Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Old Enough by Haley Jakobson

53 reviews

bi_n_large's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective 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


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baguettegay's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

such a beautiful story of facing and dealing with trauma, losing yourself and finding truer self, and also finding support and community in ways you never thought you could or deserved

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ang44's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

This book hits so close to home for anyone with a history of sexual trauma or anyone who has ever been through the queer college student experience... I really didn't expect this book to resonate so much with me. I think the majority of the writing in terms of the main character's voice, the story structure, and the plot were all BEAUTIFULLY intertwined.
It does delve deeply into the sexual trauma piece of the main character, into quite a lot of detail for a few scattered chapters, which can be very emotional and upsetting.
I also felt as though the initial voice of the first few pages was very jarring, almost as if she sounds like a right winger's caricature of a liberal college student, and I was very happy that this balanced out as the story went on. Some of that inner monologue did really make me cringe, and there was a bit of this that continued throughout the book but it became very tolerable. I did also see someone point out that everyone also just happens to love the main character all the time, which I think is an interesting choice I didn't notice because it makes them feel so loveable but also is unrealistic? But I really did love many of these characters.
Overall, this was a really fantastic and eye-opening and comforting and validating novel.

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partymccarty30's review

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challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.25


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megflynn1113's review

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25


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ralla95's review

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emotional sad
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0


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cateeee's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.75


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luisaslittlelibary's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad 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

3.75


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booksandbesitos's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow oh my god it was so good! I don’t usually write reviews unless I really LOVE a book and this one was definitely worthy of one. 

The storytelling is so powerful. The characters, even the side characters were written strongly and all distinct from each other.

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bookswithisabel's review

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  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Ugh I loved this!! It felt so real, totally a present-day queer college experience. 

Some bullet point thoughts since trying to write a paragraph is not working for me rn for some reason:

-There were many lines that had me laughing out loud

-The falling out with a childhood best friend was a major part of this story and was so well done. And also just like going to college somewhere other than your hometown and looking back at your hometown and the people in it and feeling so disconnected and foreign. Yeah. 

-I was so thrilled to read a story with transmasc and gender non conforming characters!!

-the queer friendships <3 <3

-Sav and Wes together had me like, grinning and kicking my feet, lol, and I haven’t felt like that reading a romance plot line in a longgg time :,) as a lesbian who is mostly just attracted to butches/mascs/transmascs there are not enough butchfemme romances out there!!! The romance wasn’t really a huge part of this story, just a side plot, but I still really enjoyed it. So Haley Jakobson, if you ever have any interest in writing a romance novel with transmasc characters…I will SO read that.

-Sexual assault is one of the major themes in this book and I felt like it was handled with such care and nuance.

-This is the queer coming of age story set in COLLEGE that we’ve been asking for! I read a copy from the library and I’ve already preordered a paperback copy to buy when it comes out in June (I’m just a paperback girlie over hardcover).

-I finished this at work (#ontheclock) and immediately made a face-out in my section that I shelve of the bookstore (hardcover fiction) because I want every queer college student to read this book!!<3

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