TW: Suicide & Depression
This was SO good. I had no idea what to expect from this but I was BLOWN away. The synopsis doesn't even begin to cover the beautiful journey that this book will take you on.
The Writing: Beautiful, there were definitely some lines in here that I wish I had written down/sticky noted (but I didn't have my sticky notes with me). Descriptions of Danny's drawings had me nearly in tears.
The Plot: This has kind of a meandering plot because it packs so much into it. It deals with romantic love, depression, suicide, immigration, friendship, and those are just off the top of my head. There's just SO much in here. I can see how another person might think it was "boring" and I feel like if this were another writer/story it would've felt too long, but here I think it worked because it felt real. We are getting a chapter of Danny's life (specifically his senior year) and all that entails, so in my opinion it wouldn't make sense without all those extra details and plot points. I will say that at times it did kind of drag but I was easily sucked into the next part so it wasn't a big deal.
Characters: The cast of characters is almost entirely Asian which is the diversity I like to see. Our main character is first generation Chinese American and his 2 best friends are 1st generation Taiwanese American. Being Asian American is actually discussed and you can tell it's ownvoices from the way it's written. I think their characters and relationships with each other were well fleshed out and I felt like I really knew them.
Our main character also falls on the LGBTQIAP+ spectrum, although exactly where is not said on the page. But Danny is in love with a boy (it's fairly obvious from the synopsis but *spoilers), so again the diversity I like to see.
Overall I LOVED this and I'm begging you to read this amazing book!
This was SO good. I had no idea what to expect from this but I was BLOWN away. The synopsis doesn't even begin to cover the beautiful journey that this book will take you on.
The Writing: Beautiful, there were definitely some lines in here that I wish I had written down/sticky noted (but I didn't have my sticky notes with me). Descriptions of Danny's drawings had me nearly in tears.
The Plot: This has kind of a meandering plot because it packs so much into it. It deals with romantic love, depression, suicide, immigration, friendship, and those are just off the top of my head. There's just SO much in here. I can see how another person might think it was "boring" and I feel like if this were another writer/story it would've felt too long, but here I think it worked because it felt real. We are getting a chapter of Danny's life (specifically his senior year) and all that entails, so in my opinion it wouldn't make sense without all those extra details and plot points. I will say that at times it did kind of drag but I was easily sucked into the next part so it wasn't a big deal.
Characters: The cast of characters is almost entirely Asian which is the diversity I like to see. Our main character is first generation Chinese American and his 2 best friends are 1st generation Taiwanese American. Being Asian American is actually discussed and you can tell it's ownvoices from the way it's written. I think their characters and relationships with each other were well fleshed out and I felt like I really knew them.
Our main character also falls on the LGBTQIAP+ spectrum, although exactly where is not said on the page. But Danny is in love with a boy (it's fairly obvious from the synopsis but *spoilers), so again the diversity I like to see.
Overall I LOVED this and I'm begging you to read this amazing book!