Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg

16 reviews

zefancifulreader's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Walked into this book thinking I was going to get a fun queer summer romance, set on a food truck. NOPE. 
This is a book about two, flawed, struggling, gay boys on the edge of manhood who desperately need to go to therapy. (I’m happy to report that at least one of them is seeing a councillor by the end of the story.) 
In all seriousness, this book really dives into the mess of grief, toxic masculinity, consent without sinking too far into the darkness, which I appreciated. Huge salute to the author for tackling consent and toxic masculinity as a main theme. I don’t see it enough, especially in queer books. 

I’m not sure if I’m totally on board with the “it’s all meant to be” message at the end but I loved the softness that the author wove into the hearts of Jordan and Max. 
Not a huge fan of the carbon copy best friends thing that was going on, it felt a bit lazy, but I’m relieved that the superficial relationships grew into more as the story progressed, even if it felt a bit forced.
The pacing was a bit odd, which sort of messed with the plot twists and relationship developments for me.

I also felt like Jordan was in a much chiller, “look on the bright side” head space at the end of the book, for all the bullshit that had landed on him without any therapy and not near enough process time. It’s super unrealistic. Like one kickboxing session with Max is not going to cure your abandonment and grief at the loss of your Dad, Mom, and Home. 🙄

 
I loved experiencing the slow vulnerability that Jordan and Max showed one another. It was like watching the walls of toxic masculinity quietly crumble to the ground. 
Overall, it was a surprising and lovely story. One prickly pear lemonade for me! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Death of parent, and Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

thehmkane's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

I started out being deeply annoyed by one of the leads, and not super able to connect to the other, but by the end I was very fond of them both, as well as their little friend groups. Liked that the ending was hopeful, but not super pat.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia

_nem_'s review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Rep: Gay MLM Main characters

This book went through a lot (definitely check the trigger warnings before you read it). It has an amazing found family feeling and the two main characters feeling safe to be their true self and reveal hobbies that they have without thinking they will be judged. It's about hopes and dreams and ambitions and discovering that you can be good at something or enjoy something if you just give it a go. I loved this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Cultural appropriation

a_l_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Medical content, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Racism, and Chronic illness

Minor: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Outing, and Homophobia

readingcavern's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, Racial slurs, and Rape

Minor: Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia

alyxinthestars's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Addiction, Grief, Homophobia, and Death of parent

davidbythebay's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

An emotional story touching upon several difficult topics, this was a beautiful exploration of youth, coming of age, and being gay. When two gay boys take over a food truck for the summer, the story looks likes its going to be a sweet unknown/enemies to lovers trope. And it sort of is. But it's more about realizing what our boundaries are, how to communicate, the strength in speaking your truth and in supporting others' truths, and coping with significant trauma. It's about speaking what you want and having someone listen to it and abide by it. Boundaries are the key theme of this book and it handles them beautifully. Really, a sweet read that spoke volumes in a matter of pages. 

TW: parent death, grief, addiction, gambling, rape, sexual assault, gaslighting, bullying 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Addiction, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia and Vomit

bitsandbobsdivination's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

2.75

I really enjoyed Openly Straight and it’s Sequel but this one just didn’t hit right. 

The friend groups I felt really uncomfortable with right from the beginning and they never really redeemed themselves by the end. The “wives” especially as they felt so over the top and stereotyped. I know it was to make a point of GBF’s but one tiny mention at the end that it changed and suddenly all was good now was weird. 

That being said, most of the plot if this book felt so strange and out of order at times too. Especially since there were a ton of plots mixing together for a climax that never really got solved… It just kinda did an after school special introspection about the title for a moment and then ended?? Plus the mom clearly needed help the whole time and then just got shoved under the bus? It could have been handled so much better!

That all being said, the way in which rape, dissociation, toxic masculinity, and self-esteem were covered were done much better but still, kinda clunky, like it could have been expanded upon in less choppy ways. 

I’m sure I could go on about how Jordan and Max’s relationship was built up without any real chemistry, or how we had random chapters that were full on filler, but I’m gonna end it here by saying it wasn’t all bad, but I don’t plan on reading it again…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

Minor: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Homophobia

kcbookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I read this at least once a year and still love it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Addiction, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Minor: Homophobia

riella_reads's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

 This was a lot more emotional and hard hitting than I originally expected. This hit hard on "light" homophobia and racism, where friends and family are making jokes about gay sex and how the main character isn't brown even though he's Mexican. Some parts were actually pretty hard to listen to, and there were lots of trigger warnings 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, Homophobia, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting