Akiva Reads

Endpapers

by Jennifer Savran Kelly

A bit disappointing tbh! YA vibes despite being about twentysomethings with nascent careers and clearly trying to transcend its own YA vibes. I don't know if it's the quality of the writing at a sentence level or if it's the plot: many plot threads were left artistically open-ended, but the central coincidence of the similarity between the two hate crimes still felt trite.

At least the author managed to keep from falling into the YA pit-trap of "oh hello, I the main character have discovered that I identify as X and that is defined as Y and now I feel Seen", which is (unfortunately) not nothing! A grudging extra 0.75 star for that.

Is it a historical if it takes place in 2003? Probably! Hahahaha I'm old.