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ninetalevixen 's review for:
Emergency Contact
by Mary H.K. Choi
I crashed Jayati and Charviβs buddy read π And they were very gracious about it.
Maybe 4.5 stars?
So here's the thing. "Like," "love," or "enjoy" are not good words for my reaction to reading this; though it strongly appeals to the cynical, misanthropic, more-than-a-little-pretentious sixteen-year-old part of myself, I could not in good conscience recommend it to that same sixteen-year-old, who was not in a good headspace (or to sixteen-year-olds in general, but I'm not your mom, read what you think you can handle). That said, it's unique and unapologetic β you know what, I'm just going to say it: this book is edgy.
I would definitely consider this NA rather than YA, not just because the protagonists are college-aged but also because it deals with a number of dark themes [content warnings below for those who want/need them] and it's incredibly messy in the most realistic way. It's about two new adults (Penny is 18, Sam 21) who had to grow up too fast yet haven't figured out how to interact with human people. Some scenes β most notably Penny's writing and certain developments in their relationship β are a little reminiscent of Fangirl, though that could just be because I haven't read a ton of NA-aged protagonists.
The characters are all extremely vivid, though I don't consider them especially complex; each of them has individual neuroses and backstory. I identified with some really oddly specific quirks, like how Penny tells stories all out of order and asks questions that are seemingly unrelated to the current conversation β my mom doesn't call it "speaking Isabelle," but she has called it out. (A lot.) At the same time, Penny and Sam are both super judgmental and honestly fairly pretentious, and they're not really likable people or the kind of characters that I want to relate to.
So seriously, I don't know how I feel about this book.
content warnings:slut-shaming, bullying, ableist language, toxic relationships, possibly codependent relationship, unwanted/unintentional pregnancy & discussion of abortion, mentioned miscarriage, mentioned rape, underage drinking, mentioned drug use, mentioned alcohol abuse, mentioned child neglect, on-page panic attack
rep:Korean-American narrator; single mothers
Maybe 4.5 stars?
So here's the thing. "Like," "love," or "enjoy" are not good words for my reaction to reading this; though it strongly appeals to the cynical, misanthropic, more-than-a-little-pretentious sixteen-year-old part of myself, I could not in good conscience recommend it to that same sixteen-year-old, who was not in a good headspace (or to sixteen-year-olds in general, but I'm not your mom, read what you think you can handle). That said, it's unique and unapologetic β you know what, I'm just going to say it: this book is edgy.
I would definitely consider this NA rather than YA, not just because the protagonists are college-aged but also because it deals with a number of dark themes [content warnings below for those who want/need them] and it's incredibly messy in the most realistic way. It's about two new adults (Penny is 18, Sam 21) who had to grow up too fast yet haven't figured out how to interact with human people. Some scenes β most notably Penny's writing and certain developments in their relationship β are a little reminiscent of Fangirl, though that could just be because I haven't read a ton of NA-aged protagonists.
The characters are all extremely vivid, though I don't consider them especially complex; each of them has individual neuroses and backstory. I identified with some really oddly specific quirks, like how Penny tells stories all out of order and asks questions that are seemingly unrelated to the current conversation β my mom doesn't call it "speaking Isabelle," but she has called it out. (A lot.) At the same time, Penny and Sam are both super judgmental and honestly fairly pretentious, and they're not really likable people or the kind of characters that I want to relate to.
So seriously, I don't know how I feel about this book.
content warnings:
rep: