Holding Up The Universe - Thoughts

 Holding Up The Universe - Jennifer Niven

I recently had read this book, because I had accidentally bought the wrong book, (I wanted All The Bright Places). I am not going back to buy it. 

LIGHT SPOILER WARNING

Holding Up The Universe has America's Fattest Teen (and God does she let us know it) Libby Strout go to a public school after spending much of her education homeschooled. Jack Masselin tries to jump on her back for some reason, in an attempt to play "Fat Girl Rodeo" and the rest is history. Oh and Jack can't recognise faces.

The start of the book was strong, but it was just so meh in the middle, and I can't even remember the ending, despite finishing it a week ago. 

The two protagonists have no personality traits other than 'fat' and 'can't recognise anybody'. Okay I'm exaggerating, but seriously, it's a really bad case with Libby. I know why she would mention it a lot, but like I feel like she has bigger problems to deal with, other than mentioning it all the time. Her trauma because of her mother's passing would have been a much more interesting topic to delve into it. But nah, her mother's passing purely feels like a plot device, and reason to why she is fat. Jack is possibly worse. None of his actions make any sense, especially concerning his father's affair. He feels very whiney at times too, and obviously I understand it must be really hard to not recognise even his own family, but like he uses it as an excuse for so many things.

NOW ONTO THE CHEMISTRY... or better yet, onto the absolute lack of chemistry between the two. Oh yeah, this guy grabbed me in an attempt to play this very patronising game, why do I suddenly want to kiss him? Jack is literally dating someone else for the majority of the book, who is mean for no other reason than, "We can't like the main character's second love interest, that would be a travesty!" She is such a comical villain at times; she has no reasons for her actions at all. Even near the end, I wasn't invested in the couple at all, it felt like they had been forced together, because they knew each others' secrets.

Okay guys, I am in the minority here I will admit, so you might find something within this book you'll like. It wasn't my cup of tea, but if you feel that I'm wrong, I can reread it. It was a relatively easy read. The book sometimes felt like it was trying to dump as much trauma in the characters as possible. Please remember this is my personal opinion!

Personal Rating: 3/10


PERSONAL RANT INCOMING:

I don't know how people keep up with this blog stuff. It's disheartening when the only people who have viewed your posts are either yourself on a different device, or somebody who is probably yourself but you're not sure. In my life, I have been such a quitter. I quit: piano, guitar, ballet, dance, hockey, football, tap dancing, netball, learning several languages, athletics, cross country, writing, gymnastics, sewing, cooking, singing, make-up, etc... And now probably this blog lmao. I guess I'll try again with another post no one will ever actually see. My friends were right lol

This was not my planned post today, but seeing as my video-game posts aren't doing well, I'll try my hand at talking about books. And if that doesn't work, maybe films. And if that doesn't work, maybe cartoons, or maybe, no idea. I underestimated the power of blogging.

mog.

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