caryambler's review against another edition
4.0
Cute & quick read. I know it is already a movie with Kat Dennings & Michael Cera. In my opinion, they cast the right person for Norah but Joseph Gordon Levitt is my Nick.
lauren_michelle's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
katy913's review against another edition
5.0
Love this book. I bought it to read a few months before the movie came out since I had wanted to see it.
SO happy I read the book first though.
Its an easy read and I read it in a day.
I hated the movie and it was so different from the book. So many things taken away and so many pointless things added.
If I had seen the movie first I would never have read the book.
If you dont like the movie, definitely still give the book a chance and read it. Its worth it!
SO happy I read the book first though.
Its an easy read and I read it in a day.
I hated the movie and it was so different from the book. So many things taken away and so many pointless things added.
If I had seen the movie first I would never have read the book.
If you dont like the movie, definitely still give the book a chance and read it. Its worth it!
_sarah_reads_'s review against another edition
5.0
Since both Rachel Cohn and David Levithan rock the YA fiction scene, it stands to reason that bringing them together would create fireworks. Their styles are so...what...harmonic...melodic...i don't really know what either of those words means, but my point is, they complement one another. Their writing fits well together.
Anyone who loves Cyd Charisse (Gingerbread, Shrimp, Cupcake) will enjoy reading the inner workings of Norah's mind.
Anyone who loves Cyd Charisse (Gingerbread, Shrimp, Cupcake) will enjoy reading the inner workings of Norah's mind.
imrogers's review against another edition
4.0
I picked up Nick and Norah because I wanted to see what a novel collaboration between two writers would look like, and had a great time with it. Sure, it's "just" a novel about two eighteen year-olds who meet and have a magical night together while dealing with their respective insecurities, and yes, these moments can be overwritten or heavyhanded at times -- let's put that out there right now.
What's really enjoyable about this book are the two narrative voices, which are fun, fast-paced, surprisingly evocative of Modernist stream-of-consciousness (think James Joyce and Virginia Woolf in the best of ways!), and full of pop-culture references. Simply put, this is a fun book to read, and it's about fun things like punk music, what happens when your friend drinks too much, and borrowing people's secondhand jackets with nametags sewn on them. It's also about serious things like breakups, emotional trauma, body issues, and sexual insecurity (the last of which Rachel Cohn captures incredibly well in the Norah chapters). There are also references to My So-Called Life, and that's just awesome.
One can easily see how the more recent teen romance The Sun is Also a Star was modeled after this book with a more involved plot and multiple narrators. Nick and Norah, though, as well as their respective writers, are more badass.
What's really enjoyable about this book are the two narrative voices, which are fun, fast-paced, surprisingly evocative of Modernist stream-of-consciousness (think James Joyce and Virginia Woolf in the best of ways!), and full of pop-culture references. Simply put, this is a fun book to read, and it's about fun things like punk music, what happens when your friend drinks too much, and borrowing people's secondhand jackets with nametags sewn on them. It's also about serious things like breakups, emotional trauma, body issues, and sexual insecurity (the last of which Rachel Cohn captures incredibly well in the Norah chapters). There are also references to My So-Called Life, and that's just awesome.
One can easily see how the more recent teen romance The Sun is Also a Star was modeled after this book with a more involved plot and multiple narrators. Nick and Norah, though, as well as their respective writers, are more badass.
alicatherine's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
this book made me want to be a teenager again but these kids were already infinitely cooler than i’ll ever be. i love both of them so much. made me feel things and maybe believe in love again. long live ya books that don’t end in marriage.
phonologia's review against another edition
2.0
One bonus star for nostalgia, and for being way better than the movie
lizaktzxy's review against another edition
1.0
Well, this was basically an episode of hormonal teenagers with relationship angst go through mood swings. The language is trash (seriously, it feels like 99% of this book was just profanities being thrown in for the sake of sounding hip and cool), the characters are whiny & unlikeable and the rambling, goodness, what was up with all the random stuff they kept spewing at each other and at others. Most of all though, the plot goes everywhere and nowhere all at once. The book reads like a messy, unplanned draft.
prome's review against another edition
1.0
There's a movie based on this book and I had this name saved in my notes app from almost a year ago and it caught my attention when I was going through old notes. Since I found out that there's a book too, I decided to read it first.
I've always been the person who's all in for "The book is always better than the movie" supremacy, but this book, this is the book that finally after ages, proved me wrong.
Now moving on to the review, just because I said that this book has just changed my long-standing opinion of 'the book is always better than the movie' doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad book. The fanfic-like writing style of it made me feel like I'm reading a fanfic and I love reading fanfics, but the fanfic wasn't good enough for me, as in, didn't fit my taste. But I'd genuinely recommend this book to people who have their head in the punk music, go-crazy-while-headbanging-at-a-concert-and-meet-a-guy-there fantasies. Might lose track while reading those scenes where they're in a crowd of people at a concert trying to click with each other but I think that I lost track because I couldn't possibly comprehend the entirety of that setting while reading, but maybe some of you might enjoy reading these scenes if you feel the situation, it's just not for me.
Jumping between the point of views from Nick to Norah and Norah to nick is something I absolutely love while I'm reading a YA novel because it gives me insight into both characters so I don't have any blind corners.
But one thing that got me extremely annoyed that Nick had this blinded feeling towards Tris, and the way the scenes are dreamily written when Nick has flashbacks about Tris and his whole world stops made me question that who the heck is the female lead here??? Norah or Tris??? it's just way too confusing for just 183 pages man.
The same goes for Norah, as a female lead, she seemed like such a weak person according to self-esteem, which isn't a good message to send to the young girls who're reading this book AS it is a YA novel after all.
Another thing that pretty much annoyed me to bits that it also sent the message that music taste matters more than the person you are. I mean like yes you might bond with a person well with similar music taste to yours but that just isn't all of it towards the process of getting to know someone. The pop-culture, punk rock refs were cute but not until you realize that these characters are only judging each other's music taste to determine whether its red light or green.
ALSO, some people might say that the mentioned music taste happens to be the main factor of the book here since its called 'Nick and Norahs Infinite 'Playlist' but I'm so sorry I just have to disagree.
*sighs*
I know that every protagonist of every book you read doesn't have to be a perfect role model to everyone and these characters are relatable and a good representation of teenagers in a lot of cases if you think about it. But I ought to draw the line here because most of it is just unrealistic. The writing had too much swearing, to the point it became trying-too-hard-to-grab-attention might be a reason for this.
I never really thought I'd ever write a negative review as negative as this one, also this much early because I've been only trying to write book reviews just from the beginning of this year. Besides that, I thought that I'd point out both positive and negative sides if it turns out to be that bad. But the only positive things I could mention was
1. People who have a thing for pop-culture, punk rock aesthetics might feel this book. 2. It made me feel like I'm reading fanfic. and 3. Just me trying to convince that it's not a bad book while ranting about how bad it is.
I've always been the person who's all in for "The book is always better than the movie" supremacy, but this book, this is the book that finally after ages, proved me wrong.
Now moving on to the review, just because I said that this book has just changed my long-standing opinion of 'the book is always better than the movie' doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad book. The fanfic-like writing style of it made me feel like I'm reading a fanfic and I love reading fanfics, but the fanfic wasn't good enough for me, as in, didn't fit my taste. But I'd genuinely recommend this book to people who have their head in the punk music, go-crazy-while-headbanging-at-a-concert-and-meet-a-guy-there fantasies. Might lose track while reading those scenes where they're in a crowd of people at a concert trying to click with each other but I think that I lost track because I couldn't possibly comprehend the entirety of that setting while reading, but maybe some of you might enjoy reading these scenes if you feel the situation, it's just not for me.
Jumping between the point of views from Nick to Norah and Norah to nick is something I absolutely love while I'm reading a YA novel because it gives me insight into both characters so I don't have any blind corners.
But one thing that got me extremely annoyed that Nick had this blinded feeling towards Tris, and the way the scenes are dreamily written when Nick has flashbacks about Tris and his whole world stops made me question that who the heck is the female lead here??? Norah or Tris??? it's just way too confusing for just 183 pages man.
The same goes for Norah, as a female lead, she seemed like such a weak person according to self-esteem, which isn't a good message to send to the young girls who're reading this book AS it is a YA novel after all.
Another thing that pretty much annoyed me to bits that it also sent the message that music taste matters more than the person you are. I mean like yes you might bond with a person well with similar music taste to yours but that just isn't all of it towards the process of getting to know someone. The pop-culture, punk rock refs were cute but not until you realize that these characters are only judging each other's music taste to determine whether its red light or green.
ALSO, some people might say that the mentioned music taste happens to be the main factor of the book here since its called 'Nick and Norahs Infinite 'Playlist' but I'm so sorry I just have to disagree.
*sighs*
I know that every protagonist of every book you read doesn't have to be a perfect role model to everyone and these characters are relatable and a good representation of teenagers in a lot of cases if you think about it. But I ought to draw the line here because most of it is just unrealistic. The writing had too much swearing, to the point it became trying-too-hard-to-grab-attention might be a reason for this.
I never really thought I'd ever write a negative review as negative as this one, also this much early because I've been only trying to write book reviews just from the beginning of this year. Besides that, I thought that I'd point out both positive and negative sides if it turns out to be that bad. But the only positive things I could mention was
1. People who have a thing for pop-culture, punk rock aesthetics might feel this book. 2. It made me feel like I'm reading fanfic. and 3. Just me trying to convince that it's not a bad book while ranting about how bad it is.