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A review by tignorjl
Bystander by James Preller
1.0
I had higher hopes for this book, and instead, ended up with a lot of things that bothered me about it. A list will be below the cut because it will include spoilers.
Problem #2: Eric's dad having schizophrenia. Honestly, I didn't see how this played into the story. It almost felt like the author went, "I need a way to explain why this kid's father isn't in the picture... let me give him a highly stigmatised mental illness and add to the stigma that's attached to it." It just felt like the author took the easy way out and didn't think about the consequences it could have. Need an excuse to have a minor character not involved? Give them a mental illness. Honestly, I didn't understand how it played into the story. I think the author could have handled the aspect of Eric's father not being a part of his family in a much better way.
Problem #3: The characters and plot. The characters felt cliché, and the plot felt like it was hastily thrown together with little planning. There were parts of the book where I felt like I was reading the literary version of some cheesy teen drama TV show. And the ending of the book... it came out of nowhere. There wasn't any resolution. It was as if the author went, "OK, I'm out of ideas. Time to end," and just stopped writing. It was really abrupt, which I could understand if this was going to be a series and the author was going for some sort of cliff-hanger ending (which this ending did not meet the requirements). However, this book seems like it's going to be a stand-alone. The ending could have been so much better with some resolution, such as the consequences I mentioned earlier in the review.
It makes me sad that I have to give such a poor rating to a book that was really being pushed by my library system and that seemed to be receiving so much praise. But there's really nothing good I can say about this book other than thank god it was a quick read.
Spoiler
OK... problem #1: In a book that's supposed to be about bullying, the bully doesn't suffer any consequences. Sure, Griff loses some of his friends, but that's it. School officials don't take any action despite the repeated insinuations that they know he's bullying other students. Other parents are the same way: they seem to know that Griff isn't the golden boy he portrays himself as. And if that wasn't enough, there aren't any legal consequences for him stealing Eric's bike, which I'm pretty sure is larceny of some sort. So... yeah... the fact that there were no consequences for Griff's actions really bothered me.Problem #2: Eric's dad having schizophrenia. Honestly, I didn't see how this played into the story. It almost felt like the author went, "I need a way to explain why this kid's father isn't in the picture... let me give him a highly stigmatised mental illness and add to the stigma that's attached to it." It just felt like the author took the easy way out and didn't think about the consequences it could have. Need an excuse to have a minor character not involved? Give them a mental illness. Honestly, I didn't understand how it played into the story. I think the author could have handled the aspect of Eric's father not being a part of his family in a much better way.
Problem #3: The characters and plot. The characters felt cliché, and the plot felt like it was hastily thrown together with little planning. There were parts of the book where I felt like I was reading the literary version of some cheesy teen drama TV show. And the ending of the book... it came out of nowhere. There wasn't any resolution. It was as if the author went, "OK, I'm out of ideas. Time to end," and just stopped writing. It was really abrupt, which I could understand if this was going to be a series and the author was going for some sort of cliff-hanger ending (which this ending did not meet the requirements). However, this book seems like it's going to be a stand-alone. The ending could have been so much better with some resolution, such as the consequences I mentioned earlier in the review.
It makes me sad that I have to give such a poor rating to a book that was really being pushed by my library system and that seemed to be receiving so much praise. But there's really nothing good I can say about this book other than thank god it was a quick read.