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A review by booklover_zzz
The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson
5.0
4.5/5 stars
“I enjoy the part where adults I hardly know treat me like an anomaly because I know a few words with more than two syllables.” I grimaced. “They probably think all teenagers are brain-dead and sit around huffing dry-erase markers.”
Compared to other Shaun David Hutchinson’s YA books, The State of Us took me more time to get “into” after the opening. The starting few chapters drew my attention with the major event that happens in the first few chapter but I found that there were time (through the book) that scenes and events were dragged out (as if trying to make it realistic) but it started to make me lose my interest instead, especially when the heavier political aspects of the book came into play.
The book stayed very neutral as far as potential for picking sides. The politics sometimes came off a little heavy (concerning both sides) especially at the beginning—it seemed intentional—but depending on the reader, they might not enjoy reading dialogue of characters talking about what one person believes repeatedly. I’m one of those people that don’t care to make politics a large part of my life so this book was enjoyable, overall.
Other than that, the character building and portrayal of demisexuality was excellent and respectful. It was including the small details (e.g. ADD rep, D&D, huffing markets, etc) that really made the characters seem like they could be real people. The main characters (Dre and Dean) take us on the road of personal discovery, sprinkled with politics, as they finish out their last year in high school in an unorthodox manner. I’m happy a story was written about a very similar struggle I faced in high school (you never know who has been though it too.)
The use of sarcasm and comic relief in novel was effective and amazing. I mean, lines like, “Maybe someone had slipped LSD into my latte and it’d just taken a few hours to kick in” painted the picture that was needed while making me laugh. There were so many highlights!! I loved the plot twist within a plot twist too. I wasn’t expecting that at all. The ending could have been cliched like in RWARB but it wasn’t. This was modern, original, creative, and hopeful. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re looking for something original and funny. I’m hoping to reread this title again once it comes out to compare from my first read. So stay tuned for another review.
A lot of people are comparing this book to Red, White, and Royal Blue and while they have their similarities in the political-ish “star-crossed lovers” storyline, the two are completely different. The State of Us focuses equal time on plot and romance as where RWARB focuses primarily on romance. The State of Us comes out June 2, 2020. Thank you dedicated publicists at Harper Collins for an ARC!
“I enjoy the part where adults I hardly know treat me like an anomaly because I know a few words with more than two syllables.” I grimaced. “They probably think all teenagers are brain-dead and sit around huffing dry-erase markers.”
Compared to other Shaun David Hutchinson’s YA books, The State of Us took me more time to get “into” after the opening. The starting few chapters drew my attention with the major event that happens in the first few chapter but I found that there were time (through the book) that scenes and events were dragged out (as if trying to make it realistic) but it started to make me lose my interest instead, especially when the heavier political aspects of the book came into play.
The book stayed very neutral as far as potential for picking sides. The politics sometimes came off a little heavy (concerning both sides) especially at the beginning—it seemed intentional—but depending on the reader, they might not enjoy reading dialogue of characters talking about what one person believes repeatedly. I’m one of those people that don’t care to make politics a large part of my life so this book was enjoyable, overall.
Other than that, the character building and portrayal of demisexuality was excellent and respectful. It was including the small details (e.g. ADD rep, D&D, huffing markets, etc) that really made the characters seem like they could be real people. The main characters (Dre and Dean) take us on the road of personal discovery, sprinkled with politics, as they finish out their last year in high school in an unorthodox manner. I’m happy a story was written about a very similar struggle I faced in high school (you never know who has been though it too.)
The use of sarcasm and comic relief in novel was effective and amazing. I mean, lines like, “Maybe someone had slipped LSD into my latte and it’d just taken a few hours to kick in” painted the picture that was needed while making me laugh. There were so many highlights!! I loved the plot twist within a plot twist too. I wasn’t expecting that at all. The ending could have been cliched like in RWARB but it wasn’t. This was modern, original, creative, and hopeful. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re looking for something original and funny. I’m hoping to reread this title again once it comes out to compare from my first read. So stay tuned for another review.
A lot of people are comparing this book to Red, White, and Royal Blue and while they have their similarities in the political-ish “star-crossed lovers” storyline, the two are completely different. The State of Us focuses equal time on plot and romance as where RWARB focuses primarily on romance. The State of Us comes out June 2, 2020. Thank you dedicated publicists at Harper Collins for an ARC!