sunnydai's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense slow-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

4.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lucyrudd's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ajay913's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • 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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

itsatyepo's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

A shocking representation of autistic people by a writer who said that “imagination trumps research” in response when asked if he did any research on autism. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

pam_simpson06's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

paigerini's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I read this for class recently. I was told it was the first of its kind: a book from the perspective of an autistic teenager.

My  MAJOR gripe with this novel is how Christopher is portrayed. I understand that he is (implied) on the autism spectrum, but his combination of traits/characteristics seemed almost too stereotypical that I was pulled out of the story. I did some research, and the author only used anecdotal evidence for Christopher's character and did no research on autism itself. I feel like the author wrote this book in a way to make the audience pity the people in Christopher's life, even though they do not have any idea how to interact with him properly. As a neurodivergent person, I cringed at how some sections vilified Christopher for things he has a hard time controlling. I understand that is part of the conflict and plot of the book, but I feel that the autism representation could've been handled better.

When it comes to the story, however, it was decent. The plot was compelling enough for me to fly through the latter half. Overall, an okay read.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

vanessatombolini's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cringletimagi's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional informative tense fast-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

3.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

another_dahlia's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lillelow's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Read this when I was younger and for some reason something about it stuck in my head, so I decided to read it again as an adult. Apparently I’d forgotten most of the plot because I didn’t remember the major plot twist, but other than that, the book didn’t stand out to me as much this time around.

If you have no experience with autism and would like an insight into what that might look like (which I think everyone should) this will probably be a very eye-opening book and I’d absolutely recommend it. But if you’re already familiar with autism, I guess it doesn’t make that much of an impact - hence why I don’t find it as mind-blowing to read now as when I was younger and probably didn’t know as much. The story in itself is actually quite tragic and other than the plot twist, it’s all rather predictable - so the score ends up somewhere in the middle for me. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings