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A review by saritaroth
Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid
4.0
This book is a young adult novel told from the perspective of Julia, a quirky, high school senior, and Dave, her best friend who, unbeknownst to Julia, has been in love with her for years. When they were freshmen, Julia and Dave made a list of things that they swore they would never do during their time in high school because they were cliche; they called this list the Nevers List. Fast forward to senior year, and Julia and Dave decide to do everything on the list before they graduate. One item on the list is: Never pine silently after someone for the entirety of school, something that Dave is already guilty of doing. Once Dave has given up all hope of having his unrequited passion returned, he meets another girl, Gretchen, and starts dating her. As is expected, Julia sees how Dave is slipping away from her and, only then, realizes that she is in love with him. She is left with two options: go after what she wants or give him up.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it was very well-written. I did have a couple of problems with the book, however. First of all, even though, presumably, both Dave and Julia had parents, it was inconsistent at best as to how much the teenagers were disciplined. For example, when Julia throws a party (Item #4 on the Nevers List) and ends up trashing the house, her dads are very upset with her and ground her. But where is that discipline when she takes a road trip with Dave (Item #9 on the Nevers List) and they don't get back from the road trip until the following day? And, while Julia's dads and absent mom are mentioned sporadically, Dave's parents are hardly mentioned at all. He does have an older brother, Brett, but the brother doesn't seem like much of an authority figure, and Dave's dad is maybe mentioned once. It reminds me of the Charlie Brown comics, where the kids seem to wander around with very little supervision. Granted, Dave and Julia are seniors in high school, but they still need supervision. Otherwise, they destroy their house and have sex on the beach (two references to the book). Maybe, I'm just coming at it from the perspective of a mother of teenagers, but it seemed irresponsible of the parents to be so inconsistent.
I also got quite annoyed with Julia. She didn't seem to realize that Dave was pining after her for so long and didn't even seem to want him until she couldn't have him. Then, all of a sudden, it was "I'm in love with him." Then they went on a road trip and had sex on a beach and then, even though Dave was obviously feeling guilty about cheating on Gretchen, it took Julia a whole chapter to realize what was wrong with him. At first, Gretchen didn't even enter her mind, which I thought was quite irresponsible and selfish of her. Of the two main characters, Dave was definitely my favorite; at least, he seemed redeemable.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it was very well-written. I did have a couple of problems with the book, however. First of all, even though, presumably, both Dave and Julia had parents, it was inconsistent at best as to how much the teenagers were disciplined. For example, when Julia throws a party (Item #4 on the Nevers List) and ends up trashing the house, her dads are very upset with her and ground her. But where is that discipline when she takes a road trip with Dave (Item #9 on the Nevers List) and they don't get back from the road trip until the following day? And, while Julia's dads and absent mom are mentioned sporadically, Dave's parents are hardly mentioned at all. He does have an older brother, Brett, but the brother doesn't seem like much of an authority figure, and Dave's dad is maybe mentioned once. It reminds me of the Charlie Brown comics, where the kids seem to wander around with very little supervision. Granted, Dave and Julia are seniors in high school, but they still need supervision. Otherwise, they destroy their house and have sex on the beach (two references to the book). Maybe, I'm just coming at it from the perspective of a mother of teenagers, but it seemed irresponsible of the parents to be so inconsistent.
I also got quite annoyed with Julia. She didn't seem to realize that Dave was pining after her for so long and didn't even seem to want him until she couldn't have him. Then, all of a sudden, it was "I'm in love with him." Then they went on a road trip and had sex on a beach and then, even though Dave was obviously feeling guilty about cheating on Gretchen, it took Julia a whole chapter to realize what was wrong with him. At first, Gretchen didn't even enter her mind, which I thought was quite irresponsible and selfish of her. Of the two main characters, Dave was definitely my favorite; at least, he seemed redeemable.