“Is it too much for me to ask I not be haunted all the time?”
That line is loaded with meaning.
Jake Livingston is haunted in the most technical sense. He sees ghosts. He can communicate with them. Now he’s essentially being stalked by one, a teenage boy who killed several kids at his school before taking his own life.
But Jake, a queer black boy who has endured domestic abuse and severe bullying, has experienced far more haunting in his life than that of just ghosts.
This is a heavy book - much heavier than I’d expected - and the author communicates the idea of powerlessness, of feeling like no one else will help you, of feeling like your voice will always be drowned out by the bullies and their allies in such a tragic, yet painfully true way. Jake and Sawyer’s vulnerability and similarities are apparent from the start. I mostly liked this parallel, in terms of the different choices both boys made in their lives.
I thought there were some startlingly profound moments in this book. It was easy to feel for Jake and, even though Sawyer was a killer, he had aspects that made him sympathetic as a character as well.
Despite finding many lines beautiful and meaningful, there were also things that bothered me. Certain aspects seemed underdeveloped or developed in a way that made it difficult to understand what exactly the author wanted to communicate to his readers. There are positive messages in this, but also unclear messages that were somewhat troubling. Could this be a cathartic read for the victims of all the issues it addresses? Maybe. But I feel like part of what it conveyed could be harmful for those victims as well. I would have liked to have seen things resolved more thoroughly, especially in terms of accountability and a moral compass. I understand the growing frustration the main characters experienced in not feeling protected and I understand why events played out the way they did. It just didn’t seem like there was anything to counteract the violence in a way that empowered without somehow saying, “Violence is the answer.”
I also found some scenes were written in a way that were a bit confusing. I was usually able to connect the pieces after rereading these fragments, but I didn’t feel they connected incredibly well on their own.
There is a lot of content that could be triggering to readers and this book is a bit more graphic than what you usually find in the young adult genre.
I mostly liked this, although my concerns about what some of the content communicated did affect my overall rating. I especially appreciated that this wasn’t just a creepy ghost story, but one with unanticipated depth.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I am immensely grateful to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for my review copy through BookishFirst. The Taking of Jake Livingston will be out on July 13, 2021.
That line is loaded with meaning.
Jake Livingston is haunted in the most technical sense. He sees ghosts. He can communicate with them. Now he’s essentially being stalked by one, a teenage boy who killed several kids at his school before taking his own life.
But Jake, a queer black boy who has endured domestic abuse and severe bullying, has experienced far more haunting in his life than that of just ghosts.
This is a heavy book - much heavier than I’d expected - and the author communicates the idea of powerlessness, of feeling like no one else will help you, of feeling like your voice will always be drowned out by the bullies and their allies in such a tragic, yet painfully true way. Jake and Sawyer’s vulnerability and similarities are apparent from the start. I mostly liked this parallel, in terms of the different choices both boys made in their lives.
I thought there were some startlingly profound moments in this book. It was easy to feel for Jake and, even though Sawyer was a killer, he had aspects that made him sympathetic as a character as well.
Despite finding many lines beautiful and meaningful, there were also things that bothered me. Certain aspects seemed underdeveloped or developed in a way that made it difficult to understand what exactly the author wanted to communicate to his readers. There are positive messages in this, but also unclear messages that were somewhat troubling. Could this be a cathartic read for the victims of all the issues it addresses? Maybe. But I feel like part of what it conveyed could be harmful for those victims as well. I would have liked to have seen things resolved more thoroughly, especially in terms of accountability and a moral compass. I understand the growing frustration the main characters experienced in not feeling protected and I understand why events played out the way they did. It just didn’t seem like there was anything to counteract the violence in a way that empowered without somehow saying, “Violence is the answer.”
I also found some scenes were written in a way that were a bit confusing. I was usually able to connect the pieces after rereading these fragments, but I didn’t feel they connected incredibly well on their own.
There is a lot of content that could be triggering to readers and this book is a bit more graphic than what you usually find in the young adult genre.
I mostly liked this, although my concerns about what some of the content communicated did affect my overall rating. I especially appreciated that this wasn’t just a creepy ghost story, but one with unanticipated depth.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I am immensely grateful to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for my review copy through BookishFirst. The Taking of Jake Livingston will be out on July 13, 2021.