makenna_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Outing, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Racism, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief
Minor: Forced institutionalization
noahelijah's review
- 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
2.5
My 2.5 Stars are my personal enjoyment and opinion. This really wasn’t for me.
At the beginning I was really into it. But the further I read, the more frustrated and bored I got. Don’t get me wrong there certainly were emotional and impactful scenes but I found myself not being emotionally invested in the characters overall at all.
I often had the feeling, that I only saw the author wanting to make it emotionally impactful.
It took me ages to finish it. After the halfway point we didn’t really get anything new. All the realizations we’ve already been through, and the thing I was interested in ist seeing the surroundings (which we got in Part 3 and I liked the most) but the truths the characters learned were repetitive? The writing wasn’t my taste at all but has nothing to do with the book generally. I would have loved to see the impact on family and friends with such a topic. Or more like: what does their life look like in coming years (in all parts! Not just part 3). A few parts felt very ‚look-how-sad-your-family-will-be‘ what a lot of people in those situations get to hear often and it rarely helps that person.
I really tried to connect to the characters. But I couldn’t.
All in all a solid YA Novel that I see being helpful to a certain audience.
Please reach out in ways you are able to if you are in this or similar situations! Talk to loved ones and find things as small or big as you want to help you get through this. You will!
Graphic: Body shaming, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Bullying, Grief, and Homophobia
jmross10's review
- 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
While it is about a very sad topic, I feel that Konigsberg DID NOT write with the singular intent of making people cry, thus blinding them to the bigger story. He wrote about the grief, struggles, catalysts, and potential outcomes with honesty. Explored the various different types of familial and “friend” responses, and (arguably the saddest part for me), people who had never crossed paths with the MCs and who’s lives were altered because of it.
I thought it was well written and I didn’t mind the alternate versions of the story. Parts of it were repetitive but not in an annoying way. I appreciate that the various outcomes weren’t completely different and also that everyone wasn’t suddenly okay because that is definitely not true.
I’ve read Konigsberg before and really enjoyed his work and I look forward to reading more in the future.
Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Outing, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
rayne_1906'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
3.5
Graphic: Death, Child death, Fatphobia, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
emily_reads851's review
- 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
3.75
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Child death, Bullying, and Abandonment
micsdirt_nbooks's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide