Holding Up the Universe

#BookReview ~ Name of the book: Holding Up The Universe Author: Jennifer Niven (@jenniferniven ) My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟.5/5 ~ I picked this book up because Jennifer Niven had my heart when I read All The Bright Places all those years ago. If you asked me to pick out a reason as to why I love her work, it would be because she writes about things that matter and she writes it in a way that make them matter to YOU. I had ATBP when I had no clue about mental health disorders and I still felt it. That's what good writing does to you. Makes you feel what you cannot. ~ Coming back to Holding Up The Universe, I loved it for two reasons: the characters and the character development. This book is about Libby Strout and Jack Masselin. Libby Strout is America's fattest teen and Jack Masselin has prosopagnosia (face blindness). Their story is naked and vulnerable because you'll feel the humiliation and you'll feel the struggle. Libby and Jack have a rough start but they're both compassionate, both outlaws so they fall for each other. There's sunshine and roses until there isn't. ~ Through Jack I could only imagine how difficult it would be not to remember faces and not recognize people except by identifiers. When Jack says "You deserve to be seen" I know he means it. Libby is brave and Libby will take you out. She's the kind of character we all wish we knew because she fight body shaming. At one point Libby says "My only crime was that I was fat" and that's the best line in the book. This book made me hopeful, made me think that there is an end to bullying and body shaming and all the horrible things people do to feel about themselves. Hope is what takes us forward. ~ Things I liked: 📚Characters - real, naked, lovable 📚Focused on character development than plot 📚Seeing through Jack's eyes 📚Realistic, nondramatic situations that'll feel natural 📚Didn't end in suicide and that brought hope (mental health books can have an impact without the characters dying) ~ Things I didn't like: 📚The fact that it probably could have had a little more story to it but that's find ~Do I recommend? Yes! If you like reading about things that matter, then yes.

This book made me laugh and cry. It dealt with so many issues that I was able to relate to and know many other people can too. I was practically hooked to the book till I turned the very last page; took a moment to separate my reality with that of the book's. Jennifer Niven is a gr8 writer. I personally wouldn't place her anywhere below John Green. Overall it was an amazing read that I would totally recommend.

Oh Jen, Jen, Jen! Thank you for this brilliant work of art that the teenager world needs so desperately. But not just the teenager world, i think everyone needs to grasp the importance of this book. Holding up the universe is fantastic book written in dual perspectives (which does not make it hard to follow one bit, that is in itself is a miracle!) that follow the story of two people Libby and Jack, (Characters that have been written so thoughtfully) who are learning the deal with their own difficulties in well, growing up. It's a wonderful story on finding your identity and knowing THAT YOU ARE LOVED AND WANTED! Must must must read!

✒️ Story is about two character LIBBY & JACK both comes from different back ground but still there is something common in between them. LIBBY who become America's fattest kid after her mom died, she faced a kind of depression when she was 8 years old and she just start eating alot and as in result she become fattest kid of America. She has been rescued from her house. Copes broke her house to take her out from it. Now every body in her town knows her, she got so many threating emails, latters, texts even her dad got to. Where JACK who is hottest guy of school for everyone has different personality which he hides from everyone. Also he was facing face blindness in which he can't remember people's face, the second thing is nobody knows about it, he hides his problem from his family, friends and everyone. After lossing hundreds of pound weight when Libby joins school, she face many problems like bulling, getting insult from everyone, pranks and that's how she met Jack. ( On first meeting she punched him on his face ) Jack realise it was his mistake and toke responsibility for it, Libby and he slowly become friends, he found he had never met girl like her, she is so strong from inside. And they fell for each other. Story has many more things. What i like so much is Libby, she is really an inspirational character. She is brave, she know how to deal with people who hate her without any reason, she is kind, understanding, helpful and many more things. Everyone should read this book. This book inspire us to not give up on own self no matter if the world is hating you. They way this book is written is also good, easy to understand, simple language well explain things. Even if you are beginner pick this.

“By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.” ----Dietrich Bonhoeffer Jennifer Niven, the New York Times bestselling author, has penned yet another inspiring and strikingly honest YA contemporary fiction called, Holding Up the Universe is an inspiring story about flawed teenager-hood that youngsters constantly try to sugarcoat it with fake story lines. Mostly the story revolves around two flawed teenagers, among whom, one is trying to hide away his flaws from the world and the other is trying hard to make the world accept her in her flawed way. And the teenagers learn a lot to embrace their shortcomings a lot from one another's journey to self-realization. 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 see who she really is. Since her mum'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. 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 art of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a 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 own 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, Libby and Jack are both angry, 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. Libby Strout labelled as "America's Fattest Teen" is going to change her image in the eyes of her peers as she steps in for the her first day in high school after being home-schooled for few years following her accident and the post-accident depression. Libby is confident that her peers are either going to accept her or fat-shame her, mostly she believed in the latter. And all her hopes of falling in love, getting a part for her school's dance group and shedding the rest of the body fat away falls apart gradually she becomes a daily object of bullying, name-calling and shaming in her high school. But then Libby meets Jack... Jack Masselin, the cool guy among his peers and in his high school knows how to fake it for ages as that will protect him from getting bullied by his peers. Jack also has a hot girlfriend, but recently he is facing trouble in keeping his relationship afloat mostly due to his psychological disorder of not being able to recognize human faces. Whereas Jack is only good at building and rebuilding robots from scratches, and Jack knows the price he needs to pay if his parents and friends get to know about his mental illness. Until Jack meets Libby... After reading All The Bright Places, I expected that the author would come up with some rather extraordinary than her previous book, but unfortunately she failed to achieve that and moreover, the story is unexceptionally cheesy and corny to the very core, and left me wondering, that whether I'm reading a book by Jennifer Niven who created magic and fireworks from her debut book. Now you question me on whether the author has failed to portray her flawed-to-the-very-core characters? Well there's no doubt that the author has strikingly portrayed the story as well as the characters, but midway through the book, the story constantly tended towards the love story between Libby and Jack rather focusing on their fight and struggle with their respective mental illnesses. Its not that there is nothing to hold on to after reading this book, as this is an extremely inspiring story where the author cleverly depicts the bitter truth about high schools and how peers bully the weaker co-students based on their looks or illness. But truthfully there's quite a lot of YA contemporary novels about fat-shaming and bullying that now the theme feels a bit boring. Yet somehow there is an underlying uplifting and strong message for the youngsters that the author conveyed sensitively and thoughtfully that the readers will be bound to take a pause and think about the hardcore honesty behind bullying. The characters are strikingly developed with realism in their demeanor thereby to make them look interesting and mildly relatable in the eyes of the readers. What the characters lack is the bitter truth with their struggles and hardships to overcome over their illnesses and the depth in their character growth. The main character, Libby is an inspiring girl right from the very start but then half way through the story line, this once motivating, brave and kick-ass girl falls for Jack's cheesiest lines and in fact goes into depression to hear them. Jack, on the other hand, honed the skill to fake his illness among his peers yet somewhere mid way through the story line, his illness catches up to him and that is when, he begins to woo Libby with his corniest gestures. The author's writing style is magnificent that is layered properly and cleverly with myriad of emotions that will pull the readers into the ocean filled with hear-felt fondness ranging from happiness to sadness to humor. The narrative is laced with light hearted feel despite of the weight of the social issues addressed by the author, in order to lighten up the overall mood of the story line. The pacing of this book differs from something being too slow to too fast to moderate, but the smooth flow of the story will keep the readers engaged. PS: The charm of Indiana was missing from this book! Overall, for me, this was an okay-ish teenage fiction, where everything is about teenage love, angst, lust and competition, but less about the hard journey of the two seriously flawed individuals. Yes there was lot of scope for the characters to grow out of their skins that make them project as victims, yet these two damsels found comfort among one another's arms rather than fighting their illnesses alone.

the first novel i ever read. i wouldn't say it's beginner friendly cause it's lengthy but if consistent then it can be considered to be so. won't spoil the story for you, definitely go for it, I'm not a constant or devoted reader but i love it and i did develop a taste for book reading after this. i would say it's the only book that i read with full interest and curiosity🩷

This novel is basically for the mental illness and body relating issues we all go through at some time. Overall a must read for the ones who love young adult fictional genre but giving four stars cause no matter what happens in story it come backs to the girl that she's fat and she's not enough and ar some point after reading few chapters it started annoying me else it's good.

Absolutely fantastic book with a scintillating storyline and amazing characters. Although the plot and overall message of the book was altruistic and deep, what really sealed the deal was how vivid the characters were. Libby and Jack were by far one of the most thought provoking couple of characters I have ever encountered in a YA novel. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of all the bright places or tfios

I was a huge fan of 'All the Bright Places' and naturally I had to pre-order this book when I saw it. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as all the bright places but I was pleasantly proved wrong. This book is heartwarming and realistic in the best ways possible. The characters are far from perfect and that makes them so completely relatable. This book was so good that I devoured it within a few hours. There is so much more that I could say about the writing techniques and the way that you begin to root for the characters, but it would never compare to the reality. The best thing to do is read the book for yourself and fall in love with the characters yourself.

I was really happy with this book, I recommend it to everyone who enjoys Young Adults novels. It arrived on time and in good conditions.

I feel I would’ve enjoyed this if I read it in middle school

Súper libro, te deja picado y no lo puedes dejar de leer, una historia de amor, la vida y sus obstáculos.

mooi boek, goede kwaliteit kaft