Impossible Life
Contents:
Buoyant writing and wry humor balance the pathos in this powerful debut, a moving tale of friendship as refuge and shield against a hostile world. Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand. The Deepest Roots by Miranda Asebedo. This Splintered Silence by Kayla Olson. The Resolutions by Mia Garcia. Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa. Year Year X Tell us more about what you like to read so we can send you the best offers and opportunities.
What kind of books do you like to read? Scene of the Crime mystery fans. From the Heart romance readers. Book Club Girl book clubs. HarperCollins Children's Books books for young readers. You realize you are basically punishing me for something that I have no control over. Overall, I found this book interesting. Sebby hooks with up Mira; Sebby hooks up with Jeremy; Jeremy hooks up with Mira; they all three end up in bed together at one point. Like I said, the comparison to Perks is an apt one—this will be an easy recommendation for fans of that book.
This was another one of those books that made me wish I were still in grad school and could write a nice long paper unpacking some of the issues dealt with and not dealt with. Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Edelweiss.
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RA Posters may be freely used. All thoughts and opinions expressed belong to the individuals that wrote them and do not reflect the views of any outside affiliations including the libraries that we work at, the professional journals that we work with, or VOYA magazine, etc. He did come out of his shell a bit, but he stayed quiet. Proof that you can have friends and a life and still be quiet. Also he's an artist and has been through A Big Traumatic Thing. Basically I related to Jeremy a lot. I loved the character development and I think it was just so real.
They definitely go down as some of my favourite character friendships of ever. And I confess; I'm not into three-way-romances. I guess it's like a triangle? But where each part of the triangle is kissing the other part I mean, they're teens, they're questioning, and I think it was written well. I'm just not a fan omg, kill me before I say that word again of it.
Also, while I'm being a gloom cloud, let me do a quick list of what bothered me. And the reason it slightly missed out on the 5-stars: It just goes missing. Like it literally disappears. Just because your life is going well doesn't mean your illnesses will vanish.
I've gone through copious allergy diets myself, and tbh, they do work. So I felt Mira was really immature about this. Her mum really loved her and wanted to help her, and Mira was too immature to see that. But I think it had too many loose threads. It's about growing up and sadness and struggling with figuring out who you are. Omg, I haven't been this emotionally involved in a book since I don't usually get so attached to contemporaries!
But this was everything I want with sassy and relatable characters and funny dialogue. I liked how it brought attention to the fact that even if you might like something, it still might not be you. And you need to live for you or you're going to make yourself miserable. She wanted to travel the world and live out of a suitcase and have these big adventures. And I wanted to believe that I could be like her, and keep up with her. But actually I was resenting her and resenting myself for not just admitting that I wasn't that person. I like to travel and see the world, but at the end I want to come home and have a quiet life where I wake up at the same time every day and go to the same place and get to feel like I'm doing something worthwhile.
View all 6 comments. Nov 03, Gillian Berry marked it as to-read Shelves: View all 8 comments. Mar 12, Sarah rated it really liked it Shelves: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss. It meant that there was something that I needed, or at least wanted. It seemed to demand some kind of action on my part, and I had no idea what was supposed to come next.
I felt quite sorry for each of the charact Source: I felt quite sorry for each of the characters in this story, even though she put on a brave face, Mira was obviously suffering with depression, and the lack of support she received from her parents was awful. The pace in this was quite slow, but the underlying messages and relationships between the characters were the most interesting part of the story. There was some complicated romances springing but between these three, and there were some mentions of sexual acts.
Nesse livro aqui tem tanta gente representada! E eu realmente espero que mais gente leia esse livro! Jan 06, Kels rated it did not like it Shelves: Nope, not a fan. On top of being dull, it felt disjointed and awkward. Also, there are three different POV's and three different tenses of writing for each Unfortunately, this just wasn't the book for me. View all 4 comments. Jul 11, Samantha rated it liked it Shelves: More extensive thoughts will be on my channel and blog.
Read the First 80 Pages of FANS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE LIFE
View all 7 comments. The book is fucked up in all the right places and I need to process all the fuckery because hot damn. Esse livro me entreteve pra caramba. Me senti dentro daquele universo e junto daqueles personagens. No mais, acabei me relacionando com todas essas dificuldades dos personagens. Parece que eu tenho o dom de escolher o livro com a mensagem certa pra cada fase da minha vida. This in no way impacted on my view. Well, that was disappointing.
And they're incredibly messed up. I'm hesitant to call romance. It worked so well in this and helped to give each character their own distinct voice. Yeah, so this book was not for me. We get some interesting insights into drug addiction, living in foster care, coping with mental health issues, coming from a mixed race family, having two gay parents and even questioning your own sexuality and I definitely enjoyed that about the story.
Like most people, I was originally drawn in by the first line of the synopsis: What was there, between Sebby and Jeremy, was destructive, and not enjoyable at all - I wouldn't even say you co I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. What was there, between Sebby and Jeremy, was destructive, and not enjoyable at all - I wouldn't even say you could exactly call it a relationship. I only finished reading this book last night, and already can't remember a lot of it.
That is not what you want from a book. I wasn't bad in the sense that it was a chore to finish, rather, it was simply boring. Nothing kept my attention. Out of the various characters we met, Mira was one of the only ones I liked, and I felt she was brought down by Sebby, and was better on her own. Sebby was a character, who, for me, ruined the whole book. I never liked him from the get go, and everything he did made me sort of hate him a little more. If the book was just Mira and Jeremy, with their other friends, I might have enjoyed it a lot more.
I also had a majot problem with the format of the book. However, each one was in a different tense.
Read the First 80 Pages of FANS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE LIFE - Epic Reads Blog
The split between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd tense was so choppy, and it ruined the reading experience. If this is Scelsa's writing style, then I'm sorry to say I won't be reading any more of her books. Another thing that annoyed me, when I finished the book, was how many things weren't tied up, or answered? What's happening with Rose and Ali? Is Talia going to be punished? How does Peter fare? Do Mira and Julie get along now? I know you tend to get a lot of open-ended contemporary YAs these days, but this was just taking it too far. It seems a bit lazy, as if some of the plot points were just added for shock value, and nothing else.
Yeah, so this book was not for me. I understand that a lot of people enjoyed it, but I wasn't lucky enough.
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If you think you can cope with the issues I had, then be my guest, and I wish you luck. View all 16 comments. I had such high hopes for Fans of the Impossible Life , the tag line " The story of a girl, her gay best friend and the boy who falls in love with both of them. I'm not usually a fan of love triangles but I would definitely put my irritation to one side for a story like that! Unfortunately that isn't what this story I had such high hopes for Fans of the Impossible Life , the tag line " The story of a girl, her gay best friend and the boy who falls in love with both of them.
Unfortunately that isn't what this story is about so I ended up feeling incredibly disappointed. I don't think that's necessarily the author's fault but whoever was in charge of writing that marketing tag line definitely did the book a disservice. Hopefully if you go into it without that same expectation you'll end up enjoying the story much more than I did. This book is told from three different points of view which should really allow us to get to know all of the main characters but for some reason I never really connected with any of them. The POVs of Mira and Jeremy weren't too bad but the way Sebby's sections were written was completely jarring and the left me feeling completely disconnected from anything that happened to him.
His POV should have been the one that moved me most, he was really going through some very tough times, but I felt so distanced from him that I didn't even come to like him that much and I struggled to see why both Mira and Jeremy were so drawn to him. He was supposed to be the brightest character, someone they both adored, but I just didn't feel it. I didn't really believe in the romance either which was incredibly disappointing.
The most realistic relationship was the friendship that developed between Mira and Jeremy, I really felt like they cared about each other and were there for each other but I didn't feel any chemistry or romantic love between them. Sebby was a bit too distant and the way he kept so many secrets and held the others at arms length just didn't work for me. There was also one particular scene between the three of them possibly the scene that was inspiration for the tag line that made me feel really uncomfortable, it never quite felt that all three of them were on board with what was happening and it seemed more like their actions sprung from too much alcohol rather than any real desire they felt.
I was also uncomfortable about the actions of a certain teacher, he doesn't exactly do anything wrong but he definitely oversteps boundaries and I was extremely upset by the way things played out when they turned to him for help with a major problem they were having. It felt a bit like it was sending a message to teenagers saying that going to an adult for help is just going to make matters worse so you're best off keeping silent and I don't think that's a helpful message to give.
I have to give Kate Scelsa kudos for having such a diverse cast of characters though and she really does touch on some difficult issues. We get some interesting insights into drug addiction, living in foster care, coping with mental health issues, coming from a mixed race family, having two gay parents and even questioning your own sexuality and I definitely enjoyed that about the story. Unfortunately the rest of the story fell flat and it didn't really feel like any of them had achieved much by the end of the book, I was hoping to see them grow up and become more comfortable in their own skins but I was left feeling that they were right back where they started only this time they had become codependent on each other for their survival.
The story of a girl, her gay best friend and the boy who falls in love with both of them. View all 9 comments. Jan 01, Michael Waters rated it it was amazing Shelves: So much love for this book! Drag queens, mental illness, some seriously witty dialogue, a PoC lead, and queer characters galore--this book is a must.
But what I love most about Fans is that it isn't afraid to turn brutal and to thrust its characters especially Sebby into a harsh light. I went from laughing out loud on an airplane in the beginning of the novel to hurting for all of the characters by the end. I'm really conflicted about something that happened in That Scene Toward Th So much love for this book!
I'm really conflicted about something that happened in That Scene Toward The End and the way the "something" was--or, in this case, wasn't--dealt with.
Would love to privately hear someone's thoughts about it. But really-- Fans is excellent. Es genial de los geniales. Oct 11, Laura rated it it was amazing. It's heartbreaking in all the best ways.
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In the book description, Fans of the Impossible Life was pitched as a bisexual love triangle, so naturally, I was excited to read it. Sadly, that's quite a bit of a descriptive stretch. A bisexual love triangle is not within these pages; really, this book is about three teenagers dealing with some heavy problems mental illness, homophobia, depression, suicide, bullying with a touch of not-really-romance thrown in.