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kim_j_dare's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. 16-year-old Elise has always been slightly on the outside: no real friends, not quite fitting in. She finally gets so tired of it at the beginning of sophomore year that she makes a half-hearted attempt to end her life-- but instead of leading to the attention and the friendship she craves, it's just one more thing for everyone to whisper about. When she stumbles on an underground dance party late one night, though, things begin changing in her life: she forms a couple of meaningful friendships and discovers not only a bond with the DJ, Char, but a real talent for DJ'ing herself. Elise's journey over the next several months will resonate with any teenager who has ever felt at all on the outside: the poignant mix of sometimes hopeful, sometimes hopeless, with a dash of humor. Elise is juggling a lot: in addition to sneaking out of her mom's house one or two nights a week to make it to the club, she's the subject of some serious online bullying at school. As the story goes on, Elise has a harder and harder time keeping her school persona and club persona and daughter persona all separate. She slowly comes to appreciate herself and to realize that she's more than what other people want to make her. While the ending is a TAD too pat (ideally would rate this about a 4.5 or 4.75), the overall result is a wonderful story that had me doing some sympathetic cringing as I looked back on my high school self.
emldavis001's review against another edition
3.0
(3.5) This definitely wasn't the best book I have ever read, but it definitely wasn't the worst either. I can't really say for sure what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but whatever it was it wasn't this. This book was an impulse buy and I'm still not sure if that impulse has a good one. I do know that I will keep this book on my shelves and maybe one day down the road I will reread it and have a higher rating but for now this is where we are.
manha10's review against another edition
5.0
This book was so good!! I have been wanting to read a book about music because it has a great impact on my life and besides the perks of being a wallflower I haven’t really read a book that involves a lot of music(TPOBAW didn’t really include that much but still). I loved Elise as the main character as I resonated so much with her thoughts and feeling and some sentences were so perfectly crafted they expressed just what I felt. I loved Vicky and the dirty curtains and how the parents were very involved with her life. I also enjoyed start and the reference to many music and how much music impacted Elsie just as it impacts me. This book was so good and I cannot wait to read more from this author!! And I also read it in the right time in my life!
sarahpreno's review against another edition
4.0
I almost gave up on this book. I got through the first few chapters and was just not getting into it. It think it had something to do with the way the events at the start of story were presented. But I figured it was a shorter book so I might as well keep reading even if I didn't end up liking it. I am SO GLAD I finished this one because by the end I absolutely loved it! The main character was so well developed and seemed to genuinely grow through the story which is really impressive because it is a shorter novel. As a bonus, I really enjoyed some of the secondary characters as well (especially the 2 school friends).
sophieshelves's review against another edition
5.0
I really love this book. It's just so relatable in so many ways even if you aren't at all Like Elise. I don't know if it's just me because I love the music in the book, but I loved the playlist at the back of the book. It was just a great read and will definitely stay with me. Music means a lot to me and even if it isn't a big thing for some people this book will definitely make you want to look up some of the songs mentioned. What I’m trying to say in a roundabout way is that you should definitely give this book a shot
wanderingjedi's review against another edition
4.0
I picked this up because it filled a spot on my YA book bingo card, and it didn’t sound totally horrifying. I wasn’t expecting to love it, but I really did.
I sometimes have issues with books about high school students, whether they’re popular or outcasts, since none of these books ever really resemble my high school experience at all, but this one was easy to relate to for the most part. Obviously I didn’t sneak out to secret underground warehouse clubs, and I wasn’t bullied, but I wasn’t super popular either so it was easy to relate to Elise’s confusion about how popularity worked. Her family life did seem a bit weird, but I suppose all families are weird in their own way so I’m willing to let that slide.
Mostly this was just a really enjoyable, quick read and I would definitely recommend it to people who like this type of book.
I sometimes have issues with books about high school students, whether they’re popular or outcasts, since none of these books ever really resemble my high school experience at all, but this one was easy to relate to for the most part. Obviously I didn’t sneak out to secret underground warehouse clubs, and I wasn’t bullied, but I wasn’t super popular either so it was easy to relate to Elise’s confusion about how popularity worked. Her family life did seem a bit weird, but I suppose all families are weird in their own way so I’m willing to let that slide.
Mostly this was just a really enjoyable, quick read and I would definitely recommend it to people who like this type of book.
rachd24's review against another edition
4.0
Check out my full review here -
https://confessionsofabookgeek.com/2018/01/29/review-this-song-will-save-your-life/
I was in a bit of a book slump and perused my shelves for something contemporary, YA, and light to break me out of it, and kick off my 2018 reading year. This seemed like the perfect choice.
I didn’t realise that this was an “issues” novel before picking it up, so what I thought was going to be a sweet contemporary actually turned into a reasonably intense book with a strong mental health theme, which was handled so well. There was a positive lack of cliches, no teen romance “fixed” the main character, and she worked through her issues in her own way to overcome them.
There is a lot of diversity in this novel, and a lot of well-developed characters who I really enjoyed. They were well written, realistic, and fleshed out, which isn’t all that common in YA contemporaries. And it gets even better - some of the teens in this novel curse, the main character is not perfect nor is she trying to be, there are present parents, there is no love triangle, and there is some reasonably tame sexual experimentation that is not treated like the start of a life-long romance, or a sinful act.
Overall, this is a story that I became invested in quickly, and I read it pretty much in one sitting. I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to read more novels on mental health, or to anyone trying to get out of a reading rut.
https://confessionsofabookgeek.com/2018/01/29/review-this-song-will-save-your-life/
I was in a bit of a book slump and perused my shelves for something contemporary, YA, and light to break me out of it, and kick off my 2018 reading year. This seemed like the perfect choice.
I didn’t realise that this was an “issues” novel before picking it up, so what I thought was going to be a sweet contemporary actually turned into a reasonably intense book with a strong mental health theme, which was handled so well. There was a positive lack of cliches, no teen romance “fixed” the main character, and she worked through her issues in her own way to overcome them.
There is a lot of diversity in this novel, and a lot of well-developed characters who I really enjoyed. They were well written, realistic, and fleshed out, which isn’t all that common in YA contemporaries. And it gets even better - some of the teens in this novel curse, the main character is not perfect nor is she trying to be, there are present parents, there is no love triangle, and there is some reasonably tame sexual experimentation that is not treated like the start of a life-long romance, or a sinful act.
Overall, this is a story that I became invested in quickly, and I read it pretty much in one sitting. I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to read more novels on mental health, or to anyone trying to get out of a reading rut.
reader4evr's review against another edition
2.0
When I first started reading this book, it reminded me a lot of Speak and also DJ Rising that I had read. I was interested in hearing Elise's back story and everything that was happening to her at school so I read it quickly. But as the story developed I kind of lost interest in her and what was happening even though I really wanted to find out who was writing that blog pretending to be her.
I like how music changed her life and also her perspective of everything but she ended up not being a very likable character after that (to me personally). I really didn't like it when she destroyed her sisters poetry castle. I thought she was a total mean girl then. I guess she did it for a reason but I was like what the heck. Also when it was revealed who had written the suicide blog, I was kind of shocked but I was also confused about this person. She really didn't know Elise or have any key part to the story at all. I thought it should have been someone that a more critical character.
One thing I did like about the book was the character Vicky. I thought she was super likable and she had gone through a similar situation like Elise but a little different because she didn't turn out like Elise had.
I'm kind of an outsider compared to others that have read this book but I just didn't feel that connection to the book.
I like how music changed her life and also her perspective of everything but she ended up not being a very likable character after that (to me personally). I really didn't like it when she destroyed her sisters poetry castle. I thought she was a total mean girl then. I guess she did it for a reason but I was like what the heck. Also when it was revealed who had written the suicide blog, I was kind of shocked but I was also confused about this person. She really didn't know Elise or have any key part to the story at all. I thought it should have been someone that a more critical character.
One thing I did like about the book was the character Vicky. I thought she was super likable and she had gone through a similar situation like Elise but a little different because she didn't turn out like Elise had.
I'm kind of an outsider compared to others that have read this book but I just didn't feel that connection to the book.
joeygirl1030's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kaulhilo's review against another edition
5.0
You think it’s so easy to change yourself. You think it’s so easy, but it’s not. True, things don’t stay the same forever: couches are replaced, boys leave, you discover a song, your body becomes forever scarred. And with each of these moments you change and change again, your true self spinning, shifting positions—but always at last it returns to you, like a dancer on the floor. Because throughout it all, you are still, always, you: beautiful and bruised, known and unknowable. And isn’t that—just you—enough?
i want to die.
i want to die.