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A review by caramels
Unteachable by Elliot Wake
3.0
When I finished this book I automatically gave it 3 stars and I have no idea why, since for the most part I was so annoyed by this book it was a struggle to continue reading, and it was definitely worth just one tiny little star, I thought.
First of all, this book made me understand what an “unhealthy” relationship truly is. I mean, very often in YA-NA books people complain that the relationship between the two main characters is toxic or unhealthy, but I never thought that way. To me, no matter what, it was just a relationship, with its ups and downs. A relationship, I thought, is unhealthy only if the guy abuses you or beats you up or something. Well in this book the relationship was unhealthy as hell even though there was no abuse or anything of the sort. And it wasn’t because it was a teacher-student relationship either, it was because they made it toxic, they poisoned it. I mean:
“Spread your legs.” I did, my heart wild. He was telling me what to do, like a teacher. My teacher.
"What kind of people would we be without secrecy and desperation?"
If that isn’t unhealthy I don’t know what is.
They were both sick people, and by sick I mean sick. I’m not a prude or anything, but she was 18 and was obsessed with sleeping with older men, sometimes middle-aged men, so I dare you to call her otherwise, and his situation wasn’t that different since he liked to sleep with young girls, even 14 years younger than him, even if it was one of his students. But well, that was the point I guess, the troubled girl and the troubled guy meeting and falling in love, but that doesn’t mean I liked the way the whole thing was handled.
Another problem is, he is described like a haunted man, but I couldn’t really understand by what he was so haunted. There’s a back story about his family, but I didn’t think that was enough to make him this “dark” character that the author wants to sell you (at least it didn’t work for me). In fact, I kind of sort of uhm, hated Evan, because beside being described as stunning and hot, with perfect abs and a perfect body (yawn) in my opinion he didn’t have a personality at all. The only thing I got about him was that he cried during Casablanca, so he was supposed to be what? Sensitive and shit? But then, what else? I just saw him as plain and dull. In fact, I didn’t like him to the point that when the big “revelation” about him hit, I was supposed to be shocked, I think, but I just giggled because now I knew a part of me was right about hating him, because at that point I really hated him, maybe more than Maise did. I stopped hating him only during the very last scene of the book, because by then I realized it didn’t matter anymore who he was.
And my feelings about her weren’t that different. She was supposed to be this independent beautiful girl who was confident about herself and didn’t have any problems about accepting that she was hot and beautiful, unlike most of the female characters in YA-NA books that are beautiful but supposedly don’t know it. But I couldn’t buy that either, I just saw her as someone full of herself, who thinks all she has to do to get a guy is look at him, and there was this scene where she’s kind of mad at her best friend because he made plans with a girl for Halloween, while she spent every night with her boyfriend and didn’t even tell his friend who this boyfriend was, but when she’s free for one night, of course her friend has to be free too! So she makes him cancel his plans for the night (and she says she doesn’t want to lead him on.. uhm, if that’s the case you’re doing it wrong, sweetie.)
Also, by the time the story ends you realize she was just a girl who wanted to grow up fast, to feel mature, but she was just a child like everybody else, but during the story her attitude was annoying as hell. She said she was mature for her age and complained a lot about guys her age being “hairless”. I mean I’m not an expert or anything, but I’m kinda sure puberty hits at like 14-15, 16 at the most, so by the time a boy is 18 years old he shouldn’t be hairless. By the way she was disgusted by them you would have thought she was among a bunch of 12 year-old children. (But she also found Evan – a 32 year-old man- “boyish” so she really had some issues to figure out, methinks.)
She was really, really, really obsessed with her age and hated being 18 yo. Every time she did something you had to put up with her crap.
I felt like a little girl
I felt like a woman
I felt young
I felt mature
I felt girlish.
And she wasn't like that just about herself, but about Evan too.
He was boyish
He looked old
He looked like a little boy.
Ohmyeffingod. Just stop already you’re driving me crazy!
So yeah, she wanted to act mature despite being 18, but then there were times when she was petty as hell, like this time when she was alone in class with Evan and another student knocks at the door and Evan goes to see who it is and he says “I’m busy with another student” AND SHE FREAKING GETS UPSET BECAUSE SHE WASN’T “JUST ANOTHER STUDENT”! Oh my god, are you kidding me? Or when in the middle of an argument Evan says she’s naïve, and she responds, “I’m eighteen fucking years old. Excuse me for being naïve." So I guess you’re mature and grown-up only when it’s convenient for you, uh?
Which leaves us with Wesley, the only truly likeable character in the entire book, and the reasonable one, too.
“You did it in our class? I can’t believe this. You were with him in our class. That’s so fucking sick, Maise. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Yes! Thank you!
I mean it’s already unbelievable that he keeps being her friend when she acts so superior and treats him as a clueless child when she’s the one screwing their teacher. At some point her attitude gets to him and he says that she’s right and he’s “just a fucking idiot kid.” The way this book generalizes about age is unbelievable and fucked-up. You can be mature at 17 just like you can be a freaking immature prick at 35. Duh?
So, the problems I had with this books outnumbered the things I liked, and I don’t even think there were things I truly "liked", I just realized that through the good and the bad, for some reason this wasn’t a forgettable book, that at some point the characters start to change and take a step torward the person they want to be, thus the 3 stars (maybe way too generous given all the annoying parts, but oh well).
First of all, this book made me understand what an “unhealthy” relationship truly is. I mean, very often in YA-NA books people complain that the relationship between the two main characters is toxic or unhealthy, but I never thought that way. To me, no matter what, it was just a relationship, with its ups and downs. A relationship, I thought, is unhealthy only if the guy abuses you or beats you up or something. Well in this book the relationship was unhealthy as hell even though there was no abuse or anything of the sort. And it wasn’t because it was a teacher-student relationship either, it was because they made it toxic, they poisoned it. I mean:
“Spread your legs.” I did, my heart wild. He was telling me what to do, like a teacher. My teacher.
"What kind of people would we be without secrecy and desperation?"
If that isn’t unhealthy I don’t know what is.
They were both sick people, and by sick I mean sick. I’m not a prude or anything, but she was 18 and was obsessed with sleeping with older men, sometimes middle-aged men, so I dare you to call her otherwise, and his situation wasn’t that different since he liked to sleep with young girls, even 14 years younger than him, even if it was one of his students. But well, that was the point I guess, the troubled girl and the troubled guy meeting and falling in love, but that doesn’t mean I liked the way the whole thing was handled.
Another problem is, he is described like a haunted man, but I couldn’t really understand by what he was so haunted. There’s a back story about his family, but I didn’t think that was enough to make him this “dark” character that the author wants to sell you (at least it didn’t work for me). In fact, I kind of sort of uhm, hated Evan, because beside being described as stunning and hot, with perfect abs and a perfect body (yawn) in my opinion he didn’t have a personality at all. The only thing I got about him was that he cried during Casablanca, so he was supposed to be what? Sensitive and shit? But then, what else? I just saw him as plain and dull. In fact, I didn’t like him to the point that when the big “revelation” about him hit, I was supposed to be shocked, I think, but I just giggled because now I knew a part of me was right about hating him, because at that point I really hated him, maybe more than Maise did. I stopped hating him only during the very last scene of the book, because by then I realized it didn’t matter anymore who he was.
And my feelings about her weren’t that different. She was supposed to be this independent beautiful girl who was confident about herself and didn’t have any problems about accepting that she was hot and beautiful, unlike most of the female characters in YA-NA books that are beautiful but supposedly don’t know it. But I couldn’t buy that either, I just saw her as someone full of herself, who thinks all she has to do to get a guy is look at him, and there was this scene where she’s kind of mad at her best friend because he made plans with a girl for Halloween, while she spent every night with her boyfriend and didn’t even tell his friend who this boyfriend was, but when she’s free for one night, of course her friend has to be free too! So she makes him cancel his plans for the night (and she says she doesn’t want to lead him on.. uhm, if that’s the case you’re doing it wrong, sweetie.)
Also, by the time the story ends you realize she was just a girl who wanted to grow up fast, to feel mature, but she was just a child like everybody else, but during the story her attitude was annoying as hell. She said she was mature for her age and complained a lot about guys her age being “hairless”. I mean I’m not an expert or anything, but I’m kinda sure puberty hits at like 14-15, 16 at the most, so by the time a boy is 18 years old he shouldn’t be hairless. By the way she was disgusted by them you would have thought she was among a bunch of 12 year-old children. (But she also found Evan – a 32 year-old man- “boyish” so she really had some issues to figure out, methinks.)
She was really, really, really obsessed with her age and hated being 18 yo. Every time she did something you had to put up with her crap.
I felt like a little girl
I felt like a woman
I felt young
I felt mature
I felt girlish.
And she wasn't like that just about herself, but about Evan too.
He was boyish
He looked old
He looked like a little boy.
Ohmyeffingod. Just stop already you’re driving me crazy!
So yeah, she wanted to act mature despite being 18, but then there were times when she was petty as hell, like this time when she was alone in class with Evan and another student knocks at the door and Evan goes to see who it is and he says “I’m busy with another student” AND SHE FREAKING GETS UPSET BECAUSE SHE WASN’T “JUST ANOTHER STUDENT”! Oh my god, are you kidding me? Or when in the middle of an argument Evan says she’s naïve, and she responds, “I’m eighteen fucking years old. Excuse me for being naïve." So I guess you’re mature and grown-up only when it’s convenient for you, uh?
Which leaves us with Wesley, the only truly likeable character in the entire book, and the reasonable one, too.
“You did it in our class? I can’t believe this. You were with him in our class. That’s so fucking sick, Maise. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Yes! Thank you!
I mean it’s already unbelievable that he keeps being her friend when she acts so superior and treats him as a clueless child when she’s the one screwing their teacher. At some point her attitude gets to him and he says that she’s right and he’s “just a fucking idiot kid.” The way this book generalizes about age is unbelievable and fucked-up. You can be mature at 17 just like you can be a freaking immature prick at 35. Duh?
So, the problems I had with this books outnumbered the things I liked, and I don’t even think there were things I truly "liked", I just realized that through the good and the bad, for some reason this wasn’t a forgettable book, that at some point the characters start to change and take a step torward the person they want to be, thus the 3 stars (maybe way too generous given all the annoying parts, but oh well).