Elishah Davis

this review is spoiler free, but my main advice is just read it now. go in as blind as you possibly can. it’s going to be worth it, i promise. i have never written a google review for a book before because why what is this like use goodreads like a normal person or storygraph like a cool person but i saw someone give masters of death two stars on here and let me just say: no. that’s illegal. masters of death is the best book ever written and nothing anyone could ever say would ever change my mind. look, i read a lot. like a lot a lot. and i read on a spectrum. anywhere from certified booktok trash to nonfiction studies of burial rituals to classic russian lit to goofy beach romcoms to the most depressing litfic you’ll ever read to high fantasy with dragons, and i love it all. well, maybe minus the booktok trash. but all this to say, this book is my favorite book i’ve ever read. i know that is a very very bold statement, but still, it is so. it’s a love story, but not a romance, but not *not* a romance? it’s a mystery, a spider-web, a real true authentic story. it’s funny and feels fresh and new while not feeling overly modernized. it is a love story; but more than being a love story about two people, it’s a love letter to love itself. to life and friendships and death and family.

YOU GUYS. ALL YOU ONE STAR REVIEWS OUT THERE. I’M TALKING TO YOU. You guys know that Holden is supposed to be unlikable right? This is a story of a teenage boy with a lot of undealt with trauma going through a mental breakdown, and, ultimately, a psychotic break. The entire story is being told to a psychiatrist in a mental institution for goodness’ sake. He has never really dealt with the greif from his younger brother’s death, a brother whom he was very close to. There is also hinted at sexual harassment. Not to mention he essentially has no one, no friends, an absent sibling, and parents who do not understand. I’ve been that kid. I’ve been the smart (enough) kid failing at school. I know what it’s like to accept defeat and give up and then tell yourself that it’s because school is too hard for me but also I say that I’m not even trying because I don’t care. That way you always have an out. When really, I’m spiraling and falling apart and it’s really not about school at all. It was about my own depression and trauma. So it’s easy for me to see the good in Holden, or at least sympathize with him, and I can understand why some others might not understand this. Still. Try to cut the boy some slack and actually pay attention to what you’re reading rather than right off the bat judging Holden while the point of the book is soaring over your head.

this book is so so good. one of my new favorites. i love books based on mental health, and this one showcased ocd really well and even taught me a little more about it actually getting to see inside someone with it (disclaimer: i do not actually have ocd, but have done a lot of research on it). i do have a newfound appreciation for poetry and this book has even inspired me to write some of my own. i love the story so much and even though i have heard of it having a plot twist i have to say i would have never guessed what happened, i was really surprised. this book made me smile and cry and do some of my own self reflection when it comes to my own friends. i think i also liked this book more as i could relate to it on some level as a teenage girl of the same age who also sees a psychiatrist and deals with an anxiety disorder. my situation is not nearly as severe as sam's and i can't even imagine what it must be like actually living with ocd, but this helped me understand a small fraction of how it is to live with it. basically, i super highly recommend this book!! you should defiantly read it!!

Amazing novel. Literally go read it right now if you haven't yet. And while your at it look at John Green's other novels, they're all just amazing I literally don't know how else to describe it. My favorites so far in order from absolute favorite to less favorite are Looking for Alaska, Fault in Our Stars, and an Abundance of Kathrines (aka the only ones I have read so far, they are all my favorite). I loved Fault in Our Stars so much I bought them all and the ones I haven't read yet are sitting on my desk and I can't wait to read them!