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DNF page 88.
Disclaimer: I'm 26, straight, and female, so that might influence my view of this book a bit. Also, sorry in advanced if my terminology is incorrect - I'm still learning and striving to do better.
I think parts of this book are important - Noah's love for himself is admirable, and I respect that he's so confident in who he is, but I couldn't get past the rest of him to see him grow through the book. While some people say Devin is the saviour of the book, I'm not slogging through Noah's internal dialogue to find out.
Noah is the most entitled, judgemental, disrespectful, and selfish MC I've seen in a really long time. I understand he's transitioning, he's in a vulnerable place, but that honestly does not give him the right to be a terrible person to everyone he knows.
His brother is trying so hard to understand his transition, and working to be a better brother and Noah antagonizes him whenever he gets the chance. His brother is so worried about doing or saying something wrong and having Noah rib him at every corner is just cruel??
And his hatred for Maggie makes no sense to me. She seems like a decent human - Noah seems mad that she's turning his brother into someone he doesn't recognize, but like she's encouraging him to cook. That's the change. Like, good for your brother for learning to cook and bettering himself in his relationship? And Noah judges Maggie - her lipstick, her looks, when she speak - I just don't understand the hatred and we're never given a good reason for it other than Noah's just rude?? (I also only read 88 pages so I could be missing some revelation later on).
Then there's Noah's one friend, Becca, who is so supportive and kind and she helps Noah with his blog, but he is so me-me-me in their relationship, it hurt to see. He is so obsessed with his problems and doesn't care about her at all, even getting mad at her and impatient when she doesn't drop everything to help him.
Then there's the reason him and Drew meet further - the fact that he's too lazy to walk around a small town and spent $400 on Uber and non-essentials on his emergency/food credit card IN ONE WEEK. And then he had the audacity to be mad when his parents froze it and told him to get a job. Like, what?? Not sure if it's cause I'm 26, but are 16 year olds just like this?? Does not compute.
Then there's his blog. I love the idea of his blog, but all the stories are apparently made up. Despite his HUGE following that he's so concerned about (and can lose 2K people in a day without it being bankrupt of followers), none of them have ever submitted a single story?? That seemed weird. Also, while the whole made-up story thing isn't great, they're are all still made-up stories. Why did he have to spend so much money and put himself into these meet-cute potential situation in order to write about them? Why didn't he set stories at the Eiffel tower, or a random google-able cafe in Australia? If the main hole in his diary was that most of his stories took place in his home town, but they're also all made up, I don't understand why the inauthenticity couldn't extend past US borders? This just seemed like a general plot hole.
As an aside - when the bookseller asks him his favourite genre, he says, "Classics," and she's surprised and says that she pegged him for a manga/anime lover. BECAUSE HE'S PART JAPANESE. I'm assuming he looks it to based on her 5 second judgement. Idk, rubbed me the wrong way. Like when people ask me to say things in Chinese because my grandparents are from there. Don't assume you know something about someone if they're giving you conflicting info?? I did appreciate the author using this as a moment to judge Western education for dismissing manga as a type of literary media though.
Anyways, to sum up, I only read 88 pages so I can't judge the book as a whole, but from what I've read, Noah's person who lacks empathy and cannot see past his own problems. I wish I could love this book more, but I cannot. Passing this off to my coworker and hoping she loves these characters more.
ARC obtained via HarperCollins Canada in exchange for an honest review.
Disclaimer: I'm 26, straight, and female, so that might influence my view of this book a bit. Also, sorry in advanced if my terminology is incorrect - I'm still learning and striving to do better.
I think parts of this book are important - Noah's love for himself is admirable, and I respect that he's so confident in who he is, but I couldn't get past the rest of him to see him grow through the book. While some people say Devin is the saviour of the book, I'm not slogging through Noah's internal dialogue to find out.
Noah is the most entitled, judgemental, disrespectful, and selfish MC I've seen in a really long time. I understand he's transitioning, he's in a vulnerable place, but that honestly does not give him the right to be a terrible person to everyone he knows.
His brother is trying so hard to understand his transition, and working to be a better brother and Noah antagonizes him whenever he gets the chance. His brother is so worried about doing or saying something wrong and having Noah rib him at every corner is just cruel??
And his hatred for Maggie makes no sense to me. She seems like a decent human - Noah seems mad that she's turning his brother into someone he doesn't recognize, but like she's encouraging him to cook. That's the change. Like, good for your brother for learning to cook and bettering himself in his relationship? And Noah judges Maggie - her lipstick, her looks, when she speak - I just don't understand the hatred and we're never given a good reason for it other than Noah's just rude?? (I also only read 88 pages so I could be missing some revelation later on).
Then there's Noah's one friend, Becca, who is so supportive and kind and she helps Noah with his blog, but he is so me-me-me in their relationship, it hurt to see. He is so obsessed with his problems and doesn't care about her at all, even getting mad at her and impatient when she doesn't drop everything to help him.
Then there's the reason him and Drew meet further - the fact that he's too lazy to walk around a small town and spent $400 on Uber and non-essentials on his emergency/food credit card IN ONE WEEK. And then he had the audacity to be mad when his parents froze it and told him to get a job. Like, what?? Not sure if it's cause I'm 26, but are 16 year olds just like this?? Does not compute.
Then there's his blog. I love the idea of his blog, but all the stories are apparently made up. Despite his HUGE following that he's so concerned about (and can lose 2K people in a day without it being bankrupt of followers), none of them have ever submitted a single story?? That seemed weird. Also, while the whole made-up story thing isn't great, they're are all still made-up stories. Why did he have to spend so much money and put himself into these meet-cute potential situation in order to write about them? Why didn't he set stories at the Eiffel tower, or a random google-able cafe in Australia? If the main hole in his diary was that most of his stories took place in his home town, but they're also all made up, I don't understand why the inauthenticity couldn't extend past US borders? This just seemed like a general plot hole.
As an aside - when the bookseller asks him his favourite genre, he says, "Classics," and she's surprised and says that she pegged him for a manga/anime lover. BECAUSE HE'S PART JAPANESE. I'm assuming he looks it to based on her 5 second judgement. Idk, rubbed me the wrong way. Like when people ask me to say things in Chinese because my grandparents are from there. Don't assume you know something about someone if they're giving you conflicting info?? I did appreciate the author using this as a moment to judge Western education for dismissing manga as a type of literary media though.
Anyways, to sum up, I only read 88 pages so I can't judge the book as a whole, but from what I've read, Noah's person who lacks empathy and cannot see past his own problems. I wish I could love this book more, but I cannot. Passing this off to my coworker and hoping she loves these characters more.
ARC obtained via HarperCollins Canada in exchange for an honest review.
