lovegirl30's review
5.0
"Tonight
I
will
tell
my parents
tonight.
Or maybe tomorrow.”
This was such a good novel in verse. I love novels in verse. They are something I don't think everyone will like but ever since I tried my first I am hooked on them. They are short and sweet but packed with emotion sometimes happiness and sometimes sadness. These emotional punches are super effective and the novel ends up being so powerful for me. I liked this one a lot but I felt like it incorporated too much in too little time.
The author starts out with love, then teen pregnancy then moves to abortion, then moves to the main character being a lesbian without dealing with all the emotional issues associated with all of those. This tiny book of small poems tries to be a full novel on life goals, sexuality, feminism, pro-choice, and pregnancy. It just feels like the author had to race to finish everything off.
The storyline follows Addie who attends a private religious school and she is also a cross country runner. The story starts out with her breaking up and getting together with another boy named James, falling pregnant and has lots of thoughts and feelings about that but not enough. Then she decided to have an abortion and her life changes and she has to figure out a way to get through it all.
I enjoyed it enough.
zoechao's review against another edition
1.0
Don't read this. I don't like it. I don't know why I read it. It is terrible. I finished it in 30 minutes. Don't read this.
pikasqueaks's review
4.0
I enjoyed a lot of things about this, but mostly that this is the first YA I've read in a while that didn't feel like it was being through the adult lens. It felt a little more authentically juvenile, particularly Addie's voice and the way we kind of have what's going on in her mind a little more.
The verse itself was the weakness--the shorter passages worked. The longer ones, not so much.
The verse itself was the weakness--the shorter passages worked. The longer ones, not so much.
valeriianavarr's review against another edition
5.0
Well this was like plunging into cold water.
You get this brief feeling of like freshness and then it starts to get to you!
You get this brief feeling of like freshness and then it starts to get to you!
ciaralo's review
4.0
Verse novels are always a hit-or-miss for me. They can either completely immerse me in the story, or leave me feeling jarred and disjointed. For me, using verse in a novel needs to have purpose and be impacting. The words need to flow easily, lest they become choppy and distorted. Christine Heppermann's ASK ME HOW I GOT HERE is everything I hope for in a verse novel. It is touching, poignant, and moving, a must read for any young girl navigating this messy thing called life.
As most verse novels are for me, ASK ME HOW I GOT HERE was a very quick read. I flew through this story, barely glancing away from the page until I was done. There were a couple of poems that were real gems. Even though a part of the overall narrative, they stood out on their own. The writing work for me in so many ways. It was lyrical and powerful. I could feel the words seeping into my heart. It's one of those books I can see myself going back to, reading over again to feel the weight of those words.
As for the characters, Addie was really the focal point. None of the side characters I really connected with and that's okay. It wasn't their story. I appreciated how supportive Nick was of Addie, as well as how supportive her parents were. None of them knew exactly how to handle the situation, but they tried as best they could to be there for her. But, it wasn't always what Addie needed. ASK ME HOW I GOT HERE was her story, her journey, a snapshot into this moment in time and how it changed many aspects of her life.
I appreciated how sex-positive the novel was. And how it wasn't a tragedy. Addie's abortion was something that affected her life, but didn't derail it. She was able to move forward from it, which I think is such an important thing to show in YA. She struggled to find her place in her religion, her relationships, and her future. Addie's journey is something I think many young women can relate to and a really important narrative. There is so much to unpack in this slender book. You need to read to read it for yourself to feel how impacting it is.
From a completely aesthetic point of view, this book is the whole package. The font on the cover is eye-catching and the color scheme is gorgeous. I love how representative of the book it is. Honestly, I keep staring at it! Combine that with the incredible story on the pages, I think ASK ME HOW I GOT HERE is definitely worth the buy.
A slim novel that delivers quite the punch, ASK ME HOW I GOT HERE is a powerful look at one young girl's journey through new relationships and choosing a life for herself. It wasn't a easy, light read but an important, thoughtful one I think every young woman can appreciate. I know I did. Heppermann is an author I will be keeping my eye on.
- Ciara (Lost at Midnight)
As most verse novels are for me, ASK ME HOW I GOT HERE was a very quick read. I flew through this story, barely glancing away from the page until I was done. There were a couple of poems that were real gems. Even though a part of the overall narrative, they stood out on their own. The writing work for me in so many ways. It was lyrical and powerful. I could feel the words seeping into my heart. It's one of those books I can see myself going back to, reading over again to feel the weight of those words.
As for the characters, Addie was really the focal point. None of the side characters I really connected with and that's okay. It wasn't their story. I appreciated how supportive Nick was of Addie, as well as how supportive her parents were. None of them knew exactly how to handle the situation, but they tried as best they could to be there for her. But, it wasn't always what Addie needed. ASK ME HOW I GOT HERE was her story, her journey, a snapshot into this moment in time and how it changed many aspects of her life.
I appreciated how sex-positive the novel was. And how it wasn't a tragedy. Addie's abortion was something that affected her life, but didn't derail it. She was able to move forward from it, which I think is such an important thing to show in YA. She struggled to find her place in her religion, her relationships, and her future. Addie's journey is something I think many young women can relate to and a really important narrative. There is so much to unpack in this slender book. You need to read to read it for yourself to feel how impacting it is.
From a completely aesthetic point of view, this book is the whole package. The font on the cover is eye-catching and the color scheme is gorgeous. I love how representative of the book it is. Honestly, I keep staring at it! Combine that with the incredible story on the pages, I think ASK ME HOW I GOT HERE is definitely worth the buy.
A slim novel that delivers quite the punch, ASK ME HOW I GOT HERE is a powerful look at one young girl's journey through new relationships and choosing a life for herself. It wasn't a easy, light read but an important, thoughtful one I think every young woman can appreciate. I know I did. Heppermann is an author I will be keeping my eye on.
- Ciara (Lost at Midnight)
thunderbolt_kid's review against another edition
4.0
A book in verse. This is a neat work that showcases the complexities of adolescence (says the 34-year-old reviewer).
biblioghost's review against another edition
4.0
What a beautiful novel in verse. The story unfolded perfectly in this medium and it was very easy to not only understand how Addie was feeling but sympathize as well. I especially enjoyed the witty, gut-punch poems that were part of Addie's poetry project. Addie does get pregnant, and has an abortion, but this is not an after-school-special. This is not a beware-this-could-happen-to-you book. It is a wonderful story about making choices and forgiveness and learning to find your true self, on your own, without others telling you who you are or who you should be.
bethanymartin's review against another edition
3.0
Notes:
some of the phrases are lovely, most of the poetry forgettable
a lot going on in a slim volume (too much?)
unresolved ending
some of the phrases are lovely, most of the poetry forgettable
a lot going on in a slim volume (too much?)
unresolved ending
jhahn's review
3.0
This book was easy to read. I was just disappointed with the ending. Nothing resolved really. This book just seemed to be all over the place, not sure where the author was going.
liralen's review
3.0
I am intrigued, and I also have so! many! questions!
I love the understated nature of this book: Addie goes through a major event—an abortion following an unplanned pregnancy—and although this could very clearly cause Drama on about twelve different levels (starting with the fact that she goes to Catholic school), it doesn't. That is: it does affect her, but it does not define her. Addie is able, through the book, to work things out largely on her own terms; this isn't the sort of book where she has to battle both her own feelings and the direct judgement of those around her. It's not the sort of book where her parents can't look her in the eye after the fact. (There's a place for those books—but there aren't a lot of YA books out there in which abortion is treated as...one piece in a whole.)
So that, that I love. I also appreciate that Addie's realisation that she's attracted to another girl is done in a similarly understated manner. It's pretty much a non-issue, really; this isn't a coming-out book. (Again: There's a place for coming-out books, but there's so much more to queerness than coming out, so...)
And yet I want to know more. I do. I want to know more about Nick and more about Juliana and more about Claire; I want to know what happens when Addie turns her project in; I want to know what might be found in the spaces created by the spareness of verse. I want to know (even as I myself am ambivalent about that sort of label) how Addie might identify by the end of the book, and Juliana, and—is it better, though? To be left a little bit hanging, to be left to fill in those blanks on one's own?
I love the understated nature of this book: Addie goes through a major event—an abortion following an unplanned pregnancy—and although this could very clearly cause Drama on about twelve different levels (starting with the fact that she goes to Catholic school), it doesn't. That is: it does affect her, but it does not define her. Addie is able, through the book, to work things out largely on her own terms; this isn't the sort of book where she has to battle both her own feelings and the direct judgement of those around her. It's not the sort of book where her parents can't look her in the eye after the fact. (There's a place for those books—but there aren't a lot of YA books out there in which abortion is treated as...one piece in a whole.)
So that, that I love. I also appreciate that Addie's realisation that she's attracted to another girl is done in a similarly understated manner. It's pretty much a non-issue, really; this isn't a coming-out book. (Again: There's a place for coming-out books, but there's so much more to queerness than coming out, so...)
And yet I want to know more. I do. I want to know more about Nick and more about Juliana and more about Claire; I want to know what happens when Addie turns her project in; I want to know what might be found in the spaces created by the spareness of verse. I want to know (even as I myself am ambivalent about that sort of label) how Addie might identify by the end of the book, and Juliana, and—is it better, though? To be left a little bit hanging, to be left to fill in those blanks on one's own?