lawbooks600's review
3.0
Representation: Side Asian characters
Trigger warnings: Hospitalisation of a grandfather, seizure, cancer, verbal abuse, sexual harassment, disappearance of a mother, sexism
Note that I bought this book and now I own it.
7/10, before I say anything I found out that this was part of the Children's Book Council of Australia Longlist for Older Readers in 2023 and honestly? I'm not sure why this is on there, sure other people and the judges enjoyed this but it's not on the same level as Completely Normal for example and it kind of felt similar to that in terms of characters however this feels like a step down from that. Where do I begin? By the way I was expecting a light read about performing arts but this was much darker than I expected so there's that. It starts with the main character Edie Emerson or Edie for short and she has just finished her performance of a play in a theatre and one character called it not bad but forgettable but after that initial event and one more which I'll get to later the book turned into a slow burn. Edie then attends a soiree which she swiftly exits since it didn't go too well and already there was one character I didn't like called Noah Winters since he was the culprit of all this but later on he regrets his decision which I liked. Most of the book revolves around Edie contemplating about her missing mother and no one knows why that happened and is it me or does Edie not have a father and so that's why she only lives with her grandparents I guess.
I liked the part where Edie talks about what I would call racial misrepresentation since after she got accepted into a performance of Romeo and Juliet (classic!) directed by Tyson Swan she notes one time an Asian person played a character in Aladdin which didn't feel right according to her and this version of Romeo and Juliet was supposed to be "avant-garde" but guess what? It didn't even push the envelope , it was supposed to be unconventional but it wasn't. The last third of the book is where everything gets insidious and insipid to say the least and most of all the characters, one Edie sometimes suffers from outbursts from the stress from the upcoming play and her role but her support system is barely there, her parents are gone, her friends are in the background and only her grandparents acted as one toward the final pages so she was on her own for most of it. Two Edie's mother, as I said before is barely there and when she is there she's an atrocious person and that I'll get into more detail later. Some parts already became outdated since Twitter was mentioned when it's now called X and who plays Animal Crossing in 2023?
Toby is just as bad if not worse since he harasses and even abuses the other characters ultimately culminating in Edie not even starting the performance so instead she says something along the lines of, "Toby has abused and bullied me and others. We will not be playing Romeo and Juliet", much to everyone's disappointment. Wow. Big escalation. The ending was ok if it weren't for Edie's mother's rant as Edie's grandparents grew on her and finally Edie stars in a new play called Lily and Jack ending this on a high note.
Trigger warnings: Hospitalisation of a grandfather, seizure, cancer, verbal abuse, sexual harassment, disappearance of a mother, sexism
Note that I bought this book and now I own it.
7/10, before I say anything I found out that this was part of the Children's Book Council of Australia Longlist for Older Readers in 2023 and honestly? I'm not sure why this is on there, sure other people and the judges enjoyed this but it's not on the same level as Completely Normal for example and it kind of felt similar to that in terms of characters however this feels like a step down from that. Where do I begin? By the way I was expecting a light read about performing arts but this was much darker than I expected so there's that. It starts with the main character Edie Emerson or Edie for short and she has just finished her performance of a play in a theatre and one character called it not bad but forgettable but after that initial event and one more which I'll get to later the book turned into a slow burn. Edie then attends a soiree which she swiftly exits since it didn't go too well and already there was one character I didn't like called Noah Winters since he was the culprit of all this but later on he regrets his decision which I liked. Most of the book revolves around Edie contemplating about her missing mother and no one knows why that happened and is it me or does Edie not have a father and so that's why she only lives with her grandparents I guess.
I liked the part where Edie talks about what I would call racial misrepresentation since after she got accepted into a performance of Romeo and Juliet (classic!) directed by Tyson Swan she notes one time an Asian person played a character in Aladdin which didn't feel right according to her and this version of Romeo and Juliet was supposed to be "avant-garde" but guess what? It didn't even push the envelope , it was supposed to be unconventional but it wasn't. The last third of the book is where everything gets insidious and insipid to say the least and most of all the characters, one Edie sometimes suffers from outbursts from the stress from the upcoming play and her role but her support system is barely there, her parents are gone, her friends are in the background and only her grandparents acted as one toward the final pages so she was on her own for most of it. Two Edie's mother, as I said before is barely there and when she is there she's an atrocious person and that I'll get into more detail later. Some parts already became outdated since Twitter was mentioned when it's now called X and who plays Animal Crossing in 2023?
Toby is just as bad if not worse since he harasses and even abuses the other characters ultimately culminating in Edie not even starting the performance so instead she says something along the lines of, "Toby has abused and bullied me and others. We will not be playing Romeo and Juliet", much to everyone's disappointment. Wow. Big escalation. The ending was ok if it weren't for Edie's mother's rant as Edie's grandparents grew on her and finally Edie stars in a new play called Lily and Jack ending this on a high note.
impatientchild's review
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism
jess64au's review
emotional
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
3.75
I enjoyed this book. A typical YA novel, but it was nice for them to be high school students. I felt the last quarter was very rushed compared to the first three quarters. The pace in the first half is quite slow and to be honest a bit frustrating. And then suddenly everything is resolved in the final bit. I would have loved to have much more on Will's storyline.
ziab2023's review
5.0
(4.5 stars) this book could’ve been a 5 star one but Aubrey was really annoying and same for Edie’s Mum. Edie’s mum really needs to chill bc she cannot just have a go at Edie for not doing Romeo and Juliet after all the stuff with Toby so it really just was irrating
rosie_posie's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
4.25
beautifulpaxielreads's review
I just got really tired of the characters and their poor decision-making. Also, there was no subtlety whatsoever, everything the characters were thinking and feeling was spelled out in a really obvious manner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
tessakm's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
More...