Was recommended this book by a dear friend and I'm so glad I was. When I started, I found it hard to anticipate where the whole thing was going (not in a bad way, it just kept me on my toes), but as I read on, the sorrow of it all really started to creep up on me, only to culminate in tears during the final chapter. The tragedy of it lies in all that is unsaid.
I found the narration a bit too intent on being hip, relatable and quirky, which worked and was fun and charming in Simon vs. (perhaps because I read it at a younger age) but soon became a bit exhausting while reading this
Let me please make myself clear: this book is not particularly well-written and it is all kinds of edgy. If you can just forego literary standards, though, and read this as if it were the novelisation of a trashy, fun shonen sports anime, it kind of eats.
I don't think it will be for everyone, since some plotpoints and character beats definitely had me raising my eyebrows, but I dunno, maybe try to find some content warnings online and see if this will work for you :P
Don't let the relatively low rating fool you into thinking I'm not gonna read the rest of the series, because I absolutely will. A guilty pleasure read in the truest sense of the word.
Like was probably the case for many, I had to read this book for French class. The story did not particularly intice me and I did not care much for the characters (but this type of story is not my cup of tea anyway).
That being said, it was definitely not a bad book, just nothing to write home about either. Due to it being in French, I can not say if the writing style is any good, but it was not abhorrent enough for me to notice at all. Plotwise the book was also fairly predictable at points.
I would not recommend you pick this book up by yourself, but as mandatory reading for school, it was inoffensive enough.
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