Every Last Word

Reviews

1. 

   H. DeFilippis – July 20, 2024

   A serious topic but a tremendously good book
   CharactersSamantha: It might be difficult at first to know whether or not you’re supposed to like Samantha. Sure she’s the main character, but she’s part of the “mean girl” clique at school. Usually we’re led to believe that these girls are vain, shallow, and cruel to anyone that is not part of their group. While this may be true in the beginning for some of her friends, Samantha is actually a decent person, albeit one with a dark secret: she suffers from an obsessive disorder that makes life next to unbearable.I found her to be a ridiculously strong character. High school is difficult enough, but with a disorder like this and all the trouble that comes with it, she somehow manages to keep it a secret from her friends. Looking back on it, of course keeping a secret like this is terrible and her friends aren’t worth if it they’d treat her badly because of it, but for someone in high school, image can be everything, so I understand how she felt regarding the situation.The Poet’s Corner: these characters were all unique in their difficulties, but all brought together by their love of writing. In high school I would have given anything to have the comraderie they seem to share.Antagonist(s)This is sort of a difficult area because there wasn’t a clear villain, exactly, though there were some “characters” that added to the difficulty of Samantha’s journey.Mean Girls: these are the friends that Samantha has grown up with and fits in with the best, despite some of them being horrible people. They were a little cliche in their meanness, I’ll admit. Samantha herself states that she doesn’t agree fully with their bullying of other classmates, but she goes along with it out of peer pressure. I can’t remember coming across someone in real life that was like Samantha in this instance. The bullies that I dealt with were jerks through and through, but in the story, at least there is hope for some of the girls. Even if they wouldn’t turn out like this in real life, at least in fiction we can hope for the best and see it begin to come true.OCD: I am not very familiar with OCD as a realistic disease, so I am not sure to what degree what Samantha suffered is real. It was, however, presented in a overpowering and ever present way that made me believe, for the course of the book, that I could understand how Samantha was feeling, if only for a little bit.ImageryImagery wasn’t a part of the novel that I really noticed as anything extraordinary, perhaps because it took place in the real world and it was an everyday sort of place, unlike if it were a fantasy novel. I knew, or at least could hazard a guess, what the place looked like without having to have it painted out for me.Plot/PacingI found the writing to be fairly streamlined. It was a fairly quick read. The prose was catchy enough to be interesting without too much going on, and it left off in good places at the end of chapters so that I wanted to continue.EndingThere was a fairly big surprise for Samantha toward the end that, while devastating, I was at least starting to guess midway through the book. It was an interesting choice for the author to make. In the course of the story I found it plausible, though a bit sad as the person involved in this revelation was a character that I had really felt happy with.SummaryThere are times when this novel can feel a bit dark because of the panic and terror that Samantha feels, but it is well worth the emotional journey that she and you as the reader will undertake.

2. 

   Amazon15 – July 20, 2024

   Read what you like and what speaks to you, just my personal opinion
   I read this from my KU. I really enjoyed this even though it is a YA book. There is nothing wrong with it at all. I read what catches and holds my attention. This was a suggestion for me after reading another KU book and I’m glad this one caught my attention. Having teens that struggle with some of the topics in this book helped shed a little light on some of the things my teens struggled with in High School. It also helped that the author obviously did her thorough research and had supporting information on this book. This was a really good read and I enjoyed it, there were tears at some parts and that’s ok too. it just means that it touched some of the parts of me that felt like I was reading about one of my teens in a way. This is all very real and happens to pretty much everyone. We all have a little bit of something in us that we read about. I gave it a five start because it wasn’t over dramatic, it held my attention and it felt close to reality without the extra theatrics. I do have to say though if you liked Every Last Word, you may also like A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel. Every Last Word reminded me of A Danger to Herself and Others toward the end. No spoilers there is a part of Every Last Word that took me straight to a portion of Danger Herself and Others, both really good, both discuss different types of stress and mental health. Both Authors did their research.

3. 

   Betina Zarzur Hachem – July 20, 2024

   mto bom

4. 

   nadia – July 20, 2024

   I read this book for my book club and wasn’t expecting it to be much but wow, did it blow me away. Definitely a lot older than the intended audience (I’m in my twenties) but I’ve branded this as a must read for all ages. Was incredibly written, the characters feel full and you really connect, and touches on the importance of friendship while also maintaining a good amount of romance. Was engaged till the very last pages and wished there was more when it was done. TW for those who suffer from mental health issues though, so please be careful with that. In all though, this is a definite 5/5 for me.

5. 

   Anna – July 20, 2024

   Sehr schön geschrieben, schöne Geschichte. Hat sehr Spaß gemacht zu lesen, so schön, einfach traumhaft.

6. 

   Einar – July 20, 2024

   El material de la portada es muy inusual, la historia parece buena, el único detalle por decirlo así es que la primer hoja venía un poco doblada, llegó súper rápido

7. 

   the pages are torn and creased, the cover is damaged, I do not recommend it – July 20, 2024

   The pages are torned and creased