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powisamy's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
librariansrule's review against another edition
3.0
This reads like an interesting writing experiment between the two authors, who have collaborated before, but this one has stingers at the end of each chapter that seem to say, "Whatcha gonna do with this??" To which the other author responds.
I can almost hear them laughing with each other as they pass the manuscript back and forth.
But it doesn't play well with the outside audience, I'm afraid.
I can almost hear them laughing with each other as they pass the manuscript back and forth.
But it doesn't play well with the outside audience, I'm afraid.
blondetheoneandonly's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
slow-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
4.25
taylorlechat's review against another edition
3.0
This was fun to read and I loved that the whole story happens in one evening. The characters were very hard to distinguish between and I didn't really like any of them once I figured out who they were. I also feel this would have connected with me more if I was graduating High School, as it was full of nostalgia.
jackiehorne's review against another edition
3.0
Seniors in high school, twins Ilsa and Sam are holding their "last hurrah" dinner party at their grandmother's swanky NYC apartment. Each gets to invite three people; neither tells the other who those people are. The mix of dinner-goers is diverse, quirky, and emotionally difficult (each sibling invites the other's ex), and lots of issues which the siblings have each been bottling up inside come to the fore. Both Ilsa and Sam end the evening with their issues somewhat resolved, each ready to take that difficult step from high school into "adult" life beyond.
I can see why a lot of folks might not find this appealing; the Manhattanite teen is a specific breed, and comes off as pretentious, overly knowing, and super-privileged to many readers. I enjoyed Sam and Ilsa and their multicultural cast of friends, but didn't enjoy their night together nearly as much as I enjoyed Nick and Norah's. And the 10-years-later epilogue did not work at all for me; totally unnecessary for a YA, in my opinion.
I can see why a lot of folks might not find this appealing; the Manhattanite teen is a specific breed, and comes off as pretentious, overly knowing, and super-privileged to many readers. I enjoyed Sam and Ilsa and their multicultural cast of friends, but didn't enjoy their night together nearly as much as I enjoyed Nick and Norah's. And the 10-years-later epilogue did not work at all for me; totally unnecessary for a YA, in my opinion.
ameserole's review against another edition
1.0
I think this is my second book by this author? Not a fan so far.
Sam & Ilsa's Last Hurrah was more than boring. Thankfully, this book is super short - like about 200 pages. So, I could easily fly through this.. with ya know not caring about anything or anyone.
In it, you will meet Sam and Ilsa. They are twin's and having one last party in their grandma's place before saying goodbye. No, they aren't dying (even though that twist would've been a warm welcome) but their grandma is moving to Paris. They are also saying goodbye because they are graduating high school. As to what they are doing after, going to college or whatever, has yet to be set in stone.
These two are trying to figure out their lives and at least making a change in their current depressing ones. These two do nothing - heck nothing really happens in this book. It was beyond weird and confusing. I honestly didn't like any character in this thing. So, fortunately for me, I didn't care about what they were doing after this goodbye.
Towards the end, I was excited - mostly because I was almost done with this tragic book. I was also happy because these two were finally going to do something exciting with their lives. Leave this place behind and never look back...and yet I got a sad ending. Sad because they had to say goodbye again..but weird because I still didn't like anyone.
Overall, goodbye book.
Sam & Ilsa's Last Hurrah was more than boring. Thankfully, this book is super short - like about 200 pages. So, I could easily fly through this.. with ya know not caring about anything or anyone.
In it, you will meet Sam and Ilsa. They are twin's and having one last party in their grandma's place before saying goodbye. No, they aren't dying (even though that twist would've been a warm welcome) but their grandma is moving to Paris. They are also saying goodbye because they are graduating high school. As to what they are doing after, going to college or whatever, has yet to be set in stone.
These two are trying to figure out their lives and at least making a change in their current depressing ones. These two do nothing - heck nothing really happens in this book. It was beyond weird and confusing. I honestly didn't like any character in this thing. So, fortunately for me, I didn't care about what they were doing after this goodbye.
Towards the end, I was excited - mostly because I was almost done with this tragic book. I was also happy because these two were finally going to do something exciting with their lives. Leave this place behind and never look back...and yet I got a sad ending. Sad because they had to say goodbye again..but weird because I still didn't like anyone.
Overall, goodbye book.
megtall's review against another edition
4.0
Really, more like 3.5 stars. Quick junk food-style read. Not great, not awful. I have a soft spot for Levithan and Cohn.
cosybookcorner's review against another edition
4.0
Okay so I’ve read quite a few David Levithan books in my time (and absolutely loved them) so I had high hopes for this. I have never read anything with Rachel Cohn though and I’d seen some very mixed reviews on goodreads, but I was still hopeful that I’d love this book! I am happy to confirm, that I did really enjoy it!
Sam and Ilsa’s Last Hurrah is about a set of twins who upon nearing leaving for college decide to throw one last sophisticated dinner party at their grandmother’s Upper East Side Manhattan apartment. They each are allowed to invite three guests, but cannot tell the other who their three are. What could possibly go wrong? The answer is: a lot.
It’s a very short book, coming in at just over 200 pages long so it’s perfect for reading on a Sunday evening or a free afternoon. The main this I loved was the representation. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with such a diverse immediate circle; full of people of different sexualities, body types, races and mental states. One thing I adored about this book was the discussion of these things. There is so much ownership of sexuality, often in causal conversation. I also loved the discussion of mental health. Anxiety medication is portrayed as a helpful tool for people to take, that they should not be afraid of employing should they need it. ALSO, A FAT CHARACTER WAS DESCRIBED AS HAVING SEXY CURVES. Yes. This is exactly what I need after Leah being made skinny in the Love, Simon film (don’t even get me started…).
This is not a heavy plot based book, so if you want lots of crazy stuff to happen in the books you read, then this won’t be for you. If you’re more character driven, then you should definitely pick this up. I loved reading about the character dynamics, and the way that different characters acted with each other depending on their pasts and personalities. We even see a surprising amount of character arcs in such a short book.
This book is not perfect, there are some word choices I wouldn’t use and some stereotype tropes that I like to stay away from. And. it is so pretentious; one of the dinner guests is a sock puppet, for goodness sake! But it’s pretentious in the best way. It’s pretentious in the same way all of David Levithan’s and to an extent, John Green’s characters are, so if you like their other books then this will be a plus for you, not a minus. I’d have loved to have read this when I was seventeen and making my decisions about where to go with my life, so if you fit into that bracket, I’d highly recommend giving this a go! And if you’re not, still give it a go!
Sam and Ilsa’s Last Hurrah is about a set of twins who upon nearing leaving for college decide to throw one last sophisticated dinner party at their grandmother’s Upper East Side Manhattan apartment. They each are allowed to invite three guests, but cannot tell the other who their three are. What could possibly go wrong? The answer is: a lot.
It’s a very short book, coming in at just over 200 pages long so it’s perfect for reading on a Sunday evening or a free afternoon. The main this I loved was the representation. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with such a diverse immediate circle; full of people of different sexualities, body types, races and mental states. One thing I adored about this book was the discussion of these things. There is so much ownership of sexuality, often in causal conversation. I also loved the discussion of mental health. Anxiety medication is portrayed as a helpful tool for people to take, that they should not be afraid of employing should they need it. ALSO, A FAT CHARACTER WAS DESCRIBED AS HAVING SEXY CURVES. Yes. This is exactly what I need after Leah being made skinny in the Love, Simon film (don’t even get me started…).
This is not a heavy plot based book, so if you want lots of crazy stuff to happen in the books you read, then this won’t be for you. If you’re more character driven, then you should definitely pick this up. I loved reading about the character dynamics, and the way that different characters acted with each other depending on their pasts and personalities. We even see a surprising amount of character arcs in such a short book.
This book is not perfect, there are some word choices I wouldn’t use and some stereotype tropes that I like to stay away from. And. it is so pretentious; one of the dinner guests is a sock puppet, for goodness sake! But it’s pretentious in the best way. It’s pretentious in the same way all of David Levithan’s and to an extent, John Green’s characters are, so if you like their other books then this will be a plus for you, not a minus. I’d have loved to have read this when I was seventeen and making my decisions about where to go with my life, so if you fit into that bracket, I’d highly recommend giving this a go! And if you’re not, still give it a go!
janaybrazier's review against another edition
2.0
Read as part of my 24 hour readathon for Rays of Sunshine Children’s Charity. Longer review will be over on my blog. I wanted to love this book because it sounded like my kind of thing, and I’ve loved previous books by Cohn and Levithan, but this just didn’t do it for me. I’m gutted.
veecaswell's review against another edition
2.0
As a fan of collaborations (Magisterium for example!) and David Levithan (I still can’t contain my feelings about Every Day yet) I knew I wanted to read this book and I was sort of mehh about it.
I don’t really get how close the twins are when they are so different. Of course this difference makes for a good dynamic for the plot - Ilsa’s guests are very different from Sam’s and of course it makes for entertaining dinner party discussion however, I just think they tried to hard to be random and it came over as a little trying too hard throughout this book.
I don’t know if Ilsa is meant to be so unlikeable, but she is. Sam seems to have anxiety and Ilsa seems to like making it worse by bothering him and trying to hook him up with everyone he knows, the boy has no autonomy throughout this book as he is defined by her psychologically from the beginning.
I like stories to believe in and this just didn’t feel like it could happen, I do like the premise and the variety of characters, but this one just wasn’t for me at all.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for a honest review).
I don’t really get how close the twins are when they are so different. Of course this difference makes for a good dynamic for the plot - Ilsa’s guests are very different from Sam’s and of course it makes for entertaining dinner party discussion however, I just think they tried to hard to be random and it came over as a little trying too hard throughout this book.
I don’t know if Ilsa is meant to be so unlikeable, but she is. Sam seems to have anxiety and Ilsa seems to like making it worse by bothering him and trying to hook him up with everyone he knows, the boy has no autonomy throughout this book as he is defined by her psychologically from the beginning.
I like stories to believe in and this just didn’t feel like it could happen, I do like the premise and the variety of characters, but this one just wasn’t for me at all.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for a honest review).