Review: You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour & David Levithan

Title: You Know Me Well
Author: Nina LaCour & David Levithan
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release date: June 7th 2016
Pages: 248
Genre: Young Adult contemporary
Source: Purchased
Add to Goodreads | Puchase from Bookshop

Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed.

That is, until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.

When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other—and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.

Told in alternating points of view by Nina LaCour and David Levithan, You Know Me Well is a story about navigating the joys and heartaches of first love, one truth at a time.

I wanted to love this book, since both of these authors are fantastic writers, and I loved the premise. And it was definitely a decent book; but I was kind of bored by parts of it, and it just wasn't anywhere near as great as either of these authors' individual books.

One thing that I did really enjoy was the depiction of Pride and of queer spaces, and the different explorations of queer intimacy. Every single character (except for the main characters' parents) in this book is queer, which was awesome. Most of this novel is set during SF Pride, and we get to see a lot of different elements of Pride, which were super fun to read about. I really appreciated the exploration of queer intimacy; while there is definitely romance and heartbreak, at the heart of the story is queer friendship/platonic queer intimacy, primarily through Kate/Katie's and Mark's friendship, but also through both of their friendships with their respective also gay best friends. Queer friendships, platonic queer intimacy, and queer mentorship and community is something we rarely get to see due to the focus on romance, so this depiction is really important.

But unfortunately, I couldn't really get into the story or connect with the characters. Mark was an endearing character, but I was honestly kind of annoyed by Kate/Katie (I was very confused by the way she insists on being called Kate, yet the book itself refers to her as Katie...) throughout the novel. Her inability to communicate was super frustrating, and her whole identity crisis about not wanting to go study art anymore just seemed really random because we never get any insight into why. It kind of felt contrived, as if we just needed some kind of conflict for her so that Mark wouldn't be the only one in need of help from a new friend.

I also found the instant friendship between Katie/Kate and Mark to be unrealistic and overly emphasized-the concept of this new friendship was cool, but did they need to start doing *everything* together--including going on Kate's dates--as soon as they met!? I understand how it's necessary for the premise, but the whole concept of them immediately becoming best friends after spending one evening together felt a little forced to me.

Both romance storylines were lacking development, in my opinion. Katie's idealization of Violet felt very manic-pixie-dream-girl-esque and overdone, and Violet never felt like a real person to me. While I appreciate the focus on Mark's and Katie's friendship, it meant that the romance was under explored and never felt real. For example, we barely get to see Katie and Violet spend any time together without Mark also coming along, so how are they suddenly in love? Similarly, Mark's evolving relationship with Ryan just didn't seem realistic.

This one definitely had potential, and I appreciate this different approach to exploring queer spaces and queer intimacy, but the story and characters just didn't work for me. But of course I'll still read anything either of these authors will come out with. 

Review: Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

Title: Everything Leads to You
Author: Nina LaCour
Publisher: Dutton BYR
Release date: May 15th 2014
Pages: 307
Genre: Young Adult contemporary
Source: Bought
Add to Goodreads | Puchase from Amazon

A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.
Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I already had high expectations for Everything Leads to You based on my love for Nina LaCour's debut, Hold Still, but Everything Leads to You was so much better than I could have imagined. With unique, diverse characters, poignant writing, a fascinating setting, and an engrossing story, Everything Leads to You is absolute perfection.

Emi is a very realistic character. I wanted to smack her for some of her stupid decisions, but I also completely understood her reasoning. I don't really know how to describe her, not because she's bland but rather because she's so dynamic and life-like that it's hard to capture in a couple of sentences. In some ways, she feels older than most YA MCs - the book starts right before graduation and is mostly set over the summer after, and high school is never a focus. But despite her impressive career, there are times the seventeen-year-old in her definitely comes out, and I love how Nina LaCour plays with that. Even though Emi is the narrator and protagonist, a lot of Everything Leads to You is Ava's story. Maybe even more so than Emi, Ava is a very unique character with a fascinating background story. I've read other reviews saying they found the mystery surrounding Ava too predictable, but that wasn't a problem for me because I never expected this to be some kind of thriller-esque mystery; yes, the actual revelations are predictable, but the focus is on the emotional reactions rather than the revelations themselves. The emotions are what carry this story. I loved the relationship between Emi and Ava - it develops slowly and authentically, and while I wish I could have seen them together for longer, I appreciate how Nina LaCour took her time to explore their identities and their platonic friendship before turning it into anything more than that. The secondary characters are amazing as well - I loved Emi's relationship with her best friend Charlotte and with her parents, and I appreciate what Toby, Jamal, and Morgan brought to the story.

Even though writing-wise, the characters are what's most impressive, my favorite part was probably reading about the world of movies. We learn so much about Emi's job - a job I didn't even know existed. It was fascinating to see how much work goes into set design, how much time Emi spends trying to find the perfect props; Emi's passion is infectious. Emi's view of movies is jaded - the Collapse of the Fantasy of knowing what really goes on behind the scenes - but her love for movies still shines through, a combination I loved and that worked really well to help Nina LaCour make her bigger points about the story.

This review wouldn't be complete without mentioning how happy I am about the level of diversity in this novel. Everything Leads to You is a book about a biracial lesbian that doesn't focus on either her race or her sexuality, which by itself is kind of a miracle. Emi being gay is never the main focus; this just happens to be a love story about two girls. This is exactly the kind of representation we need. Even though the novel is never focused just on Emi's sexuality, many issues that affect LGBTQ youth - like issues with parents or with homophobic friends, or the massive numbers LGBTQ homeless teens - are addressed as elements of the plot. The characters are racially diverse, and to top it all off, Emi's mother is a professor of gender studies and black studies. Basically, this book is just scoring diversity points all across the board.

Despite all the praise, I don't think I've accurately captured what's so amazing about this novel. It's the voice, the spirit of it all, that makes it such an absorbing read, equal parts fun and thought-provoking. Nina LaCour's writing is amazing; I don't know what else to say but to tell you to read this book. Everything Leads to You is one I know will stay with me for a long time. 

Review: Hold Still

Hold Still by Nina LaCour
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Amazon description:

After losing her best friend, Ingrid, to suicide, Caitlin is completely immobilized. Unable to function, and refusing to visit a therapist, she begins the long journey to wellness alone. During this year of heart-wrenching, raw emotion, Caitlin finds Ingrid's journal, which not only reveals her descent into irreversible depression, but also serves as Caitlin's vehicle for renewed hope in the future. The book is written with honesty, revealing one's pain after the loss of a loved one. Caitlin learns, with the help of new friends and her parents, that there is life after Ingrid.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Usually, I know whether I’ll like a book within the first one or two chapters. I don’t know if it’s the writing, the style, or the voice, but I usually just know. I kept changing my mind about this one, though. For me, it was really hard to get into the story. Caitlin seemed removed from what happened and didn’t show any emotions. Had I not known what this book is about, I probably wouldn’t even have understood that her friend committed suicide until later on. The fragmented sentences and scenes with no connections were confusing.

Later on, though, I understood what the author was doing. It was confusing not because the author or narrator sucked at explaining but because Nina LaCour used almost only showing and no telling, and that was really well done. In the beginning, the focus on practicalities and, for example, the way Caitlin destroys a bench and later on the fur in her car freaked me out, but later I understood that was her way of coping and she used that to hide her emotions. You have to interpret a lot, instead of everything being explained to you.

Once I started reading between the lines and (ironically) holding still every once in a while to take it all in, there was loads to love about this book. The way Caitlin dealt with her loss was realistic, and I enjoyed seeing how photography and art helped her. Her emotions and reactions were believable and relatable.

Not only Caitlin but every character was well-written, and I felt for each one of them. Despite never meeting Ingrid, I could understand what she was going through and could practically hear her voice through the diary entries. These entries were cleverly done, as the author managed to not let them become clichéd in any way. The letter-format (which I at first thought was kind of random and pointless) made these entries unique and heart-felt.

I loved Dylan’s character and her friendship with Caitlin, which seemed realistic and natural. The gay sub-plot was well-handled – I enjoyed Caitlin’s open curiosity about Dylan’s sexuality. My favorite aspect of the novel was probably that hope played such an important role in this potentially depressing story, and Caitlin’s decisions towards the end display that hope perfectly.

An aspect of the novel I didn’t quite get was the relationship between Caitlin and Taylor. He didn’t seem like the popular skater-boy he was supposed to be, and I didn’t understand why Taylor was interested in Caitlin or how that developed. I also found it strange how Caitlin knew Ingrid cut herself but never said anything. Caitlin says Ingrid’s depression was unexpected even though she knew she cut herself. I’ve never been in a situation like that, though, so I can’t really judge whether I would’ve told someone.

On a side note, in the back of my edition there is a list of the songs on Caitlin’s mix tape, and that helped me discover some great music!

All in all, this novel portrays raw emotion beautifully. While I wouldn’t recommend this to a reluctant reader, I think this is a great book for anyone willing to invest the time to do some interpreting and thinking. Even though it was hard for me to get into the story, it was definitely worth it!