Sarah
I got an ARC of this from NetGalley for work. Not my usual ~cup of tea~ but I think I did enjoy this! I think the stuff with the ex hit a little too close to home for me - Harrison got the toxic ex down to a T. And when the protagonist finally realized she was over him I liked it a whole lot more. So, yeah, I appreciated this for being just different enough than I expected and also full of some surprisingly dark humor that made me laugh out loud at times. And gosh, what a perfect book to theme a book release party around.
Aghh. The story here is extremely interesting and mostly well written but damn, I struggled to feel bad for the writer. It's a super tough situation to be in but I felt like the writer wanted to be seen as a perfect victim and man, I just don't know. By the end I was getting very annoyed with the writer. I'll be interested to see this portrayed on Netflix and HBO sometime soon
I enjoyed the mystery in the original trilogy of these books. But now that that's gone, all we're left with is the unavoidable CRINGE of Stevie being all #notlikeothergirls. This series has always bugged me for that reason, because every single book, Stevie has to be all “my parents wish I wore dresses but instead I like murder teehee” and it's so. annoying. And the reveal at the end of this book... no. Just, no. There are twists that are smart and plotted well in advance that, upon rereading, you find hints to and could theoretically solve yourself if you had been paying attention. But this is one of those twists that almost feels like cheating because it came from left field and was completely unpredictable. I kind of hate it when an author has the murderer be someone that you hadn't even met until 4 seconds earlier. It only works if you know the murderer is one of the set few characters you've essentially been told to guess between. Anyway, no, just no.
Feeling more like 4.5 stars because the romance dialog was a bit too cheesy for me, but the twist really got me, so I'm being generous. I love a good book told through a compilation of files and documents when it's well done. And this certainly is! I really enjoyed the audiobook and might need to give it a reread in print form so I can get the whole feel of it that way too.
I'm not really a fan of novels in verse, but I had to read this one for class. It was really good and all, and I can really see how this could be a perfect “gateway” book, if you will, for encouraging younger readers to get into reading. It's fantastic for what it is and definitely something I'd recommend to young readers and anyone who loves a novel in verse.
I will always have a tremendous appreciation for graphic memoirs. I love being able to visualize the creator's story through their own art. This might be one of the most effective ones I've read yet. The little personal details throughout were wonderful — the inclusion of actual letters between him and his mom, snippets of his art over time, and how he used his grandmother's favorite pineapple wallpaper and the burnt orange of his grandfather's pocket squares — amazing. And I'm hardly ever a cryer when reading, unless we are revisiting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, or, apparently, this book. The love Jarrett has for his grandparents is so palpable, and even after all the stuff he went through as a child with his mother, you could feel his love for her too. I can't say enough how amazingly well crafted and full of love this book is. If you've ever wanted to try reading a graphic memoir, this is a great place to start!
More like 3.5 but rounding up because I think this book could be super important for younger people. (I'm old enough to say that now?!) Anyway, I was introduced to Erika Moen's comics in my psychology of human sexuality and psych of gender classes in undergrad. I loved how she used the medium of comics to explore such a taboo, under-spoken-about topic. I felt like her audience for those was adults and it felt fine. Here, my main complaint is that it felt too forced sometimes to be using the current ~lingo~ if you will of younger people. That being said, the representation throughout this book was excellent. I was so especially happy to see a Deaf person and some signing in one chapter. Moen and Nolan were excellent in depicting all types of bodies, abilities, gender identities, etc. I think this could be a really good tool for getting the conversations about these topics started! Note: there are very graphic depictions of the human body and such, not that that's a bad thing but ya know, be prepared before you crack this book open in public.
I don't even know where to begin. Listening to this book has brought me so much joy and I loved every second of it. Elton John's life has been truly, ridiculously remarkable and his ability to write about all of it so honestly and hilariously never got old in the 12 hours it took to finish. I think this is the epitome of how celebrities should write their autobiographies, even if they didn't, y'know, have the queen mother round for tea or name Lady Gaga their child's godmother. If you want to have the most fun time learning about the craziest but most amazing artist's life, then this is more than perfect for you.
I think, after reading these last two books and expecting to learn something, anything, about Area X, I would have been content with just reading the first book and stopping there. That book in itself felt perfectly mysterious and philosophical and creepy. These last two books just muddied the water for me and left me feeling like I just slogged through a whole lot of nothing to get nothing back.
