readwithmeemz's reviews
1255 reviews

2.5 Stars

I love stories about friendship, but this one frequently has me wondering if Emily Giffin has ever met a Black person? 

Overall, this book had the makings of a strong emotional arc, but although it is a Perfect Summer Read ™️ - despite the heavy, and rich content, it felt devoid of substance, depth, and personality. 

Real issues were touched on, but skated over, so constantly, that it felt more like they were plot filler than character or story development. 

In the chapters from Lainey and Hannah’s POVs, they seemed multi-dimensional, and human, and real, with rich inner-lives, and real, human feelings. Tyson on the other hand read as stilted and forced, with a total lack of a personality or dialogue.  I thought his parents were also pretty poorly written, and thought it fascinating that somehow every Black person in this book seems to be calling women “females”… Unsure where that came from, but to me it read like a carry over from the author hearing a rap song once? Perhaps that’s unfair, but it was hard to read this book without constantly, jarringly getting taken out of it every time I read one of Tyson’s chapters. I don’t know how else to say it, but nothing about him seemed real. From his supposed passion for social justice; to his “journey” to finding himself, he just read as a flat caricature more than a person. 

The rest of the story was, conceptually, really wonderful — friendship stories, pacts, international travel - all make this book  catnip for me. And I did read it in one day, but unfortunately, the complete lack of effort or interest in exploring any kind of depth with substance or meaning really threw me off. 

I had high expectations for this book after hearing rave reviews and seeing it on multiple “best of the year so far”’lists. I have to say, I was coming into this with a really open mind, especially because I already agree with the core concept - that social media has led to an increase in mental health problems and mental illnesses, especially in kids and adolescents. While I agree with this underpinning idea, I did not find this book to be particularly well written, or even reassuringly well-researched.

First off, through this entire book, Haidt would underscore his key points using anecdotes (which were sometimes not at ALL related), then turning them into massive generalizations, often using his own newsletter or unpublished research, or personal anecdotes as a cited source. 

Secondly, I found throughout the book, Haidt writes and speaks with a condescending tone. He appears to have no respect for children and teenagers, or for any readers. I tried so hard to ignore the tone, and give him the benefit of the doubt, but his smug, preach, holier than thou attitude made this read more like a personal essay than a scientific or educational text. Haidt also very clearly lets his own personal biases shine through here, often ignoring his own privilege, and making harmful, and even dangerous generalizations and sweeping statements.

Finally, this book was quite boring. I tried reading the physical book, and got so bored, I had to pick it up as an audiobook, so I could listen when I had no other escape. And frankly, listening was quite a chore. There were occasionally interesting and compelling points, but overall I really, really did not like this book.

I received a reading copy of this book from the publisher.

This was cute, charming, and fun, with a delightful premise. Although entirely predictable, that’s not necessarily the worst thing in a romance book. I enjoyed the concept SO much - it was perhaps the most unique part of the book. The secondary characters, although lovable, were kind of a mad libs of quirky, offbeat secondary characters, so they didn’t feel entirely new. The romance was charming, and the final twists weren’t entirely unexpected. I had a good time with this though, and read it in two sittings. I definitely plan to read more from Greenwood!