Tyler Johnson Was Here is a beautiful story of family, grief, loneliness, and choosing to be strong and fight for something despite all of the odds.

I picked this book up because I felt like I've been reading a lot of fantasy novels lately. This book definitely gave me a break from all the fantasy and fictional worlds, but man, the story can definitely weigh you down with sadness.

The writing
The writing style of this book was great. The author weaves a sad and beautiful story about family and injustice, grief and loneliness. This book can truly provoke emotions from the reader and I was definitely moved. 

The characters
I liked the characters just fine, but there were times when the characterizations seemed a bit off for me. Marvin's mom lacked characterization for me, so did Ivy and G-mo (and they were Marvin's best friends so I expected a bit more), plus the chemistry in a certain relationship in the book felt nonexistent and/or not convincing enough for me. I also wanted to know more about Marvin and Tyler's Dad; I liked him and his parts, and I feel like he deserved to be involved more in the story. Tyler lacked a bit o backstory too, and at the end, I'm still left with a couple of questions on my mind.

The plot
The plot was okay and was easy to follow. Though it was simple, it was poignant and it held so much significance and resemblance to the real world. My issue is that some subplots and little issues or conflicts here and there were not resolved and that irked me. I would have loved if these little details were not left hanging.

(This book review was first published on my blog.)