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candacesiegle_greedyreader's review against another edition
3.0
2.5
I was very excited about "Oliver Loving" and entranced at the start. However, as they story progressed, I began to lose the thread with every character but Oliver, living in his half life , or maybe not at all. Stefan Merrill Block does a wonderful job of creating Oliver, teen from a very small West Texas town who is shot by another kid and left in what is believed to be a permanent vegetative state. Of course, his family is destroyed. His mother does not lose hope but his father and brother go down the drain. And Oliver . . . we don't really know. Is he dreaming in his state, or are these the memories of those around him?
Ultimately, I couldn't make the entire journey and stopped trying. Some readers will love this book. I'll wait for Block's next work.
I was very excited about "Oliver Loving" and entranced at the start. However, as they story progressed, I began to lose the thread with every character but Oliver, living in his half life , or maybe not at all. Stefan Merrill Block does a wonderful job of creating Oliver, teen from a very small West Texas town who is shot by another kid and left in what is believed to be a permanent vegetative state. Of course, his family is destroyed. His mother does not lose hope but his father and brother go down the drain. And Oliver . . . we don't really know. Is he dreaming in his state, or are these the memories of those around him?
Ultimately, I couldn't make the entire journey and stopped trying. Some readers will love this book. I'll wait for Block's next work.
debtat2's review against another edition
4.0
A subject that rings all to true, a high school shooting in a west texas school and the aftermath that effects not only those involved but also the local community.
And as for the why?
You will have to read to the end to find out.
A beautifully written story of sorrow, love and hope that will certainly cause a lot of pause for thought.
And as for the why?
You will have to read to the end to find out.
A beautifully written story of sorrow, love and hope that will certainly cause a lot of pause for thought.
playwithdirt's review against another edition
4.0
Five stars for the story and the reading by Michael Crouch, minus one star for the utter and complete overuse of the phrase “… and yet…” I don’t think I made it through a single 10-minute stretch of the audiobook without hearing those two words. I don’t think I’ll ever hear that phrase again without rolling my eyes.
janaybrazier's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted to love this book but some parts of it felt a little long and drawn out. I fell in love with the characters and how they are dealing with the situation of the story. I also love the way the story is told, in the way that it’s written. I was really invested in the last 100 pages of the book when everything started to come together, especially the way the events are told in chapter thirty-two. With the events that seem to be happening more and more frequently in America too, this book was pretty emotional in parts. Finally, it has one of the most beautiful book covers I have ever seen!
ilovestory's review against another edition
2.0
I was excited when I began the book, thinking it would explore what we mean by consciousness; instead, it dealt mainly with unsympathetic characters and how their failure to speak their truth caused them to be miserable.
blodeuedd's review against another edition
3.0
This book was certainly something that fit in these times. It takes place in the past and in the present. Times that shaped them all.
Oliver is your normal kind of teenager. He has a crush on a girl. He writes poems. His dad is a teacher at his school (and a failed artist), and his mum is well normal.
And everything else is perfectly normal until that fateful day, the day Oliver is no more.
In the present we learned that Oliver was shot in a school shooting and has been in a coma for 10 years. In the past we move forward to that horrible day. Everything seems so normal until it is not.
10 years after that day the town still mourns. The parents still wonder why. And Oliver lies in his coma. His mother takes a step to see if he still has any brain function left, can he come back?
It's certainly not a happy book. His brother Charlie is sort of lost. His dad gave up. His mum gave in. But at least they learn why, I can spoil that, they will learn why. A total truth. I do not want to make you think the whole book is sad.
It is a book about the how it is today. How parents mourn. How towns change. How people try to move on, but find it so hard. And how one boy is lost in his own mind.
A chilling and sad tale.
Oliver is your normal kind of teenager. He has a crush on a girl. He writes poems. His dad is a teacher at his school (and a failed artist), and his mum is well normal.
And everything else is perfectly normal until that fateful day, the day Oliver is no more.
In the present we learned that Oliver was shot in a school shooting and has been in a coma for 10 years. In the past we move forward to that horrible day. Everything seems so normal until it is not.
10 years after that day the town still mourns. The parents still wonder why. And Oliver lies in his coma. His mother takes a step to see if he still has any brain function left, can he come back?
It's certainly not a happy book. His brother Charlie is sort of lost. His dad gave up. His mum gave in. But at least they learn why, I can spoil that, they will learn why. A total truth. I do not want to make you think the whole book is sad.
It is a book about the how it is today. How parents mourn. How towns change. How people try to move on, but find it so hard. And how one boy is lost in his own mind.
A chilling and sad tale.
sarahlopod's review against another edition
3.0
11/27/2017
2.5 stars, RTC.
01/16/2018
(This review can also be found on my blog.)
Spoiler-free Review of an ARC provided by the publisher as part of a giveaway.
Let me start off by saying: this is not a bad book. But I put off writing this review for over a month because I just didn’t like it at all. There are people out there who will probably love this book. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t one of them.
But you were a boy who had developed a nearly anaphylactic aversion to prolonged eye contact, and you looked away, gaped awkwardly up at the sky: a poor decision.
The Good: Stefan Merrill Block is an incredible writer. The writing in this book is just so lyrical, so beautiful. I had to stop to reread passages several times because they struck me just so. There’s even a queer character! Nice!
The tragedy of love, you had learned from ten years spent looking up at your mother, is that it is only possible to love perfectly a person who is lost to you[…]
Unfortunately, everything felt far too scattered for me. The book tried to cover a plethora of topics and in doing so, didn’t really pay justice to any of them. I didn’t find myself connecting to any of the characters, they all felt too flawed, in a way. Rebekkah felt like a cardboard cutout of a teenage girl. Oliver didn’t actually care about any of the bad things happening to her as long as he got to be the white knight that saved her. I also had an issue with the way assault victims were portrayed that I can’t really get into without spoiling anything.
So, for me, there was just too much bad to outweigh the good. If it sounds like something that would interest you, I think it’s worth a shot! But if you don’t find yourself enjoying it, I think it’s also worth DNFing.
2.5 stars, RTC.
01/16/2018
(This review can also be found on my blog.)
Spoiler-free Review of an ARC provided by the publisher as part of a giveaway.
Let me start off by saying: this is not a bad book. But I put off writing this review for over a month because I just didn’t like it at all. There are people out there who will probably love this book. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t one of them.
But you were a boy who had developed a nearly anaphylactic aversion to prolonged eye contact, and you looked away, gaped awkwardly up at the sky: a poor decision.
The Good: Stefan Merrill Block is an incredible writer. The writing in this book is just so lyrical, so beautiful. I had to stop to reread passages several times because they struck me just so. There’s even a queer character! Nice!
The tragedy of love, you had learned from ten years spent looking up at your mother, is that it is only possible to love perfectly a person who is lost to you[…]
Unfortunately, everything felt far too scattered for me. The book tried to cover a plethora of topics and in doing so, didn’t really pay justice to any of them. I didn’t find myself connecting to any of the characters, they all felt too flawed, in a way. Rebekkah felt like a cardboard cutout of a teenage girl. Oliver didn’t actually care about any of the bad things happening to her as long as he got to be the white knight that saved her. I also had an issue with the way assault victims were portrayed that I can’t really get into without spoiling anything.
So, for me, there was just too much bad to outweigh the good. If it sounds like something that would interest you, I think it’s worth a shot! But if you don’t find yourself enjoying it, I think it’s also worth DNFing.
pearloz's review against another edition
5.0
Oliver Loving instantly grabbed me and never let go. It was a sad tale with a new feel for this trope—school shooters. The characters were real, believable, troubled in their own ways, the narrative never strayed, the orbits of the characters, their motivations all made sense, and I was sympathetic to everyone—minus the two characters we’re not supposed to like.
The writing was fantastic, not too showy but definitely skilled. There are a couple of 1-Star reviews that complain of the wordiness of this book, but honestly if never felt ostentatious or over-the-top; it was always in service of the plot or a precise description or metaphor for a feeling. Great book.
The writing was fantastic, not too showy but definitely skilled. There are a couple of 1-Star reviews that complain of the wordiness of this book, but honestly if never felt ostentatious or over-the-top; it was always in service of the plot or a precise description or metaphor for a feeling. Great book.