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A review by whitneymouse
Be More Chill: The Graphic Novel by Ned Vizzini, David Levithan
3.0
I saw this at my local public library and I'm enough of a masochist that I knew I needed to read it despite thinking the original book is one of, if not the worst, books I've ever read and also being disillusioned with David Levithan after reading [b:Every Day|13262783|Every Day (Every Day, #1)|David Levithan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356993940l/13262783._SY75_.jpg|18464379].
Overall, this was a decent adaptation. It fixed a LOT of the issues that I had with the original book. To start with, Jeremy is more like the musical in that he's not already a terrible person pre-squip. He's just socially awkward (although they kept those weird tally sheets where he tracks how often each day people mock him). He doesn't objectify every girl he comes in contact with and is much more focused on Christine. The adaptation also got rid of the dad character (who was problematic on his own) and didn't reuse the 00s insults that had aged incredibly poorly. Christine mentions LGBT and non-binary people, which updates the book to be more inclusive and gets rid of the homophobic aspects of the original (which is unsurprising since this is routinely the one rep Levithan gets right).
Christine is still a mess as a character and honestly, I don't know how to write her in a way that would be more compelling without making her the main character, which would negate the rest of the story. In the original, she's very clear that she just got out of a serious relationship and is uninterested. In this one, her relationship with Jake is glossed over more and she seems more interested in Jeremy, but she comes across as very snide in many of her comments. She makes some comments that are a little much for someone she barely knows. Jeremy is weird, but she doesn't need to be rude.
Michael was updated to be Black now. I'm wondering if this was to reflect the casting decisions being made in the musical. I'm pleased with this change because the original version was very happy to appropriate various aspects of BIPOC culture, so this makes more sense.
The adaptation also got rid of the HORRENDOUS element of the first book where Jeremy witnesses a classmate sleeping with a girl and the boys in the school are piled in the door and taking pictures and video without her knowledge. The squip, while still misguided, gives less sexist advice (ex. in the original, he says "never be mean to a girl unless she's ugly", guys with girlfriends are so attractive to other women that they're "forced" to cheat, etc.).
The author's note says it's an adaptation of the book, not the musical, but there are nods to the musical throughout (ex. Michael sitting in a bathtub [in the original book, he's with his girlfriend], dialogue that says "Rich set a fire and he burned down the house", another bit of dialogue that says "It's better than drugs. It's a...quantum nanotechnology CPU.") It was fun to find some little Easter eggs if you're a musical fan.
The only other thing I want to highlight is that the art made a weird choice to use a limited palette where it's black and white except for a few pops of blue on each page. This would be interesting if it was used to highlight key aspects, which it is sometimes (ex. the Mountain Dew, the Squip pill, Chloe's eyes, etc.) but other times, it seems to just be so that it's not black and white (ex. lockers, the mall escalators, Michael's bedspread). I would've preferred this to be more purposeful.
Overall, I would be more likely to recommend this version of the story than I would the original book. This kept all the overarching story beats and plotline, but ditched the sexism, homophobia, and outdated insults. Much better.
Overall, this was a decent adaptation. It fixed a LOT of the issues that I had with the original book. To start with, Jeremy is more like the musical in that he's not already a terrible person pre-squip. He's just socially awkward (although they kept those weird tally sheets where he tracks how often each day people mock him). He doesn't objectify every girl he comes in contact with and is much more focused on Christine. The adaptation also got rid of the dad character (who was problematic on his own) and didn't reuse the 00s insults that had aged incredibly poorly. Christine mentions LGBT and non-binary people, which updates the book to be more inclusive and gets rid of the homophobic aspects of the original (which is unsurprising since this is routinely the one rep Levithan gets right).
Christine is still a mess as a character and honestly, I don't know how to write her in a way that would be more compelling without making her the main character, which would negate the rest of the story. In the original, she's very clear that she just got out of a serious relationship and is uninterested. In this one, her relationship with Jake is glossed over more and she seems more interested in Jeremy, but she comes across as very snide in many of her comments. She makes some comments that are a little much for someone she barely knows. Jeremy is weird, but she doesn't need to be rude.
Michael was updated to be Black now. I'm wondering if this was to reflect the casting decisions being made in the musical. I'm pleased with this change because the original version was very happy to appropriate various aspects of BIPOC culture, so this makes more sense.
The adaptation also got rid of the HORRENDOUS element of the first book where Jeremy witnesses a classmate sleeping with a girl and the boys in the school are piled in the door and taking pictures and video without her knowledge. The squip, while still misguided, gives less sexist advice (ex. in the original, he says "never be mean to a girl unless she's ugly", guys with girlfriends are so attractive to other women that they're "forced" to cheat, etc.).
The author's note says it's an adaptation of the book, not the musical, but there are nods to the musical throughout (ex. Michael sitting in a bathtub [in the original book, he's with his girlfriend], dialogue that says "Rich set a fire and he burned down the house", another bit of dialogue that says "It's better than drugs. It's a...quantum nanotechnology CPU.") It was fun to find some little Easter eggs if you're a musical fan.
The only other thing I want to highlight is that the art made a weird choice to use a limited palette where it's black and white except for a few pops of blue on each page. This would be interesting if it was used to highlight key aspects, which it is sometimes (ex. the Mountain Dew, the Squip pill, Chloe's eyes, etc.) but other times, it seems to just be so that it's not black and white (ex. lockers, the mall escalators, Michael's bedspread). I would've preferred this to be more purposeful.
Overall, I would be more likely to recommend this version of the story than I would the original book. This kept all the overarching story beats and plotline, but ditched the sexism, homophobia, and outdated insults. Much better.