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A review by madlee
The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde
4.0
Warning: this book contains some parental abuse and alcohol abuse.
I enjoyed the book. I guess that’s all I have to really say. Somehow I feel empty though now that I’m done. Jen Wilde creates an awesome idea of a band of queer kids and issues they face as not only a band but also personally with their identities (a few discussions about it). However, it didn’t flow very well to where I was drawn in to the story. It didn’t go exactly in the direction I thought the book would go so that did tamper with my feelings on it. Also, the book felt rather short and I feel like it could have been expanded more with more scenes and background information to really solidify the band’s life.
This is a young adult book so me saying this is kind of funny, but the narrative voice of Emmy felt like I was reading some fan fiction back in middle school. To be fair, that’s how teenagers talk (guilty here), but I didn’t feel and connect to the characters as much as I wanted. I wished Wilde went into more of a backstory of the band and how they got to the top the way they did because I felt like that would have helped a lot with showing the connection the band mates have and how some of the events in this book really raises the stakes with their future.
However, this is just my opinion. I did love the representation of Emmy’s bisexuality and the biphobia discussed in it as well with misgendering, and characters that were genderqueer and pansexual which I loved.
I enjoyed the book. I guess that’s all I have to really say. Somehow I feel empty though now that I’m done. Jen Wilde creates an awesome idea of a band of queer kids and issues they face as not only a band but also personally with their identities (a few discussions about it). However, it didn’t flow very well to where I was drawn in to the story. It didn’t go exactly in the direction I thought the book would go so that did tamper with my feelings on it. Also, the book felt rather short and I feel like it could have been expanded more with more scenes and background information to really solidify the band’s life.
This is a young adult book so me saying this is kind of funny, but the narrative voice of Emmy felt like I was reading some fan fiction back in middle school. To be fair, that’s how teenagers talk (guilty here), but I didn’t feel and connect to the characters as much as I wanted. I wished Wilde went into more of a backstory of the band and how they got to the top the way they did because I felt like that would have helped a lot with showing the connection the band mates have and how some of the events in this book really raises the stakes with their future.
However, this is just my opinion. I did love the representation of Emmy’s bisexuality and the biphobia discussed in it as well with misgendering, and characters that were genderqueer and pansexual which I loved.