Review: Every Word You Never Said by Jordon Greene
HEARTSTOPPER meets FOOTLOOSE in this cute young adult romance about first love, embracing what makes you different, and standing up for what you believe.
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Skylar Gray is adopted, nonverbal, and he feels most comfortable wearing skirts. Life has never been easy, but with a fresh start at a brand-new school, with new parents and in a new state, he just might finally make some friends. But it′s hard for Skylar to trust anyone when people have always been quick to ditch him at the first inconvenience; they always seem more than ready to judge him as defective. And the bullies love to confirm it. Skylar has only ever had himself, so why would anything be different this time?
Jacob doesn′t give a damn, especially not since he came out over the summer. He expected the hate he got from his father, who mostly acts as if it never happened, but he refuses to let it hold him back. It doesn′t matter, Jacob′s over it. He's going to paint his nails, dye his hair, and strike a heavy rift on his guitar if he wants to, even if it means being grounded most of senior year. But when the cute nonverbal transfer student, Skylar, wears a skirt to school, prompting a sexist new dress code proposal, Jacob decides it′s time to take a stand, no matter the risk to himself.
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Tl;dr - The most adorable characters, a beautiful and important story, a sweet first love romance. Slow pacing, some unnecessary drama. Writing feels closer to MG than YA. But the plusses outweigh the minuses. I loved Skylar, Jacob, Skylar's parents, and their friend groups. Wonderful messages! Definitely worth reading!
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The characters in this book are really sweet, interesting people and I enjoyed getting to know them. Skylar is non-verbal due to a childhood illness, gay, likes to wear skirts, grew up in foster care and is now getting to know his new adoptive parents. He has experienced a lifetime of bullying and disappointment and doesn't trust people easily. Despite this, he is a sweet, kind soul. His classmate Jacob is also gay and has been having a hard time with the lack of support at home since he came out to his conservative Christian parents. His dad is particularly homophobic. Through these two characters' experiences, the book tackles several important issues and themes. And I think it does it very well. Plus it's a really lovely story of first love.
I like that the young characters actually come across realistically as teenagers. Skylar and Jacob both narrate in first person and they think and act very much like the 15 and 16 year-olds they are. Between that and the issues they face, I think this book is an excellent choice for teens. I think it's a great way for kids to better understand what it's like in the shoes of someone like Skylar or Jacob, as well as for the teens who ARE Skylar or Jacob so they can feel seen. I honestly think this book should be in school libraries.
It's incredibly sad that this book is even remotely reflective of any child's experience but unfortunately it very much is. The political and religious elements of the story aren't easy or pleasant but they are a part of a lot of kids' lives and this book uses them to go to some very relevant and relatable places. The book makes excellent points regarding the toxicity (and actual harm caused by) evangelical Christianity and conservatism - and makes a great case for a widespread need for empathy.
I appreciated how Green wrote Skylar and Jacob to be so brave and strong. We see their vulnerabilities, their anxiety, and the relentless unfair treatment they get, and even though it may get them down, it doesn't knock them out. I felt so proud of them! I love that such resiliency and perseverance was woven into their characters. It's important for kids experiencing bullying and marginalization to have role models that show you how to be brave and believe in oneself.
Overall, I thought this was interesting, age appropriate, had lovable and relatable characters, and told a very necessary story in a beautiful way. (The ending was great!) Structurally, I felt it was a bit disjointed, with the chapters often ending abruptly in what felt like the beginning or middle of a scene. The pacing was a little slow for me. And the third act break-up felt entirely unnecessary considering how much conflict and drama they both had to deal with outside their relationship. I would like to have seen the book leave the focus on the dress code/political machinations and religious messaging as the source of the conflict rather than having conflict crop up between Skylar and Jacob. I didn't fully buy Skylar's sudden insecurity which lead to his confrontation with Jacob. It works in theory (Skylar has trust issues from the abandonment and bullying he's faced his whole life) but seemed so out of left field the way it was presented in the story. So I get why it happened, it just didn't work for me. but perhaps I'm expecting adult-level maturity from characters who are too young to have it. All in all, the beautiful story and amazing characters went a long way to making up for any deficits the book may have.
I think a person of any age could get a lot out of this book but it will be particularly meaningful to a young person. I enjoyed it very much. I agree wholeheartedly with the messaging and completely fell in love with Skylar and Jacob. Definitely recommend this one.
3.75 stars out of 5
A side note: the illustrations that accompany each chapter are absolutely adorable. The book is a dual-perspective, switching between Skylar and Jacob, and a little illustration of the character whose POV we'll be reading sits next to the chapter header. I loved that. Also, Skylar uses his phone's text-to-voice capability to speak for him and he chose to have Siri speak in a British accent. If that's not the cutest thing I've ever seen, I don't know what is. even though the book dealt with so much serious subject matter, Jordon Greene consistently added in little things that brought joy to the reading.
More things to note:
The book is sex positive but closed door.
Please see trigger warnings below.
Trigger Warnings: Homophobia & Homophobic Slurs, Bullying, Sexism, Ableism, Religious Trauma
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