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beaniedorman's review against another edition
3.0
This book is very nearly the polar opposite of John Green's The Fault In Our Stars. TFIOS is a story that is heartbreakingly sad, but ultimately leaves the reader with a satisfied, good feeling. It is a story about seeing the real world for what it is, and accepting it. Invincible is a story about the underside of the real world, the depressing side, and how that side can destroy you. It is about a person's descent into that darker world, and the pain of both the person and the people around them when that occurs.
I'm really not sure how to correctly sum up this book. The book itself is divided into two parts, and those two parts fall very neatly on either side of the three star rating for me. I loved this book so much when I first started reading it, then it really started to lose me in the second part.
Allow me to explain.
Evie is dying of cancer. She is, at this point, basically a permanent resident in a hospital that treats children with cancer. Her cancer has metastasized into virtually every vital organ that she has, and treatment is not working. She decides that she is ready to accept her death and leave this world so that she and her family both can finally be free of the pain that her cancer is causing.
This portion of the book is absolutely beautiful. Here, the lines between the real world and the world of the dying are explored, with Evie realizing that she is slowly slipping away from her former living self in a way that cannot be recovered. Her pain here is raw, it is relatable, it is real. Evie is a strong character in this portion of the book, and I would have given Invincible a five-star rating had the narrative continued this way.
But it didn't.
Now comes the after. After the traumatizing loss of someone close to her, Evie finds that she has miraculously recovered completely from her cancer. There is no longer a trace of it anywhere in her body. The threat of death that has been hanging over her is now gone, and she has a chance to live again
At first, this second part of the book is great as well. Instead of the traditional happy ending that comes after a miracle like this, Evie as trouble transitioning back into the world of the living. Her parents are overbearing. Her friends act awkwardly around her. No one seems to know how to treat her now that she is no longer dying. But still, at this point, Evie remains a sympathetic character. Her pain, isolation, and confusion are completely relatable. If the ending were carried out skillfully, this still could have been a five-star read.
Then Evie becomes addicted to prescription drugs. Just pain meds at first, to help deal with the pain of the loss that shatters her. Then she moves on to higher doses. Then alcohol and stronger drugs. It is a sharp downward spiral for our protagonist, one that happens all to often to teenagers. This would have been a very interesting direction to take the story, except for one problem: Evie completely loses any empathy that I had for her. She becomes another person entirely. The new Evie is cruel, and doesn't care about how it affects any of the people around her, including her"love interest", Marcus. No matter what consequences come from her actions, she continues to make awful decisions, becoming a person that even she hates. Instead of sympathizing, I began to dislike Evie myself. In order for a reader to really enjoy a story, there has to be some connection with the protagonist. If there isn't, the story becomes infuriating at best and bland at worst.
So why not one star instead of three stars? Partially for the amazing beginning to this book, although the last part nearly ruined that. But also because I believe there was a deeper meaning to the story. Alright, not that deep, but still enough to redeem the story just a little bit. The point of Evie's descent is to show what a descent can really be like. It is not pretty. It is not always something that can be sympathized with. Sometimes pain can change people, and not for the better. The fact that I think that Reed is trying to make a point here is the real reason that I finished the book, and the reason that I will likely read the forthcoming sequel. Whether it saves this story, I'm not sure, but at least there was a method behind the madness.
I'm really not sure how to correctly sum up this book. The book itself is divided into two parts, and those two parts fall very neatly on either side of the three star rating for me. I loved this book so much when I first started reading it, then it really started to lose me in the second part.
Allow me to explain.
Evie is dying of cancer. She is, at this point, basically a permanent resident in a hospital that treats children with cancer. Her cancer has metastasized into virtually every vital organ that she has, and treatment is not working. She decides that she is ready to accept her death and leave this world so that she and her family both can finally be free of the pain that her cancer is causing.
This portion of the book is absolutely beautiful. Here, the lines between the real world and the world of the dying are explored, with Evie realizing that she is slowly slipping away from her former living self in a way that cannot be recovered. Her pain here is raw, it is relatable, it is real. Evie is a strong character in this portion of the book, and I would have given Invincible a five-star rating had the narrative continued this way.
But it didn't.
Now comes the after. After the traumatizing loss of someone close to her, Evie finds that she has miraculously recovered completely from her cancer. There is no longer a trace of it anywhere in her body. The threat of death that has been hanging over her is now gone, and she has a chance to live again
At first, this second part of the book is great as well. Instead of the traditional happy ending that comes after a miracle like this, Evie as trouble transitioning back into the world of the living. Her parents are overbearing. Her friends act awkwardly around her. No one seems to know how to treat her now that she is no longer dying. But still, at this point, Evie remains a sympathetic character. Her pain, isolation, and confusion are completely relatable. If the ending were carried out skillfully, this still could have been a five-star read.
Then Evie becomes addicted to prescription drugs. Just pain meds at first, to help deal with the pain of the loss that shatters her. Then she moves on to higher doses. Then alcohol and stronger drugs. It is a sharp downward spiral for our protagonist, one that happens all to often to teenagers. This would have been a very interesting direction to take the story, except for one problem: Evie completely loses any empathy that I had for her. She becomes another person entirely. The new Evie is cruel, and doesn't care about how it affects any of the people around her, including her"love interest", Marcus. No matter what consequences come from her actions, she continues to make awful decisions, becoming a person that even she hates. Instead of sympathizing, I began to dislike Evie myself. In order for a reader to really enjoy a story, there has to be some connection with the protagonist. If there isn't, the story becomes infuriating at best and bland at worst.
So why not one star instead of three stars? Partially for the amazing beginning to this book, although the last part nearly ruined that. But also because I believe there was a deeper meaning to the story. Alright, not that deep, but still enough to redeem the story just a little bit. The point of Evie's descent is to show what a descent can really be like. It is not pretty. It is not always something that can be sympathized with. Sometimes pain can change people, and not for the better. The fact that I think that Reed is trying to make a point here is the real reason that I finished the book, and the reason that I will likely read the forthcoming sequel. Whether it saves this story, I'm not sure, but at least there was a method behind the madness.
lavaplant's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Reread; mix of audio and ebook, finished in one day, from Scribd. Why couldn't they have picked a different narrator who sounded more like an actual teenager and less like a 50-year-old woman?
islandgeekgirl's review against another edition
3.0
Evie was diagnosed with terminal cancer months ago. She's exceeded the number of days the doctors had given her to live so now she's just grateful for every extra day she gets. Until she miraculously starts getting better. For so long she's been The Girl with Cancer to her family and friends and getting them to see her as just Evie seems impossible. Then she meets Marcus, someone who doesn't know her past, and he makes her feel alive.
This book ended up being a faster read than I thought it would, considering the subject matter. There was definitely a before and after feel to it, before the miracle vs after the miracle. The before parts, when Evie was in the hospital, were both heartbreaking and yet also fun. It was a children's cancer ward and the author did a good job of reminding the reader of that when things were getting too lighthearted. The bond that had developed between Evie and two other kids, Stella and Caleb, was really nice and fun to read. The whole 'before' part had a bit of a Red Band Society feel to it.
The 'after' part almost seemed like a completely different book. Evie was, understandable, such a different person from in the first part. She had accepted death and it didn't come. All of a sudden she had to deal with the fact that she did likely have a future and that she was expected to fit back into society outside the hospital walls. She wasn't adapting well and everyone just seemed to ignore it or make excuses. Part of me sympathized with Evie but the more she used her cancer as an excuse for her behavior, the more she lost me.
Besides cancer, the book also touched on drug use/addiction, depression and eating disorders. There were a lot of issues going on and it felt a little overwhelming. There wasn't enough time to give all the issues the attention they needed.
The theme of old vs new continued through the whole book. Old Evie vs new Evie, old friendships vs new friendships, old romance vs new romance. Will, her boyfriend who stuck by her through everything, started off as really sweet and thoughtful while she was in the hospital and he did his best to understand New Evie, but he came across as a little smothering and condescending at times. Marcus, the new boy Evie met, was more of a mystery. He didn't know about her past so he could easily accept New Evie. I could see why Evie wanted and needed someone who didn't know about the cancer and who wouldn't treat her like she was about to break.
This was the first book in, I believe a duology, so it will be interesting to see what happens to Evie, Marcus and everyone else in the second book.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This book ended up being a faster read than I thought it would, considering the subject matter. There was definitely a before and after feel to it, before the miracle vs after the miracle. The before parts, when Evie was in the hospital, were both heartbreaking and yet also fun. It was a children's cancer ward and the author did a good job of reminding the reader of that when things were getting too lighthearted. The bond that had developed between Evie and two other kids, Stella and Caleb, was really nice and fun to read. The whole 'before' part had a bit of a Red Band Society feel to it.
The 'after' part almost seemed like a completely different book. Evie was, understandable, such a different person from in the first part. She had accepted death and it didn't come. All of a sudden she had to deal with the fact that she did likely have a future and that she was expected to fit back into society outside the hospital walls. She wasn't adapting well and everyone just seemed to ignore it or make excuses. Part of me sympathized with Evie but the more she used her cancer as an excuse for her behavior, the more she lost me.
Besides cancer, the book also touched on drug use/addiction, depression and eating disorders. There were a lot of issues going on and it felt a little overwhelming. There wasn't enough time to give all the issues the attention they needed.
The theme of old vs new continued through the whole book. Old Evie vs new Evie, old friendships vs new friendships, old romance vs new romance. Will, her boyfriend who stuck by her through everything, started off as really sweet and thoughtful while she was in the hospital and he did his best to understand New Evie, but he came across as a little smothering and condescending at times. Marcus, the new boy Evie met, was more of a mystery. He didn't know about her past so he could easily accept New Evie. I could see why Evie wanted and needed someone who didn't know about the cancer and who wouldn't treat her like she was about to break.
This was the first book in, I believe a duology, so it will be interesting to see what happens to Evie, Marcus and everyone else in the second book.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
heykellyjensen's review against another edition
In a weird way, this reminded me a little of the Lurlene McDaniel books I used to eat up as a teen. But this isn't romantic, really. Evie is a hard-edged, deeply broken, flawed, and pained teen girl who has had a miraculous recovery from a cancer death sentence. We know who she was before her illness through what she tells us -- she was popular, a cheerleader, well liked, and a "good kid." When she's in recovery though, a thing that was a total surprise (that's not spoiler, since it's in the description), she's grappling with being given life again when This new space she's in causes her to rebel and push away her old life. When she meets Marcus, everything is thrown into a tailspin again, as she wants to leave her long-time boyfriend for this new guy.
But he's not everything she thinks he is. Rather, he's not the influence she wants him to be, and as she discovers, she can't make him be the person she wants him to be.
Where this book reminds me of McDaniel is not in the cancer story. Rather, it's in the way the romance, as well as a reminder about those hospital-centered relationships, build and we're given a full story, but with enough hanging over in the end to want to pick up the second volume. This is part one of a duology, and I'm looking forward to part two.
You're not supposed to like Evie. But she's very easy to empathize with. Not because she's suddenly had her life changed, but because SO MUCH happens at a critical moment that she's in deep shock and grief.
Solid writing, compelling story, and signature Amy Reed toughness. This would make a much better read alike to, say, Tiffany Schmidt's SEND ME A SIGN than it would THE FAULT IN OUR STARS.
Spoiler
her best friend from the hospital dies suddenly.But he's not everything she thinks he is. Rather, he's not the influence she wants him to be, and as she discovers, she can't make him be the person she wants him to be.
Where this book reminds me of McDaniel is not in the cancer story. Rather, it's in the way the romance, as well as a reminder about those hospital-centered relationships, build and we're given a full story, but with enough hanging over in the end to want to pick up the second volume. This is part one of a duology, and I'm looking forward to part two.
You're not supposed to like Evie. But she's very easy to empathize with. Not because she's suddenly had her life changed, but because SO MUCH happens at a critical moment that she's in deep shock and grief.
Spoiler
Near the end, it's suggested she's suffering PTSD, which is entirely plausible, whether she wants to believe it or not.Solid writing, compelling story, and signature Amy Reed toughness. This would make a much better read alike to, say, Tiffany Schmidt's SEND ME A SIGN than it would THE FAULT IN OUR STARS.
andersonmom's review against another edition
3.0
It was a good book and kept my focus, and I’m sure it’s based on truth and hardships that I could never imagine on my own. But my god, Evie became insufferable after a while. The back cover of the book made it seem like Marcus was this troubled kid who pulled Evie into a life of crime, but I don’t think that’s the case at all. Evie was a mess before Marcus showed up.
danitruheeoh's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book! I can't wait for the second to come out!
thegoodtire's review against another edition
4.0
Very dark and real story about a girl who survived cancer and doesn’t know what to do with her life. Depicts how easily medication can become an addiction if not properly taken by instruction. A girl who is going through a rough time finds refuge in drugs and alcohol. A little too dark for me towards the end. I appreciated the length at which Reed despribed Evie's time in the hospital with Stella and Caleb and cancer. She was ready to die but was given an undesired 2nd chance at life.
melwasul's review against another edition
2.0
*2.5/5*
Voilà un livre que j’attendais avec impatience et surtout dont j’attendais beaucoup. Et finalement, il m’a apporté bien peu par rapport à ce que j’en espérais. Les romans ayant pour thème les ados et le cancer, ce n’est plus nouveau maintenant. Le premier qui nous vient immédiatement à l’esprit c’est bien entendu le splendide Nos étoiles contraires de John Green mais aussi Je veux vivre de Jenny Downham, La fille qui ne croyait pas aux miracles de Wendy Wunder ou encore Loin de tout de J.A. Redmerski (même si là on sort du Young Adult pour le New Adult). Je m’arrête là mais je pourrais en citer d’autres.
Tout ça pour dire, que même si ce n’est pas un thème récurrent, c’est quand même un thème plus que souvent utilisé et forcément, plus nous lisons des romans d’un même thème, plus nous en attendons beaucoup et plus nous sommes critique. En tout cas, c’est le cas pour moi, il faut que le roman puisse se départager des autres, qu’il ait quelque chose en plus comme l’a Nos étoiles contraires (même si je ne compare jamais avec l’incomparable roman de John Green). Et ce truc, Invincible ne l’a absolument pas pour moi, et ce pour plusieurs raisons. [...]
La suite ici: http://lune-et-plume.fr/invincible-de-amy-reed/
Voilà un livre que j’attendais avec impatience et surtout dont j’attendais beaucoup. Et finalement, il m’a apporté bien peu par rapport à ce que j’en espérais. Les romans ayant pour thème les ados et le cancer, ce n’est plus nouveau maintenant. Le premier qui nous vient immédiatement à l’esprit c’est bien entendu le splendide Nos étoiles contraires de John Green mais aussi Je veux vivre de Jenny Downham, La fille qui ne croyait pas aux miracles de Wendy Wunder ou encore Loin de tout de J.A. Redmerski (même si là on sort du Young Adult pour le New Adult). Je m’arrête là mais je pourrais en citer d’autres.
Tout ça pour dire, que même si ce n’est pas un thème récurrent, c’est quand même un thème plus que souvent utilisé et forcément, plus nous lisons des romans d’un même thème, plus nous en attendons beaucoup et plus nous sommes critique. En tout cas, c’est le cas pour moi, il faut que le roman puisse se départager des autres, qu’il ait quelque chose en plus comme l’a Nos étoiles contraires (même si je ne compare jamais avec l’incomparable roman de John Green). Et ce truc, Invincible ne l’a absolument pas pour moi, et ce pour plusieurs raisons. [...]
La suite ici: http://lune-et-plume.fr/invincible-de-amy-reed/