hazelstaybookish's review against another edition
3.0
Can't say I love or related to any of the characters (except Gregor's grief, that hit me) but I was pretty satisfied with the romance/s later on as things finally started coming together. Really liked Jake's parents especially their reaction/response when he came out, but wasn't a fan of other family/friendship dynamics.
abbimbay's review against another edition
3.0
i loved carolyn mackler's books as a teen and it was fun to revisit her writing as an adult. i'm a sucker for multiple perspective stories, so i really enjoyed this one. some of the stories fell a little flat, but each character was vivid and so different. probably not one i'll ever pick up again, but i'm glad i read it.
shelfimprovement's review against another edition
5.0
This comes pretty darn close to a perfect YA novel, in my opinion. It's a hefty 462 pages long and I very nearly read it in one sitting—I might have if I'd started it before 10 PM, I might have. As it was I read until I fell asleep, then woke up and immediately picked it back up again to finish.
The book attempts to present the four years of high school as a saga unto itself. It looks at five students and their lives from orientation to graduation. The students are assigned to the same orientation group and, as a project, write letters to their future selves to be opened at graduation. Though their paths often overlap, their lives are for the most part pretty separate and distinct once the letters are sealed and hidden away.
The story bounces back and forth in brief chapters, alternating between the five different perspectives as the months tick away: September of freshman year, April of sophomore year, and so on. It’s sort of Breakfast Club crossed with 500 Days of Summer (though I was a little bummed that the counting days motif didn’t carry beyond the prologue).
The stories aren’t given the kind of depth that a book focusing on one character should have, but there’s just no way Mackler can cover five lives in that much detail without writing a thousand pages. This might annoy some readers, but I was okay with it given the context. I still think Mackler did a pretty good job representing the variety of personalities and personal histories that you’d find in your average high school. There isn’t a sensational or sentimental Big Event at the epicenter here; it’s meant to mirror real life and I think she does that very well. What I saw here very much captured my memories of high school in an incredibly realistic and less idealistic way that many contemporary YA books do.
High school is a bizarre little developmental period, somehow both insular and full of growth. It’s meant to prepare you for college, which is itself typically a baby step towards independence and responsibility. You enter high school as a kid and leave as a little mini proto-adult. There’s massive amounts of change and growth and self-reflection, but most of it still happens inside the bubble of your hometown where things are probably relatively homogenous. It really is a journey, a saga unto itself and Mackler’s approach made me incredibly sentimental for my own high school years.
The book does leave some threads hanging – not everything is given an acknowledged resolution. And the ultimate ending doesn’t really come full-circle. I kind of appreciated that it didn't culminate in this big Event that so often defines the genre. Their lives aren’t over, their stories aren’t over. It’s just that high school is over. But I loved reading this book and I found myself desperately wishing I’d had it to read when I was getting ready to enter high school a zillion years ago.
The book attempts to present the four years of high school as a saga unto itself. It looks at five students and their lives from orientation to graduation. The students are assigned to the same orientation group and, as a project, write letters to their future selves to be opened at graduation. Though their paths often overlap, their lives are for the most part pretty separate and distinct once the letters are sealed and hidden away.
The story bounces back and forth in brief chapters, alternating between the five different perspectives as the months tick away: September of freshman year, April of sophomore year, and so on. It’s sort of Breakfast Club crossed with 500 Days of Summer (though I was a little bummed that the counting days motif didn’t carry beyond the prologue).
The stories aren’t given the kind of depth that a book focusing on one character should have, but there’s just no way Mackler can cover five lives in that much detail without writing a thousand pages. This might annoy some readers, but I was okay with it given the context. I still think Mackler did a pretty good job representing the variety of personalities and personal histories that you’d find in your average high school. There isn’t a sensational or sentimental Big Event at the epicenter here; it’s meant to mirror real life and I think she does that very well. What I saw here very much captured my memories of high school in an incredibly realistic and less idealistic way that many contemporary YA books do.
High school is a bizarre little developmental period, somehow both insular and full of growth. It’s meant to prepare you for college, which is itself typically a baby step towards independence and responsibility. You enter high school as a kid and leave as a little mini proto-adult. There’s massive amounts of change and growth and self-reflection, but most of it still happens inside the bubble of your hometown where things are probably relatively homogenous. It really is a journey, a saga unto itself and Mackler’s approach made me incredibly sentimental for my own high school years.
The book does leave some threads hanging – not everything is given an acknowledged resolution. And the ultimate ending doesn’t really come full-circle
Spoiler
WHY DON'T THEY READ THE LETTERS? WHAT WAS IT ALL FOR? AND WHY DOES THE ZOE THING BUILD TO NOTHING? But it's hard to be too upset when my only complaint is with the last four pages of a 462-page novel. It wasn't a bad ending, just underwhelming.rcaivano's review against another edition
This book follows the lives of five High School freshman from the first day of school up until graduation. It shows how much can change, how people can grow, how dreams can be realized, and how tragedy can happen all in the blink of an eye.
stenaros's review against another edition
2.0
Read for Librarian Book Group
It's kind of a massive undertaking to follow five characters through four years of high school. Hats off to Ms. Mackler for trying and for creating five such different characters. However, the result for me was a story a mile wide and an inch deep. I wanted to really dig into some part of this narrative, and everything felt very surface.
It's kind of a massive undertaking to follow five characters through four years of high school. Hats off to Ms. Mackler for trying and for creating five such different characters. However, the result for me was a story a mile wide and an inch deep. I wanted to really dig into some part of this narrative, and everything felt very surface.
notaleaf's review against another edition
3.0
A coming-of-age story, which follows five teens as they "embark" on their journey through high school. Kind of reminded of me the Breakfast Club in terms of angst and emotions. However, found this story a little boring and longer than it needed to be. 3/5.
mrsthomas715's review against another edition
3.0
This book tells the story of five teenagers over the course of their four years of high school. That's it...
A story that takes place over four years is impossible, there aren't enough pages to tell the whole story. Then you add in the fact that it is telling fice stories because the POV changes for each chapter. There is absolutely no character development.
A story that takes place over four years is impossible, there aren't enough pages to tell the whole story. Then you add in the fact that it is telling fice stories because the POV changes for each chapter. There is absolutely no character development.
danielledvu's review against another edition
3.0
This book was really inspiring. I love the theme of surviving high school. The struggle felt very real for all characters, and I've always had an obsession for time capsules, so the fact that the five POV characters wrote a letter to their future selves was really cool. I mostly identified with Gregor and Whitney, and I really do ship their relationship. Mia was also easy to relate to and a great person, but sometimes I found her a little irritating. Jake was funny and adorable, and Zoe had an interesting personality and relationship with her mother. I feel this is a book that I could carry with me throughout high school. It was a fairly quick read, and pretty easy to comprehend. Overall, a great book for those starting high school.
emdoux's review against another edition
3.0
definitely not what i expected, and a quick read despite its length. though i enjoyed reading this, i don't think it stood out as wildly exceptional.
booksandalmondmilk's review against another edition
4.0
I really loved this book! I read this in 4 hours and I wish I savered it! but over all it was a fun contemporary and I need this to help me end off the year. I didn't know that I was craving for this genre. but when I went to go to the library I just saw and I gave it a chance. over all I loved it! highly recommend it! my second favorite contemporary I read all year! (My first is Fangirl)