Matthew's Reviews > Every Exquisite Thing

This one is tough to rate. I liked the writing, but that is about it. The tone is so cynical and melodramatic it is almost painful to read. I can see this one between 2 and 3 stars, but part of me thinks that is too low, and part of me thinks it is too high.



Now, I am almost 40 and this book is about high school, so right away you might say, "Matthew, you can't relate!" But, I can, because I was there once: depressed over the smallest things, picked on, stressed out, writing dramatic poetry, struggling to fit in, crying for days when I messed up a relationship. I could go on and on; I was there, I experienced it, I survived!

If this book was about drugs, abuse, eating disorders, bullying (there is some bullying - but it doesn't really happen to the main characters, they just respond to it), etc. I could see the dark mood of the main characters making sense. But, they are pretty normal, leading pretty normal lives, until they read some book and start to become all introspective and moody about their lives and their place in the universe.

So, when things got "rough" for the characters in this book, I had a hard time believing the "why". If I was an actual high school kid dealing with actual high school right now and I read this, I would probably throw the book across the room.

Oh, and they never go to class in these books - how does anyone ever graduate?