Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Suicide Notes

The book was beautifully written. The protagonist is relatable, especially in the way he confronts therapy and his development until he accepts that he did need help and that talking about his problems is necessary.
The writing style is easy to read and I had no issues at all following the story and characters.
Especially regarding mental health this book shows the complexity of this topic and how it can show in different people (Jeff, Sadie, Martha for example) and while it is mainly hopeful it has scenes where it shows that not every story ends a happy way.
However while I really enjoyed the book there were some passages that I had to fight myself through to keep going, not because it was graphic or uncomfortable but because I thought it was either a little repetitive or slow, also the

author could've been a little more clear about Jeff's SA by Rankin since its onky off-handedly mentioned as molestation

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andreamhi's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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aslitees35's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

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asteria_6179's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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kates_cupcakes's review against another edition

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emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Really cheesy tbh, it’s a very YA book and it written what feels a bit transparent where you can see the reasons behind everything. There are difficult moments in the book and I really wish it had more of an ending than it did. I found myself feeling let down by the end.

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semilys02's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I would give it a 5/5 but i’m mad at how much it made me cry. I needed to take several breaks from this book…. however it was a fast read because i was so interested!!!

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br3anna_'s review against another edition

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dark funny fast-paced

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

3.5

So yeah! I got done this book today!

Pros: I flew through this book like no other
I related with a lot of things
I'm glad Jeff had a sense of humor throughout the entire book.
These characters had personalities

Cons: But was Jeff likable? Not really.

He was played a victim when he literally did the same thing to Sadie. Man also kissed his best friends boyfriend unconsensually.

If anything? Karma's a bitch. If you ask me.
That whole thing with Sadie and Rankin wasn't the best to sit through. It was pretty rough.

Got a little teary-eyed, but I expected to sob.

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feelsattack's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.0

"I can't wait," I said as I stood up. "Oh, and by the way, you need a haircut." As I turned to leave, I saw him reach up and touch his hair. Score one for Jeff, I thought as I shut the door behind me.

After that I had to go see old Cat Poop. The first thing I noticed was that something about him looked different. "You got a haircut," I said once I realized what it was."

I wanted him to say that I'd been right about his needing to deal with his hair, but instead he launched right into therapy time.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. For one thing, I got Cat Poop to cut his hair, which I think is a totally huge achievement.

"I'm interested in hearing what you think," said Cat Poop.
I waited a minute before I answered. "What I think is that the goatee you're trying to grow looks ridiculous.," I said.
He looked surprised. Then he glanced at the mirror that hangs on one of the walls. "See?" I said. "Honesty isn't so great, is it?"

Cat Poop (who by the way shaved off the goatee, so that's another point for me).

I am so sick of the now-standard witty, snarky, constantly sarcastic main character in YA. It's one of the few things that makes me DNF a YA book (because this trope is almost like some weird YA-exclusive thing). I didn't hate it this time though because considering this book's subject matter, it comes off more like a coping mechanism and a way to deflect so that the MC would never have to talk about himself. It works. And it's actually funny (most YA books fail to be funny with this kind of MC, it just comes off as annoying).

One thing that greatly shocked me was the surprise sexual content. I don't read much YA but the ones I've read so far don't have any sort of sexual content. But this one was a shock. I get that it's important to the MC's development but in a young adult book... that's, you know... targeted towards a demographic of young people, probably around ages 12-18... sexual content is not appropriate. Maybe for people aged 15-18 but there are still kids that are 12-14 that will read this. I also don't like sexual content in my books so this really took down the rating from 4.5 to 4.

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