Two or Three Things I Forgot To Tell You by Joyce Carol Oates

Jan 25, 2013 sally rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-arcs, arcs-harper, young-adult, read-for-work

Simply awful. Could not even finish it - especially after this:
"...at her heaviest, she'd weighed 119 pounds -- horrible! (Nadia was just five feet four inches tall.) By the start of the fall term she'd managed to get her weight down to 111, which was still high -- her goal was ninety-eight..." (p 201)

Nadia had been described as chubby, round, flabby, etc, and when I got to that description, I just lost it. I tried really hard to plow through, though. I assume that though it is the narrator spe...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Darkfallen rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, read-n-reviewed, submitted-to-defeat

Okay so I am really disappointed. Maybe it's because I was so SUPER excited to read this, that the let down is hitting even harder, but whatever it is I'm so upset to say that I couldn't finish this book.

There is a number of things wrong with this. First of all the writing it, for the most part, a jumbled mess. It's a series of run on sentences separated by even longer parenthesis. I mean by the time you get to the end of the sentence you've already forgot where you were when it started. All th...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Cathy/The Crazy Bookworm rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have never read a Joyce Carol Oates novel before, but I have heard many great things about her writing. When I heard she was returning to the Young Adult scene, that piqued my interest. Once I learned about Two or Three Things I forgot to Tell You, and that it was along the same lines of Wintergirls and Thirteen Reasons Why(Which I both loved!) I was excited to give it a try.

The book started off a little slow for me. There was a lot of character development in the beginning and not so much sto...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Diane rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bullies, cutting, death, friendship, high-school, suicide, washyarg, young-adult

Tink was the new girl in town -- a former child star, now just unique. Before the story begins, Tink has died, likely the result of a suicide. Merissa and Nadia, two of her friends are having a difficult time dealing with Tink's death. Each girl is coping in different ways -- Merissa is cutting and Nadia is obsessing over a young teacher. Each girl is also certain that Tink is very present in their lives.

While this book is very readable and incredibly difficult to put down, it's really not very...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Erin Sterling rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club-pick, read-in-2012, story, teen-fiction, teen-realistic

Told from the perspective of 2 high school students after a friend of theirs commits suicide about various ways they are coping with their own emotional issues. Personally, I didn't really like this book--I would give it 2 stars myself--although more objectively speaking, it's a well-written book I think teens would like and lends to conversations about suicide, cutting, cyberbullying, etc. What bothers me is that having grown up as a NJ teen in a relatively affluent town (like the girls in the...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Drennan Spitzer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You by Joyce Carol Oates

In Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You, a somewhat unconventional Young Adult novel, Joyce Carol Oates explores the pressures and experiences of the senior year of high school for several friends. First, let me say that I am always amazed that Joyce Carol Oates manages to produce the volume of work that she does. I am in awe that one woman is so prolific and that so much of it is just so engaging and well written. But it strikes m...more Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You by Joyce Carol Oates

In Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You, a somewhat unconventional Young Adult novel, Joyce Carol Oates explores the pressures and experiences of the senior year of high school for several friends. First, let me say that I am always amazed that Joyce Carol Oates manages to produce the volume of work that she does. I am in awe that one woman is so prolific and that so much of it is just so engaging and well written. But it strikes me in reading and thinking about Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You that Oates’s genius lies not in her ability to churn out words (although as a writer, I certainly envy her that) but in her understanding not just of human nature but of what motivates humans, especially women in American culture. We see this in her more famous, more serious, more literary works like Blonde and We Were the Mulvaneys, but here to Oates displays an understanding and sensitivity to the feelings and neuroses and traumas that plague women and young women in our culture, such as self-mutilation, suicidal ideation, body image issues, and eating disorders.
In what is clearly a Young Adult novel, Oates presents the high-pressure prep school world of friends Merissa, Nadia, and their recently deceased friend Tink Traumer. This is a world that lacks the glamor we have come to expect from series like Gossip Girl and instead shows the shadow side of the world of moneyed teen overachievers. This Young Adult novel lacks the sort of clearly delineated plot that some readers might prefer, focusing instead on several character-driven trajectories. Oates structure the novel by breaking it into three separate parts, each with a distinct point of view of one of three central characters: Merissa, Tink, and Nadia. By doing so, Oates invites us to focus on the girls and their emotional lives, rather than what happens to them externally. This then becomes a novel not about what happens but about how these girls respond and how they feel. This allows Oates the opportunity to explore in an authentic way the experience of being a teenage girl in contemporary culture.
Oates manages with thoughtfulness the very real emotional and psychological difficulties these girls face, self-mutilation or “cutting” being made to be particularly understandable. I think that for adults particularly it is easy to be dismissive of behaviors like self-mutilation and suicidal ideation, so prevalent really among young people. We tend to say to young women, “Just stop. Don’t do it. Don’t cut,” not always realizing that there’s a deep motivation behind the behavior and that the behavior fills some emotional void in the young woman. Oates’s treatment of the theme allows us to understand and even empathize with what might otherwise seem such an incomprehensible choice. And it’s precisely this kind of treatment of behaviors otherwise marginalize and labeled as neuroses and even pathological in our society that makes Oates remarkable. She takes that which we’d much rather dismiss because we want to ignore it and presents it in a way that it becomes not just understandable but something we can develop some compassion for, even if we continue to dislike the behavior.
As much as I like Oates’s work and am drawn particularly to her novels which tend to be somewhat tragic, I am tired of the focus on the plight of the middle- and upper-middle class female. Certainly, this is a demographic I relate to. I understand the neurotic, prone-to-depression, slightly-anxious woman just trying to make her way in an upper-middle class world that feels hostile and threatening at every turn. But where is the sensitivity to those who truly suffer, to those even in the United States who are disadvantaged and abused? While Merissa, Nadia, and even Tink face difficulties that are both uniquely their own and are sadly prevalent among teenage girls in our culture—neglect by parents and emotional and psychological distress—I would like some acknowledgement that ultimately their position of privilege allows them opportunity to overcome these difficulties that the truly disadvantaged in our culture may not have.

NOTE: This review originally posted in a longer form at the book review website Luxury Reading: http://luxuryreading.com and at my website http://drennanspitzer.com
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Sep 30, 2012 Love YA Lit rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alicia's review: "Their last year together. This year, without Tink."

It is only in the minds of our narrators, Merissa, the over-achieving golden girl, and Nadia, uncertain and innocent, that we get to know Tink Traumer, the mysterious girl who showed up one day at Quaker Heights High School and changed their lives forever. All of them. Merissa, Nadia, Chloe, Hannah and sometimes Anita Chang. But, now Tink is d**d.

Joyce Carol Oates writes the most chilling type of fiction, no matter what the sub...more Alicia's review: "Their last year together. This year, without Tink."

It is only in the minds of our narrators, Merissa, the over-achieving golden girl, and Nadia, uncertain and innocent, that we get to know Tink Traumer, the mysterious girl who showed up one day at Quaker Heights High School and changed their lives forever. All of them. Merissa, Nadia, Chloe, Hannah and sometimes Anita Chang. But, now Tink is d**d.

Joyce Carol Oates writes the most chilling type of fiction, no matter what the subject, because she immerses her stories in reality. Two or Three Things could easily serve as a textbook for adolescent girls with the magnitude of issues Oates covers. Suicide, cutting, anger, depression, divorce, bullying…Oates has always had a penchant for the gritty under the pretty. Yet, while dark and tragic, her stories are never without redemption or revolution, especially in the lives of girls. These girls are smart girls, wry and witty and conscious of, though not certain about, the way the world works.

“I heard from Tink today,” they whisper between classes, in secret text messages, or at the lunch table. Neither wants to talk too much about it for fear it is not real and speaking of it would only make Tink disappear more. And, they can hardly survive in a world without Tink. It’s Merissa and Nadia who are most deeply affected by the d***h of Tink Traumer. Merissa is undergoing a painful evolution in the wake of her parent’s impending divorce and Nadia has been bullied ever since making out with Colin. Slut, they call her as she walks down the hall, or in texts, or on the message boards. Tink was their fearless leader.

In her absence, Merissa is breaking and Nadia is drowning. Both are struggling with destructive obsessions and both are contemplating Tink’s choice, beginning to think it makes sense. Their minds are punctuated with memories of Tink and her d***h. Tink was a girl lost in her own life, who maybe they didn’t really know at all but who they loved. And who loved them. It’s Tink who’ll keep them safe. And, it must have been Tink Traumer who inspired Merissa’s (awesome!) awakening to rebellion by her rejection of Jane Austen and the lead role in the school play, Pride and Prejudice, because “I don’t respect the Jane Austen world. It’s just silly and depressing.”

Oates’ novels are always informed by a clear commitment to female relationships and I love how this novel celebrates the undeniable importance of girl friends. Writing like she is one of the girls, Oates is always on her character’s side and Two or Three Things is testament to love and sisterhood in which the girls rely on each other to figure out their healing.(less)

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Sep 14, 2012 Leanne Kinkopf rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads, teen-children-s, american, fiction, arc

The first half of the book alone would have gotten two stars. It's melodramatic and extremely sentimental, but Merissa's story was the more realistic. Her's is the typical straight A, perfect blond that everyone loves but who is secretly unhappy. Blah blah. Despite her being somewhat unlikeable, I was actually moved by her story.

Nadia is SO FAT. She's--gasp--119 pounds at her heaviest and 5'4"! I know the point is for the reader to realize she isn't fat and pity her, but everyone in the book com

...more

The first half of the book alone would have gotten two stars. It's melodramatic and extremely sentimental, but Merissa's story was the more realistic. Her's is the typical straight A, perfect blond that everyone loves but who is secretly unhappy. Blah blah. Despite her being somewhat unlikeable, I was actually moved by her story.

Nadia is SO FAT. She's--gasp--119 pounds at her heaviest and 5'4"! I know the point is for the reader to realize she isn't fat and pity her, but everyone in the book comments on how chubby she is, they're so used to private-school-in-New-Jersey girls, so it might give off the wrong impression, especially when the author comments on her chubby cheeks often. She also has an extremely unrealistic crush on her teacher that gets her into trouble later, and is labeled as a slut because she gave a guy a blowjob. Her whole storyline was just so incredibly unrealistic and melodramatic, though I suppose it might show younger girls reading (those who haven't been exposed to sexual issues) that slut shaming is hurtful and wrong.

These girls are connected and allegedly protected by their dead friend Tink, who is really a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She came to the private school full of preps as a sort of low key punk, shocking all the students. Tink had committed suicide, and visits her friends as a sort of half ghost. Sentimental much? Tink prevents the suicides of both friends. I prefer to think the friends thought of Tink and stopped themselves from killing themselves, but I don't think this is what the author intended. These girls go around talking aloud to dead Tink.

Overall, the book was exemplary of a teen novel, and just the reason I normally don't read them. It was insanely sentimental in trying to get its point across, unrealistic, melodramatic, and just packed with over exaggeration. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who isn't in love with teen lit set in high school. Also, my copy says "Ages: 14 and up." I think that's a bit too old for this book; I'd say it would suit a twelve year old better.

**I received an ARC copy of this book from the Goodreads First Reads program**

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Aug 09, 2012 Lisa Cook rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: beyond

I love Joyce Carol Oates, but I'm not a big fan of YA, so take that for what you will. This book was good, but it was definitely stuck in its genre. Oates is a master of narration, but this book was manic. This was ridiculously melodramatic and aimed at easily impressionable tween/teen girls. The book was very literary in its merit, but the plot was so overly wrought for its sentimentality and attempts to connect with its target audience.

The book is told from multiple perspectives in the afterm...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Jana Finlay rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

I was very lucky to have won this book from firstreads! It turned out to be a very good book. This is the first book I have read by this author. I am going to have to read more of her books. The book is about a group of teenager girls with some problems. I am so glad I am no longer a teenager. I am sure it is even harder now than it was was then to be a teenage girl. I am not even going to say how long its been. At first I was appalled that one of the girls thought she was fat at 119 pounds. She...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Branwen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have read a few of this author's works before, and I like her writing for the most part, so I was interested in seeing how a young adult book of hers would be. It was a lot different from what I expected. From the little blurb about it, it seemed to be about a girl who committed suicide and how she never really left? But really it's more focused on the remaining friends, how they are coping with her death and the individual problems they have. I liked this book, it felt very honest to me. The...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Deitre rated it 3 of 5 stars

Joyce Carol Oates in an author that I’ve seen frequently when I’ve browsed the shelves of a school library. She is a New York Selling Best author especially in the are of young adult literature. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the experience of reading one of her novels. This was a first. I read this book in a day, truly committed to the lives of Merissa, Tink and Nadia. The novel is arranged into three distinct parts. Each part featuring one girl. In this novel we are presented with aspects of tee...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Liana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-ya-contemporary-challenge, read-in-2013, read-on-kindle-2013

It's like 3.5 stars. It started off strong and then got weird. I feel like this was a book more about the way adults perceive teens then actually about teens. Like it was very issue of the week, let's put in some teen speak, this is what's going on the in the lives of these affluent white teens, isn't it scandalous? This is what I've heard. But presented in a YA book. Problem is that cutting, suicide and obsession with teachers have all been done before so by now it's old news and a bit cliche....more

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Feb 05, 2013 Nancy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Through the point of view of two girls, this story tells what happens to them after the death of a friend. Merissa, who is the first to tell her story, cuts herself because she doesn't believe she deserves good things in life, especially after her emotionally abusive dad moves out. Nadia, also victim of her dad's emotional distance, is the second girl to tell her story. She fixates on her science teacher, believes herself to be in love with him, and almost gets him fired. Both the girls and thei...more

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Dec 25, 2012 Rachael Woohoo rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, arcycling, arc, review-copy, 2012, book, reviewed, dec-2012

For more of my reviews, check out my blog @ Moosubi Reviews!

Rating Clarification: 1.5 / 5

At first glance, the blurb definitely gives a sense of mystery, especially one around Tink. It seemed to me that Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You would be a touching story, full of emotion. While the stories presented in the book, to an extent, touched me, I found that the writing did not appeal to my tastes...

The book is mainly divided into three parts, covering the stories of Merissa, Tink, and Nad...more For more of my reviews, check out my blog @ Moosubi Reviews!

Rating Clarification: 1.5 / 5

At first glance, the blurb definitely gives a sense of mystery, especially one around Tink. It seemed to me that Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You would be a touching story, full of emotion. While the stories presented in the book, to an extent, touched me, I found that the writing did not appeal to my tastes...

The book is mainly divided into three parts, covering the stories of Merissa, Tink, and Nadia. Honestly, I found it extremely hard to get through Merissa's part of the story - her voice just didn't click with me, and she seemed detached. You learn that she's naturally beautiful, skinny, and popular, but is under a lot of pressure and cuts. For one, her "reason" for cutting didn't make sense to me. I might have understood this wrong, but apparently she can't have an eating disorder since she's already pretty skinny, so cutting is... better?

Her voice also jumped around a lot, which made for a lot of confusion on my part. Reading Merissa's story at that point seemed taxing to me, considering her attitude. At one point, she calls Nadia "flabby", when she's only 119 pounds, which is probably one of the reasons Nadia eventually developed an eating disorder. Her mom, who clearly loved Merissa, was always being put down in Merissa's head. The way that she interacted with other guys in school just made her seem like an ice queen.

There's also not really an ending to Merissa's story... it just stops. I was hoping that there was some kind of ending which wrapped everything up, but we just moved on towards Tink's story. Then when we encounter Merissa again in Nadia's story, she seems well and is interested in another boy. The transition just seemed awkward, I suppose.

In Tink's story, you get to learn more details about what happened in the past, as well as what kind of person Tink was. This part was much less confusing for me, but I still felt like the narrator's voice was detached. However, after reading Tink's part of the story, however interesting it was, I felt like each parts of the story didn't really relate - they read more like three short stories in the same world, rather than one whole novel. Personally, that type of writing didn't appeal to me, but other readers might think differently.

Finally, in Nadia's story, you learn about a crush on a teacher she has, as well as her eating disorder. I felt like the half of her story where she talks about being called a "slut" and her eating disorder were interesting, realistic, and touching to an extent. However, how her eventual crush turned out was unrealistic - honestly, who would start a petition to get that teacher back, and would it really work? In my mind, it couldn't happen. At that point, Nadia also seemed so naive - her teacher obviously didn't like her back, and she was doing something that was unnecessary and stupid...

Overall, Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You was a disappointing read :/ The different voices of the characters, jumbled-ness of the writing, and realistic-ness of the book didn't appeal to me. I'm not too sure who to recommend it to - maybe fans of Oates' other YA novels?

*Thank you to ARCycling & Ashley Loves Books for gifting me this book*(less)

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Oct 21, 2012 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an amazing book. Perfect for Jr High aged students because it deals with bullying, suicide, cutting, and friendship. This book for the most part was an easy read and also easy to understand. This book is told in parts and shows the different impacts that each of these things can have on teens. There is some strong language in this book. One of the main characters in the book is actually a spirit, because she killed herself, so when you are reading you you have to understand that she isn...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: alcohol, bullies, community, death, cutting, depression, families, friendship, gifted, ncbla2013, school, self-esteem

After the death of their friend Tink, seniors Melissa and Nadia feel their own lives spiraling out of control, and both contemplate ending their lives. Tink's spirit, though, keeps both of them hanging on. While the author captures well the imperfection and fear that often lie beneath the surface of Melissa's outer perfection and the gossip and maliciousness that make life hard for Nadia, she fails to offer much that helps readers see how each girl manages to transcend the challenges in her life...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Victoria rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: coming-of-qge, current-society

This is an interesting and beautifully crafted story about individuality and friendship flowing against the pressures facing upper class American girls as they complete high school. It gets to me how small the world is for these girls, all about popularity, pleasing parents, looks, getting into top schools to please parents - and these things become life or death. The presence of the character Tink, who truly does face life or death issues, shifts the reality for two of the characters. I enjoyed...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lovely-ladies-writing

It makes me sad to only give this three stars. I really love Joyce Carol Oates, because she deals with some really dark aspects of relationships. I didn't find the cutting narrative particularly realistic, but I could believe Nadia's story. I am also not really sure about the choice to have the story told from the perspective of those two characters. The book didn't feel as cohesive as I would have liked. Regardless it was still pretty good. I am not disappointed that I spent New Year's Eve and...more

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May 19, 2013 Melody rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the beginning I was totally confused, what was going on!? I really did not like Merissa, she has problems. I don't get why she cuts herself? Sure, to punish herself, but she is so rude to her friends, like Nadia! She called Nadia fat when she's like 119 pounds, and that is not fat. I honestly don't know where the author was going with this book, my friend said this was a great book and to be honest I don't think so. Maybe that was the point...I'm disappointed. Hopefully if I ever reread this...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Sam Sattler rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

Joyce Carol Oates books generally focus on the vulnerability of women and what can happen to them when they least expect it, especially if they wander into situations or places they are physically or emotionally unprepared to handle. Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You, the author’s latest Young Adult novel (said to be appropriate for readers 14 and up), is a cautionary reminder that women first enter this danger zone as girls – when peer pressure and a desire to “fit in” make them especial...more
Joyce Carol Oates books generally focus on the vulnerability of women and what can happen to them when they least expect it, especially if they wander into situations or places they are physically or emotionally unprepared to handle. Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You, the author’s latest Young Adult novel (said to be appropriate for readers 14 and up), is a cautionary reminder that women first enter this danger zone as girls – when peer pressure and a desire to “fit in” make them especially easy targets.

The novel is divided into three interconnected sections. The first part focuses on Merissa, a Quaker Heights Day School senior who is on a roll. She is, in fact, doing so well that her friends have taken to calling her “The Perfect One.” Merissa seems to prove their point when, two weeks before Christmas, she learns that she is the only one of her classmates to have snagged an early admission to Brown University, one of the schools most prized by her peers and teachers.

The second section of the book is a flashback to the previous year when Tink, a former child actress, made her debut at Quaker Heights Day School. Tink has a mind of her own – and no friends until the day Merissa and her group ask Tink to join them at their lunch table. Soon, mostly because of her independence and seeming indifference to what others think of her, Tink earns the school’s respect and her friends have taken to calling themselves Tink, Inc. Then, as if to spite her soap opera actress mother, Tink kills herself.

Part three of Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You concerns Nadia, another member of Tink, Inc. Nadia, during one night of drunken partying seems to have done some things she is probably lucky not to be able to remember. Now, having been labeled a school slut for the remainder of her senior year, she is being cyber-bullied and harassed in the school hallways by friends of the boy she believed would keep their secret.

Tink may be gone, but her friends still call upon her for advice and claim to feel her presence when they most need her reassurance. Because of their “what would Tink do” approach to life, Tink still “speaks” to them and helps them through their worst days. Merissa, seeking relief from the intense pressure to excel, cuts herself and considers suicide. The level of social isolation and ridicule Nadia experiences is more than she can handle alone. But Tink still whispers to them.

Middle and High School girls will easily identify with the characters and situations of Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You. If they have not lived through similar situations, they almost certainly know of someone who has. The novel, perhaps because of the age of its target audience, does has a more optimistic ending than most Joyce Carol Oates novels. The relative ease with which the girls seem to pull their lives back together might seem unrealistic to adult readers – but Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You was not written for us. Its message of caution, hope and optimism is one that young women need to hear.(less)

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May 13, 2013 Megan (The Book Babe) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-on-my-site

Due to copy and paste, formatting has been lost.

Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You was one of the most frustratingly good books that I have read in a long time. It was frustrating because the language was weird-- a mish mash of italics, parentheses, and run-on sentences. It was good because I felt like I could relate to Nadia and Merissa, and maybe even Tink in my own way.

They are three very different girls with very different problems, but they all relate to each other, and they all knew...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Andrea at Reading Lark rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 3-stars, contemporary, arc, read-in-2012, young-adult

Review Posted on Reading Lark 8/26/12: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2012/...

I really appreciate the authors who step up and shine lights on some of the not so pretty aspects of being a teen. I applaud them for having the ability to show teens that they are not alone in their struggle. There is someone out there - even if it's just a fictional someone - that understands their pain. These novels are critical and contain lessons that teens need, but they are often heartbreaking and difficult to...more Review Posted on Reading Lark 8/26/12: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2012/...

I really appreciate the authors who step up and shine lights on some of the not so pretty aspects of being a teen. I applaud them for having the ability to show teens that they are not alone in their struggle. There is someone out there - even if it's just a fictional someone - that understands their pain. These novels are critical and contain lessons that teens need, but they are often heartbreaking and difficult to read. This was certainly the case with this novel. I felt like every time I opened the book a new dollop of depression would be heaped upon me, adding itself to the layers of tragedy and melancholy I had already digested in previous pages.

My heart broke for each and every character in this book. They are tackling issues such as suicide, depression, body image issues, eating disorders, self mutilation, dealing with divorce, sexting, and cyberbullying. It almost felt as if Joyce Carol Oates looked at a high school and decided to show every difficult issue that the students might encounter. There was so much going on in this book that I felt overwhelmed. Also, due to the serious nature of the plot, I didn't run home to read. This isn't one of those novels that you're excited to spend time with each day - it felt more like a necessary chore. As a teacher, I feel it's critical for me to understand these issues so I can recognize the signs should any of my students suffer from the same afflictions, but that doesn't always make it easy to read and digest. This isn't a shiny happy book although in the end I did get a sense of hopefulness. The main strength of this one is how it grabs you and refuses to let you look away without evaluating your daily interactions. How many students do I come in to contact with who seem perfectly put together on the surface, but are crumbling at frantic speeds inside?

One of my biggest complaints is the writing style. It's very sparse and the narrative tends to jump around a bit. This is not my favorite style of writing, but I am always open to pushing myself to try new writers and genres. I did eventually settle into the writing and was able to piece together how Tink, Merissa, and Nadia are connected, but it did take some effort on my part. I didn't feel truly connected to any of the girls - I was more of an outside observer. There were times were I felt almost guilty for being a witness to some scenes.

This is a novel that holds valuable lessons, but be sure to be in the right frame of mind for it. This is not a book I would recommend after a rough day or when you're not feeling particularly chipper. I do appreciate that this felt more "literary" than the typical YA novel. Seeing such a different style of writing can help readers hone their skills in tackling complex narratives.

One Last Gripe: I could never quite figure out who the narrator was in Part II which annoyed me

My Favorite Thing About This Book: I liked seeing Merissa evolve from being broken to standing up for a friend and becoming an encouragement to someone else who was hurting

First Sentence: "Merissa! Congratulations!"

Favorite Character: I didn't have one

Least Favorite Character: Merissa's Dad(less)

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Sep 12, 2012 Once Upon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Joyce Carol Oates in an author that I’ve seen frequently when I’ve browsed the shelves of a school library. She is a New York Selling Best author especially in the are of young adult literature. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the experience of reading one of her novels. This was a first. I read this book in a day, truly committed to the lives of Merissa, Tink and Nadia. The novel is arranged into three distinct parts. Each part featuring one girl. In this novel we are presented with aspects of tee...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Hannah rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own-finished-copy, 2012

I really hate my terrible memory. I thought Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You sounded like something I'd like, but the name Joyce Carol Oates sounded familiar, and I didn't know why. If I'd thought about it more, instead of going with the "Ooh. Want. Buy." instinct, I would have remembered that I'd read Big Mouth & Ugly Girl by this author and that I didn't like it. I probably wouldn't have read Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You knowing that, and that would have been a good thi...more I really hate my terrible memory. I thought Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You sounded like something I'd like, but the name Joyce Carol Oates sounded familiar, and I didn't know why. If I'd thought about it more, instead of going with the "Ooh. Want. Buy." instinct, I would have remembered that I'd read Big Mouth & Ugly Girl by this author and that I didn't like it. I probably wouldn't have read Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You knowing that, and that would have been a good thing, because I had more of the same issues with Two or Three Things that I'd had with Big Mough & Ugly Girl.

Joyce Carol Oates's style just doesn't work for me. Somehow, I found the writing both immature and confusing. The sentences feel overdramatic and just really, really weird. I can't even explain it, so I'll give an example - this is how the book starts (page 3):
"Merissa! Congratulations!"
Hannah's excitement was genuine. Hannah's happiness for Merissa was genuine. Merissa could see.
Merissa had been afraid - just a little, putting herself in Hannah's place - (for Hannah Heller's grades were inevitably just slightly lower than Merissa Charmichael's, not to mention the fact that Merissa was associate yearbook editor, Drama Club president, and cocaptain of the girls' intramural field hockey team as well; and Hannah had applied to virtually all the same colleges and Merissa) - that Hannah would be hurt, and envious, and even resentful, for it is not nearly so easy to be happy for your closest friend's good news as it is to (secretly) rejoice in your closest friend's bad news.

I don't usually like using quotes in reviews, but that shows it better than I could explain. The writing is like that the entire time. If you don't have a problem with that style, it might be a good read for you, but for me, the writing was just frustrating.

Asides from the writing, the story and the characters didn't work for me, either. To be honest, I didn't really see the point of it all. I hate saying that, because I'm not someone who thinks that literature always has to have a "point," that it always has to teach you something. But I just mean that for me personally, I didn't see the point, because the story didn't really go anywhere. It sort of circled around Tink's suicide, but not really. Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You is about three of Tink's friends, after Tink's suicide. It's split into three parts, with each of the girls telling their story individually, and none of the three really worked for me.

I never felt like I really got to know any of the characters, and that's a big part of why I didn't end up liking this book. They each have their problems, and there's some pretty messed-up stuff going on, but I don't feel like we got to go deep enough to explore those issues in any meaningful way. The way it is, they're just kind of... there. I don't feel like any of the characters are fully developed, and there was none of the character growth or resolving of issues that I'd hoped for.

I also struggled with seeing how these three stories tied in with each other; other than Tink, I didn't see a connection. And everything about Tink is just sort of weird. Tink, like, visits them in their dreams, or her ghost visits them, and she gives the girls advice. I didn't get what all of that was about, and since it's never addressed what's really going on with Tink, it felt kind of pointless to me.

Somehow, I just felt removed from the story throughout. I've been having a hard time getting into books lately, so it might have to do with my reading slump, but I think it was at least partly the book's fault. The weird writing style, the lack of character development, and the plot that didn't go anywhere made it really hard for me to enjoy this book. I guess Joyce Carol Oates just isn't for me.

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Nov 30, 2012 Gillian Dawson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-starred-ya, read-in-2012

2.5 stars. To me this was two books, wither of which would have gotten at least 3 stars from me, smushed together. I can see what Oates was trying to do, but I wish she had a) dropped the Nadia section and kept it through Merissa and Tink's POVs, or b) cut back on the Merissa stuff and added in another additional friend's story. There were all these girls in the first part and the switch to Nadia was really sudden, I kept expecting it to switch to another of Tink Inc. and flesh out more of them.

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Oct 27, 2012 Sophie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm sorry to say that I couldn't finish this book. I guess I got my hopes up to high and just got terribly disappointed along the way.
I started this book with high hopes on a realistic, emotional story about a girl who has to make her way through high school after her best friend killed herself.
But it wasn't, I felt like it were just random sentences packed up together to a 'story'. The main character pissed me off big time most of the time, by talking bad about everybody and saying shit about e...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Lisa Dess rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I won this book from Epic Reads and very happy I did. This is not a book I would have bought myself as it is not a genre that I typically read and if I wouldn't have won it I would have missed out reading this fabulous book. I really enjoyed reading about real life struggles and although I'm far from a young adult it brought me back in time remembering the challenges of being a teenager. Loved it!

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Sep 16, 2012 Louisa Reid rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm hugely enjoying this - Joyce Carol Oates is one of my literary idols. I love the way she shifts time frames so masterfully, the narrative perfectly captures teenage the outlook, a highly overwrought one albeit. I'm only in the Marissa section so can't comment very far as yet.
I suppose if you don't already know Oates' work you might find this a shock and difficult to read. But I love it. Her style is what makes it.

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Mar 07, 2013 Vianna Tedder rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am a huge fan of Oates and it’s clear from the start that this is not her typical novel. YA is a new genre for her. The story is told from multiple narrators, which are all high females, even when the pov switches to 3rd person it is limited to the high school perspective. She is true to her story.The whole Nadia section gets repetitious and it seems like Tink gets a little lost, but other than that it’s a good read.

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