Scan barcode
A review by befsk
When We Collided by Emery Lord
3.0
Simply put, this was a book that featured a manic pixie dream girl who had an excuse for her MPDG-ness in the form of bipolar disorder. That she had an excuse to act the way she did didn't make her any less obnoxious though.
Otherwise this book was kinda forgettable. I'm writing this review less than a fortnight later and I barely remember it. I have some bulletpoint notes that I jotted down at the time and they're the only reason I'm remembering the plot at all:
- I love big families in books, and that's probably why I gave this one a decent rating. The big family in question did fade into being background noise towards the mid-to-end of the book though.
- Considering Vivi was supposed to be so confident and self-assured in her attitudes otherwise, I was utterly baffled at her inability to talk about mental health problems. I know it's difficult to talk about, but she never shied away from talking about literally anything else.
- Why was her mother not more strict? Why did she leave Vivi to her own devices constantly? It felt very unrealistic after all the shit Vivi had pulled in the past, and her increasingly obvious manic behaviour as the book progressed.
- Jonah felt a little too uptight to ever hang out with someone like Vivi, but I suppose that's the usual flip side to the MPDG trope: a shy guy who gets drawn out of his shell. For a book that had the capability and means to say so much about the manic pixie dream girl trope, we didn't even allude to it. That's perhaps what's most galling. The author had the decency to at least come up with a reason for the trope, but didn't go on to say anything meaningful - or anything at all - about it.
- The small side plot with Vivi's father was picked up and forgotten too fast, in my opinion.
Otherwise this book was kinda forgettable. I'm writing this review less than a fortnight later and I barely remember it. I have some bulletpoint notes that I jotted down at the time and they're the only reason I'm remembering the plot at all:
- I love big families in books, and that's probably why I gave this one a decent rating. The big family in question did fade into being background noise towards the mid-to-end of the book though.
- Considering Vivi was supposed to be so confident and self-assured in her attitudes otherwise, I was utterly baffled at her inability to talk about mental health problems. I know it's difficult to talk about, but she never shied away from talking about literally anything else.
- Why was her mother not more strict? Why did she leave Vivi to her own devices constantly? It felt very unrealistic after all the shit Vivi had pulled in the past, and her increasingly obvious manic behaviour as the book progressed.
- Jonah felt a little too uptight to ever hang out with someone like Vivi, but I suppose that's the usual flip side to the MPDG trope: a shy guy who gets drawn out of his shell. For a book that had the capability and means to say so much about the manic pixie dream girl trope, we didn't even allude to it. That's perhaps what's most galling. The author had the decency to at least come up with a reason for the trope, but didn't go on to say anything meaningful - or anything at all - about it.
- The small side plot with Vivi's father was picked up and forgotten too fast, in my opinion.