Thursday, March 12, 2015

We Should Hang Out Sometime | Book Review

Title: We Should Hang Out Sometime
Author: Josh Sundquist
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre: Non Fiction, Humor
Pages: 336 (Hardcover)
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.87/5
My Rating: 3/5

Josh realizes at the age of 25 that he has never had a girlfriend. To figure out the reason behind this, he looks back on his past relationships and tracks down the girls he previously liked.

This was the Booksplosion book of the month.


So I'll start with what I liked:
1. The tone of the book and the way it was written. It was very lighthearted and funny. It read just like fiction and it had a great conversational tone. It was quite sweet and awkward as well. The writing was well done and Sundquist's personality and humor really showed through.

2. The premise of the book. I thought it was a really interesting and unique idea.

3. The way Sunquist views his disability. He has a very positive outlook on life and didn't really view his disability as a bad thing.

4. The graphics. While they didn't add a whole lot to the story, they were fun and entertaining to read.

5. The sense of catharsis at the end. It was a mostly satisfying ending. I thought it could've been a bit longer but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Now what I didn't like:
1. The low-key sexism and misogynistic views hidden under humor. At times it seemed like Sunquist was very bitter and thought all girls should like him (although he sort of goes over that in the end). He also mentioned the "friend zone" a few times which threw me off and made me really uncomfortable.

2. "Notice: not a yes-or-no question. So she couldn't reject it." He tries to force girls to be with him by telling/asking them something that they can't say no to without seeming stuck-up and rude. Instead of just letting them decide if they want to hang out with him, he gives them no choice.

3. The stalking. It was just creepy. He does acknowledge the creepiness at one point, but it wasn't enough. He essentially stalked all the girls he had liked over the years just so he could get unsatisfying answers from them, which leads me to my next point.

4. The investigations. I felt most of them lacked any real value and offered slight satisfaction at best.

I'm not completely sure what to think about this book. I did enjoy it while I read it, but the more I think about it, the stranger it gets. Overall, I'll say it's a decent book. It's not horrible, but it's not great. I liked it on the surface level but when I really thought about it I saw all the problems with it.

Thanks for reading!
Hana

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