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A review by bumblemee
Act Cool by Tobly McSmith
emotional
reflective
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
First up: This cover is just so, soooo pretty, I love it a lot!! The colours, the illustration style, it's simply amazing.
As for the story itself, I liked it a lot. Books including theater will always have it easier with me than other stories and this was no exception (even though I don't know much about musical theater). A lot of aspects reminded me of my theater group in high school, which was nice.
I get why I read in a few reviews that some people didn't like August that much. He is so insecure of so many things, which causes him to be a little annoying sometimes. The way he's stepping into roles in his private life, trying to be whoever the person in front of him might want him to be (according to himself at least) .. ngl, you can roll your eyes at that. - I personally related to this aspect of him in a lot of ways, maybe that's why I didn't have a problem with him, because I have a lot of empathy for my teenage self. The amount of unnecessary lies were a bit much, but I understood where they were coming from so they didn't put me off too much either.
Sometimes I got a little overwhelmed with the amount of characters, because we spent little time with a lot of them, which made it a little hard to connect to some of the emotional scenes. I also thought the pacing was a little weird. I can't really put my finger on why that is, but it felt like there was so much going on with Grease and afterwards a shitload of character development happened in a very short amount of time. I would've liked a little more space fot it to happen instead of people just telling August time and time again to be himself and him refusing to do so. Again: Understandable, totally understandable, but since this is a book and not real life it would've been okay to speed it up a tiny bit.
As for the story itself, I liked it a lot. Books including theater will always have it easier with me than other stories and this was no exception (even though I don't know much about musical theater). A lot of aspects reminded me of my theater group in high school, which was nice.
I get why I read in a few reviews that some people didn't like August that much. He is so insecure of so many things, which causes him to be a little annoying sometimes. The way he's stepping into roles in his private life, trying to be whoever the person in front of him might want him to be (according to himself at least) .. ngl, you can roll your eyes at that. - I personally related to this aspect of him in a lot of ways, maybe that's why I didn't have a problem with him, because I have a lot of empathy for my teenage self. The amount of unnecessary lies were a bit much, but I understood where they were coming from so they didn't put me off too much either.
Sometimes I got a little overwhelmed with the amount of characters, because we spent little time with a lot of them, which made it a little hard to connect to some of the emotional scenes. I also thought the pacing was a little weird. I can't really put my finger on why that is, but it felt like there was so much going on with Grease and afterwards a shitload of character development happened in a very short amount of time. I would've liked a little more space fot it to happen instead of people just telling August time and time again to be himself and him refusing to do so. Again: Understandable, totally understandable, but since this is a book and not real life it would've been okay to speed it up a tiny bit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Outing, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
Minor: Torture