A review by kj468
Stranger Than Fanfiction by Chris Colfer

adventurous 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? No

1.5

Despite being published in 2017, this book very much had "2003, we haven't yet had a culture reckoning about what's not okay to say" vibes. There were lots of jokes that were rather cringe and one of the main characters has a disabled younger brother who seems to only exist to further the narrative of the able-bodied character (and includes language like "confined to a wheelchair"; they stay at a hotel called the "Teepee Inn" and while one of the characters acknowledges that it's "not very politically correct", the author could have just not used culturally appropriation as a hotel name). One of the main characters is trans masc and one is a gay guy, and both are closeted for most of the book; overall, these characters are handled well enough.

At times, the book felt a bit like D.A.R.E. propaganda, showing teenagers using drugs and alcohol in not particularly realistic fashions and with not particularly realistic effects (ie two of the characters seem to do approximately five shots while having a serious conversation, and one of the characters was already drunk before those shots; the characters smoke weed that the more experienced smoker of the group decides is "laced with some shit" but there's not much of an explanation for why the character thinks that). 

Ultimately, I mainly read this book because I was on the beach and it was the book I had with me, and also to confirm my suspicions about the foreshadowed plot twist. The plot twist at the end felt fairly obvious to me, given the anvil-sized hints laced throughout the book, but I did like that part. If I read it in a different setting, I likely would have DNF'd it due to the general insensitivity throughout the book. 
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