Holding Up The Universe No Spoiler Book Review

by Unknown - Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Hey lovelies!

Today I am posting a review for Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven! Now, if you know me at all, you’ll know what a HUGE Jennifer Niven fan I am!

I just love this lady because of her work with her other novel, All The Bright Places! I have a book review for that, if any of you are interested in reading that too, but ATBP is one of my favourite books so when I heard Jennifer Niven was writing a new book, I knew I HAD to have it!

Also, I’m doing a different style of reviews today! Usually, I write reviews by talking about each aspect of the book such as plot, characters, idea, writing etc but to change things up a little, I’ve decided to instead write it in dot points about what I liked and didn’t like!

About the book.

Book: Holding Up The Universe
Author: Jennifer Niven

Pages: 400

Publisher: Penguin Random House
Synopsis: Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout, the girl once dubbed “America’s Fattest Teen.” But no one’s taken the time to look past her weight to get to know who she really is. Following her mom’s death, she’s been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby’s ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for every possibility life has to offer. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything.

Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he’s got swagger, but he’s also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a newly acquired secret: he can’t recognize faces. Even his own brothers are strangers to him. He’s the guy who can re-engineer and rebuild anything, but he can’t understand what’s going on with the inner workings of his brain. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don’t get too close to anyone.

Until he meets Libby. When the two get tangled up in a cruel high school game—which lands them in group counseling and community service—Libby and Jack are both pissed, and then surprised. Because the more time they spend together, the less alone they feel. Because sometimes when you meet someone, it changes the world, theirs and yours.(source)

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Recommended for: Anyone 12+.

This book was sent to me as an e-ARC from Net Galley however all thoughts and opinions are my own!

OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR

All The Bright Places No Spoiler Book Review

{ WHAT I LIKED: }

BEAUTIFUL MESSAGE! This book had such an insanely beautiful, important and well needed message and I loved that so much about the book!
Diversity. This book has a diverse set of characters with Jack being half African American and Libby being a so called ‘fat’ girl. I liked how both these characters broke the norm that is set in YA books and I liked how truly unique they were
References. I’ll be honest! I didn’t understand the references in the book, not having watched Supernatural but when I will, I’ll be able to go back to this book and re-read it and understand!
FUNNY CHARACTERS! The characters were honestly so enjoyable to read from the perspective from and they felt quite real and lifelike! I feel this is an aspect a lot of authors struggle with in books but Niven seems to be able to do so seamlessly!
THE COVER THO. CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW GORGEOUS THIS COVER IS? *insert heart eye emoji*
Idea. Jennifer Niven always chooses such relevant topics to write her books on, to spread awareness about hidden issues and to educate readers while still keeping them entertained and if feel this is the very best thing an author can do, especially one with as much of an influence as her!
It’s a happy story! And nothing makes me happier than a happy story!

{ WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: }

I didn’t feel this book had much of a plot to it. The plot was supposed to be about a girl learning how to feel confident in herself after going back to school after such a long time away but we didn’t see any of her character development as she was already so confident! (Don’t get me wrong, I think that’s great but it didn’t make for such an interesting plot!)
The romance didn’t do anything for me. So this book does have romance but unlike Finch and Violet from ATBP, I felt nothing for the characters. I didn’t hate them, I didn’t love them. It was a seriously neutral feeling and I found I would have liked to feel something more for them instead. It was slightly instalovely + hate to love but it wasn’t well developed enough for me to feel for the characters
There is no mystery. Like at all! Everything is laid bare right at the beginning and there is no build up or suspense or anything like that. ATBP wasn’t mystery heavy but it did have some very unexpected turns for me and I felt not having that in HUTU made it a little duller in comparison
THE TIME JUMPS! The time jumps for this book were so frustrating because it’d go from here to there to back again and it was honestly really annoying. I would rather have mystery surrounding elements of the past and have them revealed to me as I went along.
While I liked the characters, I found it quite hard to empathise with them. I am a generally sensitive and empathetic person so I was quite surprised to see I felt quite neutral towards them!
IT DIDN’T LIVE UP TO MY EXPECTATIONS. I think this is the biggest aspect of this one where I loved Jennifer’s first book and had these extreme high hopes but then felt let down because nothing compares to ATBP

Overall, this book was quite enjoyable for me and I feel the pros and cons of this do balance out quite well! I recommend you read it because it has such a powerful and unique message!