A review by kimreadz
Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel by Val Emmich

3.0

I struggled with this book. This was on the shelf at my local Little Free Library. I wanted to read it, because I know it musical.

It was interesting, but throughout much of the book, it was a struggle to read. The main character, Evan Hanson, is a high school student in therapy. A not he wrote is found and thought to be TO him rather than BY him, and this leads to many complications. Rather than explain all this, Evan lied. And every time the lie was about to be found out, he lied again and dug himself a deeper hole. It was very painful to watch, and several times I had to put the book aside. And while it all worked out in the end for Evan, it was still a sad story, knowing what happened and the reasons it happened, and that a simple difference in one moment in time could have made all the difference in the story.

I did enjoy the story, and it was a quick read, but it was also a painful read.