Review: History Is All You Left Me
HAPPY PUB DAY TO ADAM SILVERA AND THIS WONDERFUL BOOK!
The things I love most about Adam Silvera’s books are how
inclusive, diverse, and multi-dimensional they are. This is what originally made me fall in love
with his debut. I was sad to see a less racially diverse cast this time around,
but the overall story was just as moving and also the rep in other areas.
Anyway, I’m going to be all over the place with this review
of his incredibly human, spectacularly complex sophomore novel because my
thoughts are all over the place and my keyboard is soaked in my tears.
“I mean it: Promise me.”
“I promise you: I’ll never die.”
Yes, I was a mess for
about 75 percent of the book.
So…In HISTORY IS ALL
YOU LEFT ME, we are introduced to Griffin as he grieves the loss of his
ex-boyfriend, Theo, who died in a very tragic accident. (Not giving away
spoilers, hopefully). As Griffin is also learning to navigate in a “Theo-less”
world, he’s also struggling with his OCD, daily anxiety, and family issues, among
other things. All in all, it’s a powerful literary juggernaut that
questions/challenges the meaning of love, friendship, loyalty, and even the
sustainability of happiness, which is a universal human theme I think many
different audiences can relate to. Readers are taken on a journey through
Griffins life (past and present), where he experiences some very high highs and
some very low lows.
[Side note: The OCD
elements read and feel very real and very honest, as the author himself also
deals with it in real life. I also struggle with an anxiety disorder and could
relate so easily to the protagonist and his panic attacks.]
I was glad to see how Adam Silvera wrote Griffin’s anxiety
disorder and OCD. I always tell authors and aspiring authors about the whole
“diversity as a plot device” trope, where writers make a character’s
marginalization/disability/etc a major part of the plot and don’t really fully
flesh it out to the point where it reads as necessary. I’ve read a lot of YA in
the past six months with characters with anxiety disorders that don’t feel
authentic, that are just used as a plot device and readers never really see it
flesh out fully. It was quite refreshing to read such an honest book like
HIAYLM where Griffin’s OCD was fully fleshed out—ya know? like A REAL FUCKING
HUMAN BEING. (This is me yelling at other authors). Though, I would have liked to see a POC MC dealing with OCD as well.
My biggest/only critique: At the beginning, I didn’t enjoy the black friend as the side character to the two white friends.
It was very much like “minority as plot device,” where Wade is there to bridge
the gap and help the other two friends, who are white at reaching a goal and
coping with life events. Wade, often times, is there (most often at the
beginning) to help the protagonist work through his feelings, to piece together
parts of his life.
This leads me to…
At the beginning, I also had this feeling that this story was
going to have the “love triangle” trope, but Adam Silvera cleverly spun this
trope into beautiful and fruitful relationships/friendships that I did not
expect by the end. With the characters, there were constant twists and reveals,
(which shows excellent character development. This is something I sometimes see lacking in a
lot of YA books these days. I was glad to see the twist of this particular trope). But, again, I just wanted more dismantling of the magical negro character.
Also: I didn’t know how I was going to like the non-linear format,
because normally I don’t get along with weird, non-linear arcs (mostly because
I’m stubborn and old-fasioned), but this was done phenomenally well.
HIAYLM is a mural of raw human emotion: pain,
grief, love, and happiness that teaches that there are endurable moments after
intense loss. I am looking
forward to Silvera’s next book.
Special thanks to Soho Press for the ARC and allowing me to read for an
honest review.
