A review by blithesquesttoread
Out of Character by Annabeth Albert

4.0

Ahh this book has left me with one to many feels and questions and idk what to do anymore. So I'll try to make way through my confusion with this review.

Out of Character tells us the story of Jasper and Milo which is highly dependent on character development. Jasper is your neighborhood nerdy character - math genius and gamer. While Milo is your neighborhood jock - sports and weak at studies. Do you see a familiar pattern here? The book follows the trope of a nerd and a jock falling for each other but it mixes bullying and character development. Now, Milo and Jasper were childhood friends, really close to each other but due to some reason they drifted apart when they broke friendship when they were fourteen only to "meet" again when they were twenty two.

The story is told with alternate narration of Jasper and Milo and dare I say it does provide a good reading experience. Milo's character I guess can be considered morally grey as he has committed one too many mistakes - the biggest one would be not standing up for the people his apparent "friends" bullied. Actually that's the only thing I am most confused about. Should Milo be given another chance with someone who went through shit in school maybe not directly because of him but definitely where his friends were concerned.

What made it easier to forgive Milo was the character development and narration from his perspective because it portrayed how confident he was to change. He fully took into account the mistakes he had committed and while his frustration with Jasper not trusting him was sometimes apparent, he still gave Jasper time about it. So, that is actually pretty good. And it also focuses on how in case of Milo, his responses were mainly driving by his surroundings. While it did focus on his past, how he was brought up and the struggles he had to face, I don't think it was used as a blatant excuse for Milo.

And Jasper didn't forgive him just "out of love". He had history with Milo and he was willing to see progress and change in him in order to believe in him. You won't see me holding a banner or saying always yes to second chances, but Milo's narration definitely made it easier to believe in him. To be honest, I am still not sure how to process this book but one thing is certain - I was rooting for Jasper and Milo. I especially liked how their relationship wasn't the usual lovey-dovey then break up and then make up. They had struggles being with one another - not understanding one another - but they always ended up communicating with one another which I was really glad about.

Spoiler

There was just few troubling things to, one of them being how Jasper was ready to let go of his dream for Milo. Like I understand that he is an adult and he knows what he wants but apparently he had confirmed in his head that big sacrifices on his part made him a big hero. And while did protest against it, he didn't emphasize on how it wasn't fair on Jasper, not because Milo wasn't worthy but rather because it wasn't what Jasper had to do - especially if the scenario wasn't that dire. Furthermore, I am actually not sure whether Jasper realized this. Like he did realize that he didn't have to be too bent towards "saving" people but I am not sure if he realize that large sacrifices weren't required from him in order to become a "hero".

I actually quite enjoyed this book because the plot itself had one too many elements in it for me to ponder. Also, if any one of you have read this book, I will love to have a conversation about it!

Trigger Warnings: mentions of bullying, strict parent, domestic mental abuse, mentions of accident, alcohol influence discussed, homophobia, coming out narration, frequent visits to hospital

I was provided with an arc of the book in exchange for an honest review