flowery!!!!!) This is a heartbreaking and painful book of healing. As Andrew draws closer to Rusty, the boy set on fire for being gay, he invests in not only his peds friends' lives, but also in Rusty's... and his own.
This book was honestly quite amazing. It held me by the hands, and by the neck. It dealt with some issues not often dealt with in mainstream YA fiction. As a straight girl, the aspect of the boys being gay didn't bother me- it was a detail of the story and it was not about sexuality (not to say that would have been bad, just that most books that include this, make it ABOUT it. i like that this shows that it can be there just as much as any other sexual orientation. it was there, in a really well done way. And as a pastor's kid who's sick of sickly sweet "faith", the way religion worked into it was just light enough, but also there in such an amazing way. (the priest was pretty great, I must say.) The relationships between every character were complex and realistic, powerful and beautiful. Flawless, an incredibly unique and beautiful masterpiece that i am keeping on my shelf for a long. time.
Thank you for this book.
Trigger warnings include suicide.
read as advanced reading copy from YALSA so don't quote me okiedokie?
this review is published in School Library Journal, January 2014.
theawkwardbookw's review against another edition
3.0
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3.5/5 Stars
Andrew Brawley should have died the night his parents and sister perished in a car crash. He now spends his days wandering the hospital, blaming himself for their loss. Andrew makes friends with the other residents of the hospital, including Lexi and Trevor. One night, a boy named Rusty is wheeled in, with terrible burn marks covering his body. Andrew begins spending time with Rusty, and they develop a strong connection.
I liked this, but I didn't love it like I did We Are the Ants. I thought it was an interesting exploration of love and grief, but I was not a fan of the insta-love. I really wish this had focused more on the friendships Andrew made within the hospital rather than his romance with Rusty. I think I probably would have enjoyed it more if Rusty and Andrew had ended up only being platonic. I do think the ending was really sweet, and I did enjoy that part of the story although it was a bit rushed in my opinion.
So many people say that this is an incredibly emotional book, which I do agree... but it honestly didn't hit me until almost the very end of the story, which was a tad disappointing.
3.5/5 Stars
Andrew Brawley should have died the night his parents and sister perished in a car crash. He now spends his days wandering the hospital, blaming himself for their loss. Andrew makes friends with the other residents of the hospital, including Lexi and Trevor. One night, a boy named Rusty is wheeled in, with terrible burn marks covering his body. Andrew begins spending time with Rusty, and they develop a strong connection.
I liked this, but I didn't love it like I did We Are the Ants. I thought it was an interesting exploration of love and grief, but I was not a fan of the insta-love. I really wish this had focused more on the friendships Andrew made within the hospital rather than his romance with Rusty. I think I probably would have enjoyed it more if Rusty and Andrew had ended up only being platonic. I do think the ending was really sweet, and I did enjoy that part of the story although it was a bit rushed in my opinion.
So many people say that this is an incredibly emotional book, which I do agree... but it honestly didn't hit me until almost the very end of the story, which was a tad disappointing.
catbewks's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley is a book unlike any other I've ever read.
The unlikeliness of the story both threw me off and drew me in at the same time.
The book's portrayal of Death and its metaphorical meaning were my favourite parts. I also really loved how emotional this book was able to make me.
(I do think there's something missing, though, something that would have made this book truly special.)
I really enjoyed it regardless; Shaun David Hutchinson is becoming one of my favourite authors. He's so stupidly underrated.
When boys wake up screaming in the night, it's because they know that, one day, they'll have to grow into men who wear suits and spend their days doing boring things that cause them to rot from within, so their skin withers and blackens and cracks, leaking out their juices until they finally lie decaying and putrid, forgotten by a world that deemed them unworthy of remembering.
It begins there because it's important to know that a superhero with no past began as a man with no future.
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley is a book unlike any other I've ever read.
The unlikeliness of the story both threw me off and drew me in at the same time.
The book's portrayal of Death and its metaphorical meaning were my favourite parts. I also really loved how emotional this book was able to make me.
(I do think there's something missing, though, something that would have made this book truly special.)
I really enjoyed it regardless; Shaun David Hutchinson is becoming one of my favourite authors. He's so stupidly underrated.
When boys wake up screaming in the night, it's because they know that, one day, they'll have to grow into men who wear suits and spend their days doing boring things that cause them to rot from within, so their skin withers and blackens and cracks, leaking out their juices until they finally lie decaying and putrid, forgotten by a world that deemed them unworthy of remembering.
It begins there because it's important to know that a superhero with no past began as a man with no future.
xdarkthunderx's review against another edition
4.0
Fairly depressing but also hopeful and gay as heck. I took off one star because although I loved most of the book, I felt the romance between Drew and Rusty was rushed and could have been stronger. Still an enjoyable read, though!
sinimini's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lucy_qhuay's review against another edition
3.0
I've read great reviews about this book, so much so that I developed really high expectations about it.
I know you should never do that, since the higher your expectations the most likely it is for you to get disappointed, but alas, I couldn't help myself.
My main issue is that the book was pretty much all doom and gloom until the very end.
On one hand, it made sense because there are a lot of serious subjects here, from death, to illness, bullying and sexuality. On the other hand, it was way too much.
I would have loved reading about Andrew Brawley, who would be having a hard time coping with his family's death, without being so irrevocably broken and self-destructive. I would have loved reading about him meeting a new boy named Rusty, who would have showed him there's more to life than endless misery. I would have loved reading about Rusty having his own issues too, but nothing that dark, since he was a young, bright young man. I would have loved reading about Rusty being confident in his own skin, certain there was nothing wrong about loving boys and not giving a damn about the opinion of idiots.
In my humble opinion, particularly considering this is a teenage book, it should have been about these teens facing the reality of life, without doing so much harm to themselves and others.
Yes, life can be cruel sometimes, but you can't spend your precious time here focusing on the bad things. As long as you know who you are, what you want, what's best for you and who are the people who love you, you're set.
Don't punish yourself for things you didn't do. Don't punish yourself for being who you are. Don't punish yourself because others are too short-sighted to accept everyone's different.
Just go out in the world and be great.
annieni's review against another edition
DNF at 65%.
I honestly hated this book. I started counting how many pages I had left to split them up into sections to read. By that point, I realized I should just stop reading, so I did that. Honestly, this was such a struggle to get through and don't get the hype around it.
Drew was such an annoying character and I knew nothing about him. Literally, I was 65% of the way into the book and there was no backstory for him at all other than his parents died and he has delusions from grief. I don't even know how his parents died, and at this point, I couldn't care less. Drew was also so obsessive over Rusty, calling him "his" and was reluctant to 'share' Rusty with Rusty's best friend, Nina, which was so irritating considering he literally just met this boy and barely knew him.
I also can't handle the way Drew copes with loss. Like his delusion that the social worker/grief counselor is Death was so irritating to read about. Just because she shows up when people die doesn't mean that she's Death; just because there's a correlation doesn't mean that there's a causation. Didn't this kid take any math classes before he dropped out of school and went into hiding?? (And the fact that no one recognizes him as the missing kid is just wack like doesn't the hospital have cameras and tv's) Also, Drew thinks he can prevent people from dying. Like he promises to keep his friend Trevor from dying as if he doesn't have a disease that's killing his cells. Has he never taken bio in school either? Honestly, 90% of my notes for this book just consisted of "????????" because I literally could not comprehend anything going through Drew's brain. I'm tired and I regret spending 9$ on this book.
There's also this gem: "'Right, the Mexican guy. With the arm lac.' Jo laughs like she has a mouthful of bees. 'I think you about scared him back across the border when you showed him the catheter.'"
MMhmm. I love that. (This is heavy sarcasm if you haven't picked up on it yet)
I've also seen some people talking about how Drew forces himself onto Rusty and kisses him without his consent, so there's that.
The only characters I liked were Father Mike, Lexi, Trevor, and the three nurses (basically every side character lmaoo). I thought they were pretty interesting.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book, but don't let me stop you from spending 9$ and experiencing this for yourself.
I honestly hated this book. I started counting how many pages I had left to split them up into sections to read. By that point, I realized I should just stop reading, so I did that. Honestly, this was such a struggle to get through and don't get the hype around it.
Drew was such an annoying character and I knew nothing about him. Literally, I was 65% of the way into the book and there was no backstory for him at all other than his parents died and he has delusions from grief. I don't even know how his parents died, and at this point, I couldn't care less. Drew was also so obsessive over Rusty, calling him "his" and was reluctant to 'share' Rusty with Rusty's best friend, Nina, which was so irritating considering he literally just met this boy and barely knew him.
I also can't handle the way Drew copes with loss. Like his delusion that the social worker/grief counselor is Death was so irritating to read about. Just because she shows up when people die doesn't mean that she's Death; just because there's a correlation doesn't mean that there's a causation. Didn't this kid take any math classes before he dropped out of school and went into hiding?? (And the fact that no one recognizes him as the missing kid is just wack like doesn't the hospital have cameras and tv's) Also, Drew thinks he can prevent people from dying. Like he promises to keep his friend Trevor from dying as if he doesn't have a disease that's killing his cells. Has he never taken bio in school either? Honestly, 90% of my notes for this book just consisted of "????????" because I literally could not comprehend anything going through Drew's brain. I'm tired and I regret spending 9$ on this book.
There's also this gem: "'Right, the Mexican guy. With the arm lac.' Jo laughs like she has a mouthful of bees. 'I think you about scared him back across the border when you showed him the catheter.'"
MMhmm. I love that. (This is heavy sarcasm if you haven't picked up on it yet)
I've also seen some people talking about how Drew forces himself onto Rusty and kisses him without his consent, so there's that.
The only characters I liked were Father Mike, Lexi, Trevor, and the three nurses (basically every side character lmaoo). I thought they were pretty interesting.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book, but don't let me stop you from spending 9$ and experiencing this for yourself.
ssjonoyoung's review against another edition
4.0
4.5*
This was beautiful, like honestly the characters were so traumatising and traumatised that I wasn't really sure what to feel. Andrew was so interesting and unique and his relationship with the people in the hospital was so different and great. Rusty and him while being adorable and wonderful were the only reason this didn't get 5*'s the relationship seemed rushed like seriously rushed it could have done with an extra 50 pages of fleshing out. Right at the beginning.
This was beautiful, like honestly the characters were so traumatising and traumatised that I wasn't really sure what to feel. Andrew was so interesting and unique and his relationship with the people in the hospital was so different and great. Rusty and him while being adorable and wonderful were the only reason this didn't get 5*'s the relationship seemed rushed like seriously rushed it could have done with an extra 50 pages of fleshing out. Right at the beginning.
canteen143's review against another edition
4.0
*stares into a neverending space as i finished reading this book in a moving jeepney* i'M NoT fInE
katerina_2597's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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