joshua.

Do not read this as anything more than fanfiction that got published and highly publicized, no matter what J.K. Rowling says. There are some nice character beats that I'll adopt for my own headcanon, but I do not accept it as anything more than that. I would probably rate this closer to 3 stars, but as Goodreads classifies it, 2 stars = “it was okay” and that's closer to how I felt. Let's say, “I like it okay.”

I... I'm not quite sure how I feel. I read it quite quickly. I liked it, but I feel like it was missing something. It has very dark, sad subject matter, but I loved the last book I read (Love Is the Higher Law) and it had sad subject matter as well. The difference between these two books, though, is that I finished Love Is the Higher Law - and even It's Kind of a Funny Story, which is also about a suicidal teen - feeling uplifted, and I finished this feeling like I just read a good story, but emotionally deflated. I suppose that's fitting though. It's real.

So, this is my third attempt at reading this book. I read the first few chapters in those original attempts, and I was never able to connect, but for some reason it really DID this time. I loved the characters. I laughed, I cried, I smiled... The math related stuff I still sort of skimmed over, but I really did enjoy the novel.

I started this book early in December, but it was slow going because of the holiday season. Finally, yesterday, I sat down and read a good 100+ pages all in one day, which is pretty good for me. I got quite emotional near the end of the book, which I wasn't quite expecting. I was pleased, even if the premise of the novel is a little over the top. Danny was my favorite character, which I didn't expect.