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michelle0metzger's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
kaddictwithapen's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
alexisnasya's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
charspages's review against another edition
3.0
"'Don't ignore the problems,' he says. 'Learn from them. But also, don't knock what you get right. Every success deserves a celebration.'"
To take up on the wisdom of Nathan Allan, resident Senior student and ray of sunshine, this book is a success that should be celebrated wide and far. A contemporary romance/coming-of-age story starring an LGBT+ couple and a nonbinary main character?
My heart is overflowing with happiness, and gratitude, and relief. My soul is singing for all the LGBTQ+ kids that will be able to read this. Whether you're twelve or twenty, Ben's story is colossally important. It doesn't matter if you're nonbinary yourself: devote your attention to this novel. Show it all the love, and hype, and praise, that straight contemporary novels have been receiving for decades.
To follow through with the entirety of Nathan's advice, however, I'd like to share my honest thoughts about this book - including why I didn't give it a five-star rating, despite its importance and the overwhelmingly positive responses it has received.
PLOT: 3 / 5
Mason Deaver, the nonbinary author of this novel, is telling the story of Ben de Backer, who finds themselves kicked out of their parents' house after coming out as nonbinary. The course of the novel follows Ben as they struggle to start a new, better life at a different school, living with their sister Hannah who moved out ten years ago.
Ben's story isn't easy to swallow. I have an entire list of trigger warnings that I think people should be aware of before reading [b:I Wish You All the Best|41473872|I Wish You All the Best|Mason Deaver|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1538483349l/41473872._SY75_.jpg|61277384], which I will be putting at the start of this review. If you would like to remain completely spoiler-free (since the trigger warnings might contain slight spoilers), feel free to skip this part, which I will write in Italics.
TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST:
- use of the q**r-slur (Ben uses it to refer to themselves and, at times, other LGBTQ+ people. It is not used as a slur in the novel, however I felt this was worth pointing out as a lot of people aren't comfortable with using it as an umbrella term.)
- q**rphobia (for lack of a better word, I will be using the word Ben also used to explain their parents' behavior.)
- being kicked out, negative reactions to coming out, unsupportive parents
- misgendering
- panic attacks
- anxiety
- depression
- body dysphoria
- homophobia (homophobic comments by a classmate of Ben's when they're at a party)
That being said, I guess we can all agree that this is quite a hefty list. IWYATB deals with some serious issues that are in desperate need of being portrayed in a proper way in the media. Add to that the fact that Mason Deaver, as an own voices author, tells a story so personal and intimate that it hits home no matter your own gender identity, and you've got a solid mix for an emotional cocktail.
Despite the many important topics that are covered in Ben's story, (and they are covered exceptionally well!) I did not love it as much as I had hoped I would. All of my friends have been raving about this book, giving it five stars as well as the highest praises. While I enjoyed Ben's story a great deal, I just didn't love it as much as everyone else did. (Or you're all making this up as part of an elaborate conspiracy to make me the only three-star review for this book on Goodreads, which is, you know, entirely reasonable.)
The thing is ... not a lot happened. The beginning of the novel comes in like a suckerpunch, leaving you breathless with your head spinning. Ben comes out to their parents and, in a terrifying and heartbreaking sequence, finds themselves homeless, with no one to call except for an estranged sister.
Once Ben has transferred to living with Hannah and her husband, Thomas, and to a new school, their life starts to pick up a routine that made most scenes quite predictable. What I was sorely missing was a goal, a need driving Ben's actions and influencing the plot overall.
I Wish You All the Best is a story that's very slice-of-life: the reader gets to watch as Ben makes it through school days, art classes, therapy sessions, and even a date or two. The romance was, in my opinion, a little lackluster. Ben and Nathan started romancing each other relatively late in the story, and I would have appreciated a few more scenes to go beyond that 'first date banter' in order to make it more believable. While I enjoyed the two of them together, I didn't find myself worried what I'd do should they not end up with each other.
Other storylines that I think could have - and should have - been explored more in-depth were Hannah's storyline, her relationship with Ben, and the whole Mariam thing. Mariam was a character I was most excited to read about, however they received very little screentime and seemed almost like an easy solution for whenever Ben needed someone to talk to about their crush.
Overall, Mason Deaver didn't necessarily reinvent the wheel in contemporary romance, but they definitely made the old wheel more diverse and adorable, so it's definitely a book worth reading. Especially young teens struggling with their own identity and fans of Becky Albertalli should give this a try.
CHARACTERS: 5 / 5
My feelings about the cast of IWYATB are a little complicated, if I'm honest. Let's start at the very beginning:
BENJAMIN DE BACKER is the narrator of the book. Ben is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, which was an entirely novel experience for me - never have I ever read a YA-book with a nonbinary main character (or any other nonbinary character, for that matter) before. So I can tell you that I was extra excited to lose myself in Ben's world.
However, I feel like Ben had a lot of potential that wasn't fully realized. A lot of scenes allude to them being actually hilarious, a funny person who cracks awesome jokes, but this side of them only came out once or twice during the story.
"'Can you tell me how they behaved? As parents.'
'Like parents, I guess,' I say. 'I don't really know.' As far as I know, they were mostly normal. But I don't exactly have another set of parents to compare them to."
This Ben I would love to see more of - the quick-witted, smart, funny Ben! This Ben I am enchanted with!
Sadly, this Ben didn't emerge a lot of times. Instead, I found Ben to be a bit of a blank page to me - I'm not exactly sure what they like, or don't like, or what their personality traits are. To me, Ben is that one kid that you went to school with for three years but know nothing about except that they asked you to borrow a pencil once. I'm really sad about it, too, because the majority of the time, I found Ben to be either exhausting or completely unforgiving (for example towards Hannah, whose position they didn't really show a lot of empathy for.)
My disappointment in the protagonist could - thankfully - be more than balanced by one wonderful NATHAN ALLAN. Nathan is my absolute favorite type of character: upbeat, bright, warm, kind, and good.
"This kid, Nathan, laughs like it's his favorite thing in the world to do."
Nathan just radiates positivity and warmth, a human version of the sun. If the sun was wonderful and huggable and absolutely the most lovable person on planet Earth, that is.
I can't really sum up how I feel about Nathan Allan, except that I would absolutely die for him. I'm pretty sure he'd hate that, though, so instead, I'll live bright and warm and kind and make lame references. I guess that'd be more in his spirit.
MARIAM HAIDARI was, as I've mentioned before, the character I was most hyped about. A nonbinary muslim! I was very ready to lose my shit fangirling over them and their greatness. Sadly, Mariam wasn't in a lot of scenes, especially considering they're Benji's best friend. So no shits were lost.
Pretty much the same goes for every other side character: MELEIKA and SOPHIE seemed cool and interesting enough, and I would've loved to see more of them. As many YA-best friend figures, however, they fell a little flat.
HANNAH had, in my eyes, the most potential for an otherworldly character arc. Her development was fine, I suppose, and I loved how Deaver portrayed her as a fully flawed human, real and messy and trying hard to do the best she can. In fact, I enjoyed all of Deaver's side characters, (with the exception of Ben's hideous parents, of course) but none of them really stuck with me. Perhaps the book would have benefitted greatly from fleshing them out a little more.
WORLD BUILDING: 3 / 5
This is going to be a really short section, seeing as I can't really remember any specific setting (save for the art room and Nathan's roof) even if I just finished this book today. That isn't to say that Mason Deaver's world building is bad, not at all! It just wasn't exceptionally memorable to me - but
in this case, I think it was fine the way it was. The world building wasn't any more than okay, but in order to be immersed in the story, it didn't need to be.
DIVERSITY: 5 / 5
Mason Deaver deserves ALL the awards for this one, truly: a nonbinary main character; a bisexual, black love interest; a Korean-American side character with ADHD; a nonbinary Muslim from Bahrain; and, of course, the truly amazing anxiety rep.
Being in Ben's head was completely exhausting, which I guess was kind of the whole point: I've rarely read a portrayal of depression and anxiety that felt so raw, so real to me. Every scene that revolved around those factors, starting with Ben's first panic attack, grabbed my heart and twisted it right out of my chest.
But diversity wasn't just reserved for the main character: instead, I Wish You All the Best is chock-full of diverse characters, ranging from the love interest to the art teacher. It all feels effortless and natural, too, which I really appreciated.
The biggest bonus point, however, has got to be the wealth of information on LGBTQ+ people in general and nonbinary people in particular that Deaver provides. Be it gender-neutral alternatives for popular slang or the entire gatekeeping discourse, this book teaches its reader about the very real experiences of LGTBQ+ people in a gentle, informative way.
Mason Deaver, keep doing what you're doing. God knows we need more of it.
The only point I did not appreciate fully in this section was that Ben's entire stance - and story - is very anti-coming out. There's a lot of caution and negativity around it until nearly the end of the book. I personally, as someone who has a lot of reservations about coming out and finds it dreadful and scary more often than not, would have appreciated more positivity to counter that absolutely horrible first coming out experience that Ben had.
Another thing Mason Deaver does is talk about therapy, and medication, a lot. The refreshing thing was that, after overcoming their initial reluctance, Ben painted their therapy sessions and their therapist in a positive light. It was definitely encouraging to read about how much Dr. Taylor helped them and how much good therapy had brought into their life.
WRITING STYLE: 3 / 5
As with the characters, I feel like there's a lot of wasted potential here. The majority of the novel was written in a very mediocre, teenager-y tone. This might have been accurate, given the fact that the first person narrator, Ben, is a teenager, but I still would have loved some more stylistic devices or - at times - simple rephrasing of awkwardly worded sentences.
The text was peppered with a few sentences that could have been phrased better, which I noticed especially in stark contrast to the few scenes that really stood out to me, writing-wise.
Ben's panic attack at the party, for example, was so powerfully written that I had to take a ten-minute break from reading to recover. Or the sequence detailing their depression, which left me nearly devastated.
The first time I really felt like I had arrived in the story was when Ben's parents showed up at their art show and made a scene. From that moment on, I was sucked into a maelstrom of feelings, horror chasing despair chasing anger. From that page onwards, I was inside of Ben's head instead of a by-stander.
Sadly, this scene occurs somewhere around page 250 - ergo super late in the story. For whatever reason, the writing before that particular moment did not manage to captivate me as much, save for one or two lone scenes that really had a grip on me. I have high hopes, however, that Mason Deaver's next books will be even better than this one, and that they find their distinct voice.
OVERALL RATING: 3.5 / 5
I truly enjoyed reading I Wish You All the Best despite having a slow start. I do believe it is a good book, and, more than that, an important book. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to Mason Deaver for sharing this story with us. I am so happy knowing that this story exists, for nonbinary kids as much as other kids.
For your future works, Mason, I wish you all the best. You deserve it.
To take up on the wisdom of Nathan Allan, resident Senior student and ray of sunshine, this book is a success that should be celebrated wide and far. A contemporary romance/coming-of-age story starring an LGBT+ couple and a nonbinary main character?
My heart is overflowing with happiness, and gratitude, and relief. My soul is singing for all the LGBTQ+ kids that will be able to read this. Whether you're twelve or twenty, Ben's story is colossally important. It doesn't matter if you're nonbinary yourself: devote your attention to this novel. Show it all the love, and hype, and praise, that straight contemporary novels have been receiving for decades.
To follow through with the entirety of Nathan's advice, however, I'd like to share my honest thoughts about this book - including why I didn't give it a five-star rating, despite its importance and the overwhelmingly positive responses it has received.
PLOT: 3 / 5
Mason Deaver, the nonbinary author of this novel, is telling the story of Ben de Backer, who finds themselves kicked out of their parents' house after coming out as nonbinary. The course of the novel follows Ben as they struggle to start a new, better life at a different school, living with their sister Hannah who moved out ten years ago.
Ben's story isn't easy to swallow. I have an entire list of trigger warnings that I think people should be aware of before reading [b:I Wish You All the Best|41473872|I Wish You All the Best|Mason Deaver|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1538483349l/41473872._SY75_.jpg|61277384], which I will be putting at the start of this review. If you would like to remain completely spoiler-free (since the trigger warnings might contain slight spoilers), feel free to skip this part, which I will write in Italics.
TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST:
- use of the q**r-slur (Ben uses it to refer to themselves and, at times, other LGBTQ+ people. It is not used as a slur in the novel, however I felt this was worth pointing out as a lot of people aren't comfortable with using it as an umbrella term.)
- q**rphobia (for lack of a better word, I will be using the word Ben also used to explain their parents' behavior.)
- being kicked out, negative reactions to coming out, unsupportive parents
- misgendering
- panic attacks
- anxiety
- depression
- body dysphoria
- homophobia (homophobic comments by a classmate of Ben's when they're at a party)
That being said, I guess we can all agree that this is quite a hefty list. IWYATB deals with some serious issues that are in desperate need of being portrayed in a proper way in the media. Add to that the fact that Mason Deaver, as an own voices author, tells a story so personal and intimate that it hits home no matter your own gender identity, and you've got a solid mix for an emotional cocktail.
Despite the many important topics that are covered in Ben's story, (and they are covered exceptionally well!) I did not love it as much as I had hoped I would. All of my friends have been raving about this book, giving it five stars as well as the highest praises. While I enjoyed Ben's story a great deal, I just didn't love it as much as everyone else did. (Or you're all making this up as part of an elaborate conspiracy to make me the only three-star review for this book on Goodreads, which is, you know, entirely reasonable.)
The thing is ... not a lot happened. The beginning of the novel comes in like a suckerpunch, leaving you breathless with your head spinning. Ben comes out to their parents and, in a terrifying and heartbreaking sequence, finds themselves homeless, with no one to call except for an estranged sister.
Once Ben has transferred to living with Hannah and her husband, Thomas, and to a new school, their life starts to pick up a routine that made most scenes quite predictable. What I was sorely missing was a goal, a need driving Ben's actions and influencing the plot overall.
I Wish You All the Best is a story that's very slice-of-life: the reader gets to watch as Ben makes it through school days, art classes, therapy sessions, and even a date or two. The romance was, in my opinion, a little lackluster. Ben and Nathan started romancing each other relatively late in the story, and I would have appreciated a few more scenes to go beyond that 'first date banter' in order to make it more believable. While I enjoyed the two of them together, I didn't find myself worried what I'd do should they not end up with each other.
Other storylines that I think could have - and should have - been explored more in-depth were Hannah's storyline, her relationship with Ben, and the whole Mariam thing. Mariam was a character I was most excited to read about, however they received very little screentime and seemed almost like an easy solution for whenever Ben needed someone to talk to about their crush.
Overall, Mason Deaver didn't necessarily reinvent the wheel in contemporary romance, but they definitely made the old wheel more diverse and adorable, so it's definitely a book worth reading. Especially young teens struggling with their own identity and fans of Becky Albertalli should give this a try.
CHARACTERS: 5 / 5
My feelings about the cast of IWYATB are a little complicated, if I'm honest. Let's start at the very beginning:
BENJAMIN DE BACKER is the narrator of the book. Ben is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, which was an entirely novel experience for me - never have I ever read a YA-book with a nonbinary main character (or any other nonbinary character, for that matter) before. So I can tell you that I was extra excited to lose myself in Ben's world.
However, I feel like Ben had a lot of potential that wasn't fully realized. A lot of scenes allude to them being actually hilarious, a funny person who cracks awesome jokes, but this side of them only came out once or twice during the story.
"'Can you tell me how they behaved? As parents.'
'Like parents, I guess,' I say. 'I don't really know.' As far as I know, they were mostly normal. But I don't exactly have another set of parents to compare them to."
This Ben I would love to see more of - the quick-witted, smart, funny Ben! This Ben I am enchanted with!
Sadly, this Ben didn't emerge a lot of times. Instead, I found Ben to be a bit of a blank page to me - I'm not exactly sure what they like, or don't like, or what their personality traits are. To me, Ben is that one kid that you went to school with for three years but know nothing about except that they asked you to borrow a pencil once. I'm really sad about it, too, because the majority of the time, I found Ben to be either exhausting or completely unforgiving (for example towards Hannah, whose position they didn't really show a lot of empathy for.)
My disappointment in the protagonist could - thankfully - be more than balanced by one wonderful NATHAN ALLAN. Nathan is my absolute favorite type of character: upbeat, bright, warm, kind, and good.
"This kid, Nathan, laughs like it's his favorite thing in the world to do."
Nathan just radiates positivity and warmth, a human version of the sun. If the sun was wonderful and huggable and absolutely the most lovable person on planet Earth, that is.
I can't really sum up how I feel about Nathan Allan, except that I would absolutely die for him. I'm pretty sure he'd hate that, though, so instead, I'll live bright and warm and kind and make lame references. I guess that'd be more in his spirit.
MARIAM HAIDARI was, as I've mentioned before, the character I was most hyped about. A nonbinary muslim! I was very ready to lose my shit fangirling over them and their greatness. Sadly, Mariam wasn't in a lot of scenes, especially considering they're Benji's best friend. So no shits were lost.
Pretty much the same goes for every other side character: MELEIKA and SOPHIE seemed cool and interesting enough, and I would've loved to see more of them. As many YA-best friend figures, however, they fell a little flat.
HANNAH had, in my eyes, the most potential for an otherworldly character arc. Her development was fine, I suppose, and I loved how Deaver portrayed her as a fully flawed human, real and messy and trying hard to do the best she can. In fact, I enjoyed all of Deaver's side characters, (with the exception of Ben's hideous parents, of course) but none of them really stuck with me. Perhaps the book would have benefitted greatly from fleshing them out a little more.
WORLD BUILDING: 3 / 5
This is going to be a really short section, seeing as I can't really remember any specific setting (save for the art room and Nathan's roof) even if I just finished this book today. That isn't to say that Mason Deaver's world building is bad, not at all! It just wasn't exceptionally memorable to me - but
in this case, I think it was fine the way it was. The world building wasn't any more than okay, but in order to be immersed in the story, it didn't need to be.
DIVERSITY: 5 / 5
Mason Deaver deserves ALL the awards for this one, truly: a nonbinary main character; a bisexual, black love interest; a Korean-American side character with ADHD; a nonbinary Muslim from Bahrain; and, of course, the truly amazing anxiety rep.
Being in Ben's head was completely exhausting, which I guess was kind of the whole point: I've rarely read a portrayal of depression and anxiety that felt so raw, so real to me. Every scene that revolved around those factors, starting with Ben's first panic attack, grabbed my heart and twisted it right out of my chest.
But diversity wasn't just reserved for the main character: instead, I Wish You All the Best is chock-full of diverse characters, ranging from the love interest to the art teacher. It all feels effortless and natural, too, which I really appreciated.
The biggest bonus point, however, has got to be the wealth of information on LGBTQ+ people in general and nonbinary people in particular that Deaver provides. Be it gender-neutral alternatives for popular slang or the entire gatekeeping discourse, this book teaches its reader about the very real experiences of LGTBQ+ people in a gentle, informative way.
Mason Deaver, keep doing what you're doing. God knows we need more of it.
The only point I did not appreciate fully in this section was that Ben's entire stance - and story - is very anti-coming out. There's a lot of caution and negativity around it until nearly the end of the book. I personally, as someone who has a lot of reservations about coming out and finds it dreadful and scary more often than not, would have appreciated more positivity to counter that absolutely horrible first coming out experience that Ben had.
Another thing Mason Deaver does is talk about therapy, and medication, a lot. The refreshing thing was that, after overcoming their initial reluctance, Ben painted their therapy sessions and their therapist in a positive light. It was definitely encouraging to read about how much Dr. Taylor helped them and how much good therapy had brought into their life.
WRITING STYLE: 3 / 5
As with the characters, I feel like there's a lot of wasted potential here. The majority of the novel was written in a very mediocre, teenager-y tone. This might have been accurate, given the fact that the first person narrator, Ben, is a teenager, but I still would have loved some more stylistic devices or - at times - simple rephrasing of awkwardly worded sentences.
The text was peppered with a few sentences that could have been phrased better, which I noticed especially in stark contrast to the few scenes that really stood out to me, writing-wise.
Ben's panic attack at the party, for example, was so powerfully written that I had to take a ten-minute break from reading to recover. Or the sequence detailing their depression, which left me nearly devastated.
The first time I really felt like I had arrived in the story was when Ben's parents showed up at their art show and made a scene. From that moment on, I was sucked into a maelstrom of feelings, horror chasing despair chasing anger. From that page onwards, I was inside of Ben's head instead of a by-stander.
Sadly, this scene occurs somewhere around page 250 - ergo super late in the story. For whatever reason, the writing before that particular moment did not manage to captivate me as much, save for one or two lone scenes that really had a grip on me. I have high hopes, however, that Mason Deaver's next books will be even better than this one, and that they find their distinct voice.
OVERALL RATING: 3.5 / 5
I truly enjoyed reading I Wish You All the Best despite having a slow start. I do believe it is a good book, and, more than that, an important book. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to Mason Deaver for sharing this story with us. I am so happy knowing that this story exists, for nonbinary kids as much as other kids.
For your future works, Mason, I wish you all the best. You deserve it.
_fr_day_'s review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
scroquis's review
я зрозуміла що не хочу продовжувати це читати. так, це наче добре, але після іншої історії мені якось вже не заходить такий формат, тож мені варто шукати щось інше
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Mental illness, Dysphoria, and Emotional abuse
jaybyrd823's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
bookishjosh's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you, Scholastic, for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
There are no fireworks. Time doesn't stop. And I don't mind; I don't think he does either. Because this has been in the making for so long.
I Wish You All the Best is one of the most informative books that I've read this year. If you're sick of the unrealistic romance in YA contemporary, this one won't disappoint you. I'm not sure if it's a genre thing, but I have a hypothesis that queer books rarely have instalove. Hahaha.
In contrast to its cute cover, IWYATB contains heavy themes. It particularly focuses on the complexities of coming out. Ben, the main character, is suddenly on the street after telling their parents that they're non-binary. Confused and heartbroken, they move in with Eryn, their sister who ran away from home many years ago. When Ben transfers to a new school in hopes of a fresh start, a lively dude named Nathan starts to break down their carefully constructed walls. Soon, Ben's feelings become complicated, and they have to decide whether or not to risk their friendship.
To be honest, before I read this novel, I didn't know the definition of "non-binary." Now, I understand that people who embrace this label are like advocates of political correctness in that they prefer gender-neutral pronouns such as "they" and "them." Non-binary individuals like Ben might look masculine or feminine, but they don't necessarily identify themselves as such. With that in mind, I had to summarize this enlightening book using plural pronouns even though my love for grammar told me not to do so. If you want to learn more about the implications of being non-binary, I urge you to do a bit of research.
Moving forward, Ben was generally a likable protagonist. Ben was a talented painter as well as a math nerd. In light of their artistic intelligence, I was a little surprised that they disliked English and all its writing assignments. At least their paintings could convey a thousand words and more. Ben's most appealing trait was their dry humor. They barely made a joke, so when they did, I couldn't help but smile. I also connected with Ben since we had a mutual love for introspection.
As for Nathan, his loud and very outgoing personality was quite annoying at first. In reality, extroverts like him can easily drain the energy of introverts like Ben. Still, Nathan's persistent efforts to get to know Ben turned out to be a blessing. If it weren't for Nathan, Ben would be nearly friendless at school. Moreover, since Nathan was depicted as a person of color, I should give points for racial diversity. I won't say anything about his orientation because it's part of the plot twist; you shouldn't assume that it's inevitable for Ben and Nathan to end up happily together.
My only problem with this book was Ben's attitude toward their parents. I understood the reason for their resentment. Still, how could Ben conveniently forget who had given birth to them? Isn't blood thicker than water? Just thinking about Ben's pessimism saddens me. In a perfect world, they wouldn't have to be so bitter. To be fair, Nathan's parents had a completely different view of gender. They were very supportive, and they weren't even shocked during Nathan's big reveal.
Overall, I Wish You All the Best is worth the hype. The author and I might have different beliefs regarding gender, but I can appreciate their work for what it is: a moving story of love, friendship, and self-discovery.
There are no fireworks. Time doesn't stop. And I don't mind; I don't think he does either. Because this has been in the making for so long.
I Wish You All the Best is one of the most informative books that I've read this year. If you're sick of the unrealistic romance in YA contemporary, this one won't disappoint you. I'm not sure if it's a genre thing, but I have a hypothesis that queer books rarely have instalove. Hahaha.
In contrast to its cute cover, IWYATB contains heavy themes. It particularly focuses on the complexities of coming out. Ben, the main character, is suddenly on the street after telling their parents that they're non-binary. Confused and heartbroken, they move in with Eryn, their sister who ran away from home many years ago. When Ben transfers to a new school in hopes of a fresh start, a lively dude named Nathan starts to break down their carefully constructed walls. Soon, Ben's feelings become complicated, and they have to decide whether or not to risk their friendship.
To be honest, before I read this novel, I didn't know the definition of "non-binary." Now, I understand that people who embrace this label are like advocates of political correctness in that they prefer gender-neutral pronouns such as "they" and "them." Non-binary individuals like Ben might look masculine or feminine, but they don't necessarily identify themselves as such. With that in mind, I had to summarize this enlightening book using plural pronouns even though my love for grammar told me not to do so. If you want to learn more about the implications of being non-binary, I urge you to do a bit of research.
Moving forward, Ben was generally a likable protagonist. Ben was a talented painter as well as a math nerd. In light of their artistic intelligence, I was a little surprised that they disliked English and all its writing assignments. At least their paintings could convey a thousand words and more. Ben's most appealing trait was their dry humor. They barely made a joke, so when they did, I couldn't help but smile. I also connected with Ben since we had a mutual love for introspection.
As for Nathan, his loud and very outgoing personality was quite annoying at first. In reality, extroverts like him can easily drain the energy of introverts like Ben. Still, Nathan's persistent efforts to get to know Ben turned out to be a blessing. If it weren't for Nathan, Ben would be nearly friendless at school. Moreover, since Nathan was depicted as a person of color, I should give points for racial diversity. I won't say anything about his orientation because it's part of the plot twist; you shouldn't assume that it's inevitable for Ben and Nathan to end up happily together.
My only problem with this book was Ben's attitude toward their parents. I understood the reason for their resentment. Still, how could Ben conveniently forget who had given birth to them? Isn't blood thicker than water? Just thinking about Ben's pessimism saddens me. In a perfect world, they wouldn't have to be so bitter. To be fair, Nathan's parents had a completely different view of gender. They were very supportive, and they weren't even shocked during Nathan's big reveal.
Overall, I Wish You All the Best is worth the hype. The author and I might have different beliefs regarding gender, but I can appreciate their work for what it is: a moving story of love, friendship, and self-discovery.
eeyores_flowers's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
matschel's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I love this book so much