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A review by mcdal
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
4.0
I went back and forth when it came to rating this, because I had a lot of mixed feelings towards how certain subjects were handled. Oddly enough, what this book reminded me of the most was Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini; not in terms of writing style but in terms of plot structure and the emotions it invoked in me. With the former, both are stories grappling with heavy subject matter regarding the teenage experience which use fantastical elements (whether it be pill-ingested AI or high school ghouls), and as such the tone can vary wildly not just from scene to scene but from one sentence to the next. There are moments where inevitably, the supernatural aspects of the plot distract or detract from the themes the authors are attempting to portray. Though one thing that did help ground this book was Jake Livingston himself. From the very first page, he has such a strong and engaging voice, part of why I finished the book so quickly was because I wanted to hear more from him. This book is no where near as mean-spirited as Vizzini's, and that alone made it a much more enthralling reading experience. That said, Ryan Douglass does not shy away from the uglier sides of experiences high school as a kid who resides on the margins of society; teenagers can be cruel, and beyond saving. If nothing else, while I am left with some questions regarding how Sawyer was portrayed in this story, the fact that there was never a question of him needed to be destroyed was something I appreciated.
Emotionally? I'm a person who grew up in the United States and spent countless years during my academic career fearing for my life. Obviously this book struck a nerve, and it surprises me how even though I have been out of high school for three years now, that familiar fear, anxiety, and anger came rushing back. Though I would chalk that up to the writing; I mentioned above there were some issues with tone, but never did I feel the subject of school shootings was mishandled. Douglass took great care to balance out the real world issues with the supernatural storyline, and again, I deeply appreciate that.
Honestly, my main issue with the book was that it left me wanting more, which is a pretty good problem to have. Something I've noticed with a lot of Young Adult novels is that I end up feeling like I could've used at least 50 or so more pages to make the experience more complete (especially when it comes to supporting characters, who are often given great character designs but not enough room to be fleshed out). I would have loved to have more development for Jake's friends and his day-to-day school life, because I think it would have elevated the heavier story beats that occur in the last few chapters of the book. As it stands, I was still invested and very much pleased with how the story concluded, but the supporting cast could have used more development. I also wish we had gotten some more journal entries for Sawyer before his breaking point, because the ending of that thread felt abrupt and at risk of oversimplifying Sawyer in a way that's detrimental to the larger themes of the story.
Overall, I was really invested in this story. Jake's character was all-around fantastic and incredibly engaging from the start; the descriptions of the ghosts and ghouls were vivid and haunting; and I would absolutely love to read more from Ryan Douglass in the future (especially if it's more queer YA horror, I have such a soft spot for that)
Emotionally? I'm a person who grew up in the United States and spent countless years during my academic career fearing for my life. Obviously this book struck a nerve, and it surprises me how even though I have been out of high school for three years now, that familiar fear, anxiety, and anger came rushing back. Though I would chalk that up to the writing; I mentioned above there were some issues with tone, but never did I feel the subject of school shootings was mishandled. Douglass took great care to balance out the real world issues with the supernatural storyline, and again, I deeply appreciate that.
Honestly, my main issue with the book was that it left me wanting more, which is a pretty good problem to have. Something I've noticed with a lot of Young Adult novels is that I end up feeling like I could've used at least 50 or so more pages to make the experience more complete (especially when it comes to supporting characters, who are often given great character designs but not enough room to be fleshed out). I would have loved to have more development for Jake's friends and his day-to-day school life, because I think it would have elevated the heavier story beats that occur in the last few chapters of the book. As it stands, I was still invested and very much pleased with how the story concluded, but the supporting cast could have used more development. I also wish we had gotten some more journal entries for Sawyer before his breaking point, because the ending of that thread felt abrupt and at risk of oversimplifying Sawyer in a way that's detrimental to the larger themes of the story.
Overall, I was really invested in this story. Jake's character was all-around fantastic and incredibly engaging from the start; the descriptions of the ghosts and ghouls were vivid and haunting; and I would absolutely love to read more from Ryan Douglass in the future (especially if it's more queer YA horror, I have such a soft spot for that)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Incest, Rape, and Sexual violence