my god this was horrendous. i’d normally put a rant under spoiler tags but this is about literal ableism that no one in this story refutes and it made me very upset.
firstly, the love interests. Tony looks like he just walked in from a fifties movie, and hangs out with a jerk named Biff (which added to my issues of “i cannot tell when this book takes place”, as i could only think of Back To The Future any time Biff was on-page). Eli is transmasc and has an autoimmune disorder (i wish they’d named the disorder instead of just calling it “his condition”).
early in the story, Tony confesses to Eli that he uses an inhaler before track meets so that he can run (ive never seen someone else with exercise-induced asthma in a book who isnt represented as a wimp! thats really cool genuinely!). in some strnge attempt to teach him a lesson, Eli then STEALS TONY’S INHALER BEFORE HIS TRACK MEET, AND LATER THROWS IT INTO SOME BUSHES. Tony then of course has a severe asthma attack. i was pretty shocked when reading this, but expected that other characters would understand how horrific that was. that did not happen. when Tony finds out and is upset, another character (his friend Marcia, a token goth) says that he is “being a baby” and that “people make mistakes”. mistakes are when you say something rude by accident. mistakes are when you lose something or bump into someone. MISTAKES ARE NOT KNOWINGLY STEALING SOMEONES LIFE-SAVING MEDICATION. i just genuinely could not find stealing the inhaler a plausible action from eli (who, may i remind you, is also disabled). just could not enjoy the book after this. honestly i don’t feel optimistic about the likelihood of me ever reading from either of these artists again.