scarlettkellett's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
kjboldon's review
4.0
I love the Giant Days comic, as do my 12 and 15yo kids, and reading this book was getting to nm spend more time with Daisy, Susan, and Esther. I had trouble not laughing aloud when I read it in public.
nissahh's review
2.0
In the beginning I liked this book, it felt so good being back into this world, but the format really started to bother me. The way it would jump from each of the girls it was a little jarring. I don't know if it was because of it being an eArc or what but I hope it's not like that in the finish copy. I do think you would have to read the graphic novel to understand a few things that was going on in this book. Since I liked the graphic novels a lot I thought I was going to like this too, but just found it okay.
jenncamp's review
3.0
2.5 rounded up. I want to start off by saying I LOVE the Giant Day graphic novels. I think I went in with the expectation that this would be totally different stories than the graphic novels but it felt recycled and too similar. I felt I was just reading the GN without the amazing art.
karenchase's review
5.0
I have read a number of graphic adaptations of novels, but this is the first novel adaptation of a graphic that I have read. Giant Days has been a fave for a while, so I decided to pick this up. I love the graphic, but this expands and explores the story of Susan, Esther, and Daisy so much more completely than a graphic really could. The three girls (for that is what they are—teenagers exploring adult life for the first time) contend with big stuff here: shaking the ghosts of the past, self-doubt, and the ins and outs of adult friendship. In doubting themselves and their friends, they plunge and are almost lost in anger, vengeance, worship, adoration, and cults. It is irresistibly readable and satisfying.
rouver's review
3.0
I didn't even realize there was a Giant Days novel until I was searching through books at my library. This book clearly is after [b:Giant Days, Vol. 1|25785993|Giant Days, Vol. 1 (Giant Days, #1)|John Allison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1437047865l/25785993._SY75_.jpg|45636621] and I *believe* before Vol 2, but my memory of those earlier volumes is too fuzzy to be completely sure. This is NOT written by John Allison. Pratt manages to capture the girls' personalities fairly well, but a lot of what makes the graphic novel so great is, in fact, the graphic part of it. I definitely missed the illustrations. If you aren't already a fan of Giant Days (and I DO recommend them!) then I suggest reading the comics first. The novel is a nice addition, so if you're all caught up on the latest releases, then this is a decent bit of filler until the next comes out.
mehsi's review
5.0
*flails around*My favourite girls are back, this time in novel/book form!
I was absolutely ecstatic when I heard about this project. Of course, I was also worried. Would the voices/characters still be the same (important to me), how about their friendship, or their college days, would this truly feel like a Giant Days graphic novel volume just without pictures?
I can answer all those questions now. Yes, and no.The characters were pretty much on point with the graphic novel (though Daisy was slightly more naive/dumb here than there), the way they interacted was at points the same (though at points also no), Susan and McGraw's relationship was just as it was in the graphic novel (but felt much deeper and better), the story was just as fun as the graphic novel stories.
We follow all three girls. We see how Daisy falls in the claws of a drugged cult full of yogi (as I would call it), we see Esther fall for Vectra's non-existent charm, we see Susan try to keep her friends together while also trying not to show that she is actually totally in love with McGraw. The POV switches from girl to girl, and at times I had a bit of a hard time with the POV switches. Maybe it works better in the paper-version of the book, but with my kindle copy quite often there was no room between the POV switches. One moment it was Susan, then Esther, and then Daisy. So I have had to do some re-reading.
My biggest frustration lay with Daisy. She is normally my top girl (followed closely by Esther and then Susan), but in this one I just wanted to shake her. How she didn't even notice anything was wrong. how she just didn't get that she was being drugged. I get that she is homeschooled, but I am sorry, I don't think that is an excuse. How she just gave stuff away because she needed a family, you already have one, your two friends and your granny. Sure, your two friends aren't always around, but hey, that is life. That is how it works. Your friends can't be there with you 24/7. I just got a bit pissed at her. Before and after the whole yogi debacle she was the Daisy I loved. The Daisy who indeed would just sign up for every club possible, no matter if it is impossible to do so many clubs. The Daisy who is there for her friends, the quiet girl who always has some wise advice, the girl who is raising a tiny little bird named Baby Gordon.
Esther's obsession with Vectra. Man, oh man. I was frustrated with her as well, that she was so blinded that she couldn't see what Vectra was. But for most I just adored Esther, how she tries to bullshit her way out of stuff (though it doesn't always work), the way she dresses herself and how she looks, the way she cares about her friends, the fact she always want people to be happy. Though I do hope that she will work harder on her school work. You can't just go to college without the whole learning thing. :P
Susan was so on point. It was like Susan just casually walked out of the graphic novel and settled down in this novel. We see her struggle with what to tell her friends, share the whole dirty past, or just bits and pieces. And I could relate to her so much in that way. I am also not the type of person who just spits out everything about my life in an instant. I first need trust. And it can take months before I will finally open up fully. Before I trust.
I loved her investigation stuff, and I was rooting for her to figure out what was going on with Daisy.
McGraw and her? I already knew quite a bit because of the graphic novels, but it was fun to read about it in the novel. How she always acts like he is the worst, makes mean jokes, but you can see that she deeply cares about him, she is just hurt and Susan + hurt means she may just spit fire.
Plus, I just adored that, while you could see it in the graphic novel as well, this one showed us much more on how Susan ticked. We see her actions, all her thoughts and more.
The girls' friendship was at times the same old happy and joy friendship that I saw in the graphic novels, but at times I just wanted to shout at these girls. If any of them had just dragged the other two with them, sat down, talked, I am sure there wouldn't have been any problems or doubts. But hey, I guess then the book would have been shorter. But then it could have been filled with more of this wonderful friendship. Thankfully, the ending definitely makes up for the unhappiness I at times felt. I loved how these three, very different girls, fitted together perfectly. Esther's always happy go lucky attitude, Susan's sarcasm and protectiveness, and Daisy's wisdom and quiet down to earthness.
I was definitely shocked to see what happened at that Halloween party, thank heavens that Esther has her friends. I don't even want to think about what would have happened hadn't they intervened. :|
I had quite a laugh at how Esther and Susan tried to eject Daisy from every club she had signed up to. Some of their ways were pretty dang hilarious. That poor Paper Clip Fanciers club.
The ending, and how they all went to extract Daisy from that drugs/yogi/cult was hilarious and fun to read.
All in all, I could go on and on and on and on for more time about this book, there is just so much I could still talk about, but I don't want my book to become too long. All I want to say is that I do hope that there is going to be another Giant Days novel in the future, maybe even a whole series. Non Pratt did a pretty dang good job on writing! I would also recommend this one. I had tons of fun reading this, even with the frustration I also felt at times. I just couldn't stop reading.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
I was absolutely ecstatic when I heard about this project. Of course, I was also worried. Would the voices/characters still be the same (important to me), how about their friendship, or their college days, would this truly feel like a Giant Days graphic novel volume just without pictures?
I can answer all those questions now. Yes, and no.The characters were pretty much on point with the graphic novel (though Daisy was slightly more naive/dumb here than there), the way they interacted was at points the same (though at points also no), Susan and McGraw's relationship was just as it was in the graphic novel (but felt much deeper and better), the story was just as fun as the graphic novel stories.
We follow all three girls. We see how Daisy falls in the claws of a drugged cult full of yogi (as I would call it), we see Esther fall for Vectra's non-existent charm, we see Susan try to keep her friends together while also trying not to show that she is actually totally in love with McGraw. The POV switches from girl to girl, and at times I had a bit of a hard time with the POV switches. Maybe it works better in the paper-version of the book, but with my kindle copy quite often there was no room between the POV switches. One moment it was Susan, then Esther, and then Daisy. So I have had to do some re-reading.
My biggest frustration lay with Daisy. She is normally my top girl (followed closely by Esther and then Susan), but in this one I just wanted to shake her. How she didn't even notice anything was wrong. how she just didn't get that she was being drugged. I get that she is homeschooled, but I am sorry, I don't think that is an excuse. How she just gave stuff away because she needed a family, you already have one, your two friends and your granny. Sure, your two friends aren't always around, but hey, that is life. That is how it works. Your friends can't be there with you 24/7. I just got a bit pissed at her. Before and after the whole yogi debacle she was the Daisy I loved. The Daisy who indeed would just sign up for every club possible, no matter if it is impossible to do so many clubs. The Daisy who is there for her friends, the quiet girl who always has some wise advice, the girl who is raising a tiny little bird named Baby Gordon.
Esther's obsession with Vectra. Man, oh man. I was frustrated with her as well, that she was so blinded that she couldn't see what Vectra was. But for most I just adored Esther, how she tries to bullshit her way out of stuff (though it doesn't always work), the way she dresses herself and how she looks, the way she cares about her friends, the fact she always want people to be happy. Though I do hope that she will work harder on her school work. You can't just go to college without the whole learning thing. :P
Susan was so on point. It was like Susan just casually walked out of the graphic novel and settled down in this novel. We see her struggle with what to tell her friends, share the whole dirty past, or just bits and pieces. And I could relate to her so much in that way. I am also not the type of person who just spits out everything about my life in an instant. I first need trust. And it can take months before I will finally open up fully. Before I trust.
I loved her investigation stuff, and I was rooting for her to figure out what was going on with Daisy.
McGraw and her? I already knew quite a bit because of the graphic novels, but it was fun to read about it in the novel. How she always acts like he is the worst, makes mean jokes, but you can see that she deeply cares about him, she is just hurt and Susan + hurt means she may just spit fire.
Plus, I just adored that, while you could see it in the graphic novel as well, this one showed us much more on how Susan ticked. We see her actions, all her thoughts and more.
The girls' friendship was at times the same old happy and joy friendship that I saw in the graphic novels, but at times I just wanted to shout at these girls. If any of them had just dragged the other two with them, sat down, talked, I am sure there wouldn't have been any problems or doubts. But hey, I guess then the book would have been shorter. But then it could have been filled with more of this wonderful friendship. Thankfully, the ending definitely makes up for the unhappiness I at times felt. I loved how these three, very different girls, fitted together perfectly. Esther's always happy go lucky attitude, Susan's sarcasm and protectiveness, and Daisy's wisdom and quiet down to earthness.
I was definitely shocked to see what happened at that Halloween party, thank heavens that Esther has her friends. I don't even want to think about what would have happened hadn't they intervened. :|
I had quite a laugh at how Esther and Susan tried to eject Daisy from every club she had signed up to. Some of their ways were pretty dang hilarious. That poor Paper Clip Fanciers club.
The ending, and how they all went to extract Daisy from that drugs/yogi/cult was hilarious and fun to read.
All in all, I could go on and on and on and on for more time about this book, there is just so much I could still talk about, but I don't want my book to become too long. All I want to say is that I do hope that there is going to be another Giant Days novel in the future, maybe even a whole series. Non Pratt did a pretty dang good job on writing! I would also recommend this one. I had tons of fun reading this, even with the frustration I also felt at times. I just couldn't stop reading.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
bookcaptivated's review
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
liesljrowe's review
3.0
A fun tale of feminism and first years at university. So much of this story was eerily familiar, capturing perfectly the environment of some of my own times as a fresher, so I can't help but have a soft spot for it. Story-wise, things rumble along between a series of vignettes with three ongoing story threads which are resolved towards the end, so this probably isn't for you if you are looking for something more narrative focused. I liked the episodic nature of a lot of the action, how it felt more realistic in capturing university experiences, and while I haven't read the comics (I now intend to), I'm assuming this is also a throwback towards the original stories which inspired the book. Not entirely sure where I'd categorise this as a genre: it feels very YA, but at the same time, a lot of my enjoyment came out of how perfectly it captured finding new friends at university, so I'd be tempted to say this is the perfect book to go buy as you struggle through the first few weeks of being a fresher.
Thank you Netgalley for giving me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you Netgalley for giving me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.