Holding Up the Universe Summary/Review
This is my second summary and review! Two in a month?! What?!
I know right? I feel the same way. The thing is I'm trying to fulfill a goal of reading 50 books this year. 50 is a BIG number so hopefully, that means lots of summaries and reviews to come!
Anyway back to the task at hand, I read if you haven't already guessed by the title...
Book: Holding Up the Universe
Author: Jennifer Niven (who wrote one of my favorite books I've ever read All the Bright Places hopefully I will do a summary and review on that)
Summary:
The book starts out with a boy and a girl, but this is anything but your typical romance story.
Libby Strout, dubbed America's fattest teen, gets a second chance at life. A life where she's not defined as "the girl that had to be cut out of her own house". After her mother died nothing had ever been the same. She stayed home after being bullied for her weight when she was young. Before long the weight just caught up to her. Her defining moment would not be being cut out of the house though she is sure of that. Dance is her way to escape from reality; to express herself and dance is what she really wants to do.
Jack Masselin, the school's cool kid. The guy that dated the school's hottest chick, Caroline Lushamp. He's obviously got swagger. But there's another side to him, a side that nobody knows. He has a medical condition called prosopagnosia, which means he can't recognize faces, not even the people he loves.
In the aftermath of a sick dare that leaves Libby furious, Jack with a split lip, and lands them both in the school counselor's "conversation circle" (whatever that is) for the next few weeks; they start to learn more about each other.
Review:
I was in another reading slump after I ordered a book and it finally came in but was so jacked up I sent it back (more on that situation to come). I promise I won't always be in a reading slump when I read these books (it just kinda happens)! Anyways I really liked this book! Libby was a strong independent woman that spoke her mind and didn't let her weight stand in her way of doing what she wanted. I really admired her for that. I also loved that she just pretty much gave the middle finger to her haters. And that her message throughout the book was to love yourself for who you are and not to let people dictate how you feel about yourself.
Although I think this book is not as good as Jennifer Niven's other book All the Bright Places I soon realized that I really can't compare the two books. The topics were so different (different in that the topic of All the Bright Places had to do with suicide and losing a loved one and the topic of Holding Up the Universe had to deal with accepting and loving yourself.) They really were on totally opposite sides of the spectrum.
Now I get to talk (or write) about the mechanics of the book! This book included list so that in its self made it stand out a little from the rest. The book looks thicker than it really is, the font was pretty big and the end of the chapters ended at the beginning of a page, which pretty much left the whole page blank. The chapters alternate from Jack and Libby's points of view ( which is like Jennifer Niven's other book). One thing I worry about with multiple POVs is multiple interpretations of the same event, and in some books, it's needed (but in some books it's just not!) With this book, she alternated chapters but the plot kept going! Hallelujah! When it changed the POV to the other character it picked up right where the first one left off.
Enough about the POVs now on to the actual writing. Niven again seemed to do her research. I learned a lot of new information from this book. I thought it was really interesting how she describe faces in the way that Jack saw them because she had to do it in an unconventional way. And the special thing about Libby was the quotes, she used a couple of quotes from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, if you didn't already know, which I happened to love. All the little nuances in the book really made it a more heartfelt and meaningful book. There was a lot more cursing in this book so I wouldn't recommend it to really young readers but if you think you're mature enough for it then, by all means, go. I think that if you're mature enough to handle heavy topics and advised caution then totally read it. It's real life. just know that you are warned.
The book is also aesthetically pleasing and the cover underneath the sleeve is a really pretty baby (kinda sky) blue. It also has glittering starlike designs made into a heart. I thought it was really cute.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book and definitely will be loaning it out! Well, that's all for this review I have to go to bed now because I have school in the morning. But it's a new month so get ready for some great things to come. Talk to you soon! <3
- Mei-Lin Rose
