lavaplant's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Audio, reread
haydensux's review against another edition
3.0
this book, is different from what i normally look for in a book-- but i was drawn to the mc's struggle and experiences going on throughout the book. i give it 3 stars, due to it losing me halfway through the last part. i did not finish the book. still check it out to form your own opinion about the story.
alexblackreads's review against another edition
3.0
I think this is the most disappointed I've been with a Sara Zarr book. She's definitely written books that weren't for me about topics and situations I had no interest in, but even then I usually loved her writing style and setting and the way she developed the characters. Even in the ones that weren't for me, I still felt like I could wholeheartedly recommend them.
This one I didn't feel much of anything for. It wasn't bad by any means. There's not a whole lot I have to say about it that's negative. It's just that I don't really have much positive to say either. It exists in the world, I guess. It's inoffensive at both best and worst.
The main character finds out his mother has an affair and it shatters his idealized notions of what his family his so he kind of ruins his life. That's pretty much it. Maybe I'm too much of a cynic to connect to a plot like that because I just can't imagine the kind of reaction the main character has being all that realistic. I'm sure something like that would affect most seventeen year olds, but he really goes all out in destroying every aspect of his life.
It was cool to see aro/ace rep because that's still not something I've seen much, but at one point she gets outed after telling the person to keep her sexuality between them and it's never commented on. It's just apparently no big deal in the narrative that her trust was broken. That really rubbed me the wrong way.
Sara Zarr is still really great at capturing small stories about small lives that feel so realistic in their smallness, but the ending was almost a bit too climactic for the rest of the story. A lot of her books just kind of stop because that's how life works, but this one got dramatic. Off screen dramatic, but it still didn't really fit right.
I dunno, I wouldn't say don't read this book. It's not bad and I'm sure if you connect a little more to the main character you'd enjoy it more than I did. I still think Sara Zarr is great, but this one didn't do much of anything for me.
This one I didn't feel much of anything for. It wasn't bad by any means. There's not a whole lot I have to say about it that's negative. It's just that I don't really have much positive to say either. It exists in the world, I guess. It's inoffensive at both best and worst.
The main character finds out his mother has an affair and it shatters his idealized notions of what his family his so he kind of ruins his life. That's pretty much it. Maybe I'm too much of a cynic to connect to a plot like that because I just can't imagine the kind of reaction the main character has being all that realistic. I'm sure something like that would affect most seventeen year olds, but he really goes all out in destroying every aspect of his life.
It was cool to see aro/ace rep because that's still not something I've seen much, but at one point she gets outed after telling the person to keep her sexuality between them and it's never commented on. It's just apparently no big deal in the narrative that her trust was broken. That really rubbed me the wrong way.
Sara Zarr is still really great at capturing small stories about small lives that feel so realistic in their smallness, but the ending was almost a bit too climactic for the rest of the story. A lot of her books just kind of stop because that's how life works, but this one got dramatic. Off screen dramatic, but it still didn't really fit right.
I dunno, I wouldn't say don't read this book. It's not bad and I'm sure if you connect a little more to the main character you'd enjoy it more than I did. I still think Sara Zarr is great, but this one didn't do much of anything for me.
emjrasmussen's review against another edition
Sara Zarr is one of the most consistently excellent YA contemporary authors. She writes such wonderful, quietly lovely slice-of-life books that treat adolescents' family and friend relationships with such care and nuance. I've been reading her work since eighth grade, and I won't be stopping any time soon. I was also very pleasantly surprised that Emily is canonically aroace! Her identity doesn't play a major role in the story, but it's well-executed casual representation that intrinsically impacts her characterization.
charmaineac's review against another edition
4.0
This book is nostalgia in a bottle (akin to "lightning in a bottle"). Kyle is put in a supremely messed up situation, and he handles it... well... not perfectly, but not awfully either. At the end of the day, he was pretty mature and I was rooting for him. He's got a bright future ahead. I am all for Coach Kyle!!
The cousin friendship felt like it bordered on incestuous for a second there, but luckily never crossed the line. Kyle is a needy dude, and I hope his tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve doesn't hurt him later.
I tend to be way more tolerant of situations like the parental one than most people out there, but that's mainly because I know it's so real. So many of my friends and acquaintances have SOME stories of cheating, although we're not old enough for adultery to be a thing yet. I hope it doesn't become a trend among the people I know, of course. But I think I'm trying to say that it doesn't feel so far-fetched to me. I wish we got more of the confrontation from the parents; it felt like a cop-out to say "We'll talk about it at home" and then get a time-skip.
I love Nowhere Farm. Things, people, places, and feelings are all temporal. I'm glad the kids got the childhood they did. I'm also glad they got the send-off they did. How can I be sentimental over something I wasn't even part of?!
The cousin friendship felt like it bordered on incestuous for a second there, but luckily never crossed the line. Kyle is a needy dude, and I hope his tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve doesn't hurt him later.
I tend to be way more tolerant of situations like the parental one than most people out there, but that's mainly because I know it's so real. So many of my friends and acquaintances have SOME stories of cheating, although we're not old enough for adultery to be a thing yet. I hope it doesn't become a trend among the people I know, of course. But I think I'm trying to say that it doesn't feel so far-fetched to me. I wish we got more of the confrontation from the parents; it felt like a cop-out to say "We'll talk about it at home" and then get a time-skip.
I love Nowhere Farm. Things, people, places, and feelings are all temporal. I'm glad the kids got the childhood they did. I'm also glad they got the send-off they did. How can I be sentimental over something I wasn't even part of?!
kickpleat's review against another edition
4.0
For months I haven’t felt the urge to read and I had abandoned others without finishing, but this book I had no trouble reading. I generally love Zarr’s novels, and this was no exception. Kyle, the main character, thinks his life is perfect and when his dad tells him that his mom is having an affair, all the cracks in his perfect family/girlfriend/friend world split open. Everything Kyle is going through feels so real. 4.5 stars.
stenaros's review against another edition
4.0
An examination of how parents' choices affect their kids, and one kid in particular.
It's also a tale of the things that come with loss.
There were a lot of characters to keep track of and I had to make a family tree. You might also benefit from this process.
It's also a tale of the things that come with loss.
There were a lot of characters to keep track of and I had to make a family tree. You might also benefit from this process.
heykellyjensen's review against another edition
One thing that’s been consistent in Kyle Baker’s life is his family. It’s big, full of personalities, and every summer, they all gather at the Nowhere Farm to celebrate one another. This year, he’s bringing his serious girlfriend Nadia and cannot wait for her to meet them and get to know where he comes from.
Things go well -- Nadia loves his family and they seem to love her. But it’s not too long before everything Kyle thought he knew about himself and his family comes crashing down. His father breaks the news that his mother is having an affair.
Kyle promises not to share that news with his sisters, but the silence begins to kill him. . . and it kills the relationship he has with Nadia, as he becomes distant and cold toward everyone. He’s struggling with how to process the news and it comes to a head the more he begins to think about the woman and child who are connected to the man with whom his mother is having her relationship. They don’t know, and when Kyle meets them both by chance, he’s further devastated carrying the truth around with him.
So he does what feels right: he reaches out to his cousin, who helps him navigate the ups and downs of discovering family secrets and navigating what it means to see someone in a light different than one in which you’ve always held them.
Sara Zarr’s latest book feels a lot like a Sarah Dessen book, and that’s a compliment. There’s tremendous real-world world building, with a complex family relationship that Kyle has to navigate. His relationship with Nadia at the beginning doesn’t last, though what we see of it is fascinating. They’re extremely mature on the outside, joking even about potentially getting married. But it becomes clear how immature Kyle is as he wrestles with the bomb his father delivered. He doesn’t seek support but distance, becoming cold and unapproachable toward someone he had such strong feelings for -- as well as worries about what she might now think about the family he’d shown her to be something out of dream.
This well-paced book is perfect for readers who love family stories, who love flawed but likable main characters -- and Kyle is both of those things, even when he becomes extremely frustrating to watch -- and those who want stories about what happens when the next generation of a family is poised to take over traditions that span their entire lives and the lives of their own parents
Things go well -- Nadia loves his family and they seem to love her. But it’s not too long before everything Kyle thought he knew about himself and his family comes crashing down. His father breaks the news that his mother is having an affair.
Kyle promises not to share that news with his sisters, but the silence begins to kill him. . . and it kills the relationship he has with Nadia, as he becomes distant and cold toward everyone. He’s struggling with how to process the news and it comes to a head the more he begins to think about the woman and child who are connected to the man with whom his mother is having her relationship. They don’t know, and when Kyle meets them both by chance, he’s further devastated carrying the truth around with him.
So he does what feels right: he reaches out to his cousin, who helps him navigate the ups and downs of discovering family secrets and navigating what it means to see someone in a light different than one in which you’ve always held them.
Sara Zarr’s latest book feels a lot like a Sarah Dessen book, and that’s a compliment. There’s tremendous real-world world building, with a complex family relationship that Kyle has to navigate. His relationship with Nadia at the beginning doesn’t last, though what we see of it is fascinating. They’re extremely mature on the outside, joking even about potentially getting married. But it becomes clear how immature Kyle is as he wrestles with the bomb his father delivered. He doesn’t seek support but distance, becoming cold and unapproachable toward someone he had such strong feelings for -- as well as worries about what she might now think about the family he’d shown her to be something out of dream.
This well-paced book is perfect for readers who love family stories, who love flawed but likable main characters -- and Kyle is both of those things, even when he becomes extremely frustrating to watch -- and those who want stories about what happens when the next generation of a family is poised to take over traditions that span their entire lives and the lives of their own parents
theawkwardbookw's review against another edition
2.0
Want to see more bookish things from me? Check out my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCferU-BCL2dlFjWdD0rS75Q
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review*
When Kyle Baker discovers that his mother is having an affair, and that his father already knows about it, his whole world begins to fall apart. It becomes worse when his parents ask him to keep the affair to himself when they go to their next family gathering at his grandparent's farm. He begins to pull away from his girlfriend, and baseball team. The only person he feels he can talk to is his cousin, Emily.
I was not a fan of this book... Although nothing ever happened per say, it gave me weird incest vibes between Kyle and his cousin Emily that I could not get behind. The other family dynamics and relationships were intriguing, and I liked reading about those. Kyle really bothered me though, and I wish he had just communicated with Nadia and his baseball coach instead of shutting down completely. I do understand his thoughts and feelings, but it just drove me crazy watching him destroy his life and relationships because of what his parents were doing...
Overall, the book just wasn't for me.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review*
When Kyle Baker discovers that his mother is having an affair, and that his father already knows about it, his whole world begins to fall apart. It becomes worse when his parents ask him to keep the affair to himself when they go to their next family gathering at his grandparent's farm. He begins to pull away from his girlfriend, and baseball team. The only person he feels he can talk to is his cousin, Emily.
I was not a fan of this book... Although nothing ever happened per say, it gave me weird incest vibes between Kyle and his cousin Emily that I could not get behind. The other family dynamics and relationships were intriguing, and I liked reading about those. Kyle really bothered me though, and I wish he had just communicated with Nadia and his baseball coach instead of shutting down completely. I do understand his thoughts and feelings, but it just drove me crazy watching him destroy his life and relationships because of what his parents were doing...
Overall, the book just wasn't for me.
m0on_d0l1's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5