Hannah

If you want an easy, mindless read that builds up suspense, this book is for you! It's not great, it's got a lot of issues (and far too many coincidences to tolerate), and all the build-up fizzles out to nothing, but it's entertaining, and sometimes that's all we need.

I just need to vent that the Hannah/Charlie storyline is absolutely useless to the story, and the book would have been better without them.

The story really got away from Shusterman, and he sacrifices character development for just hitting the plot points that he needs

This book is not good. It has good portions, but, overall, it desperately needs a better editor with a chainsaw and a friend who can tell the author that she's not nearly as clever as she thinks she is.

There are two timelines of the book: old and new.
The old timeline is best, and most neglected, section of the book. But it builds and then fizzles, so another disappointment.

The new timeline is, uh, not good. It doesn't even build; it's just disappointing the whole way. Sixty percent of it is absolutely useless that leads nowhere. You'd think it'd be groundwork for character development, but nope! Turns out none of the named people are actual characters anyway. One character, Harper, has one personality trait: being cool. Another, Merritt, has one personality trait: insufferable (like if Tumblr was a person, and not in a good way). The last, Audrey, is simply there. But we're supposed to believe that any character cares about any of the other? Like, I can see where Danforth TRIES to show chemistry between characters, but she ends up writing the most soulless, bland conversation. Like, saying the words, “they were flirting,” does not actually mean that they were flirting if it sounds like two omega simulators were talking.

And the author has an annoying habit of just having characters say things that the author wants to be, rather than them actually be true. Having two actors get together to gauge chemistry isn't weird. It happens all the time. But you have a character say “this is weird,” presumably to set some sort of mood, but it's factually not true, and you just leave it for the reader to blindly believe. Like, Emily, you just overwrote this book by 400 pages! You can't add in one paragraph to explain why something is weird, rather than just say “this is weird”?

Despite its flaws, I really enjoyed this book! It was weird in an absurd way, it was funny, but most importantly, it was really understandable. There are characters who aren't good people, but they know who they are and what they want, and I respect that they weren't forced to go through some sort of dramatic growth arc. The main character is kind of a mess. She gave up on her goals after a road block, and became a cycle of self-loathing. She was smart but also stunted and

I don't think that this book was flawless, and I can easily see why some readers would feel unsatisfied. The ending was pretty rushed and left you wanting more of a conclusion (please don't get stuck in this dumb valley town!), all of the emotional development was basically two sentences long, and a lot of character's decisions didn't really make sense. But the story was fun and quick, and I'd recommend it.

It was a quick read, and I don't have any huge complaints about it. Usually stories that try to intertwine too many characters annoy me (ahem Anxious People), but I thought it wasn't forced and worked for the book. Someone could make a decent argument that there isn't a lot to differentiate any of the characters' personalities, and the author was a little heavy-handed at times instead of letting the reader make their own connections and conclusions, but honestly I didn't find myself holding it against the story.

3.5/5, would definitely recommend if you aren't looking for something light-hearted. It's not nearly as bleak as The Road but more of a downer than, say, Zombieland. Maybe on par with World War Z (the novel), but more personal characters.