Why A Tragic Kind Of Wonderful Tragically Let Me Down | Book Review

by - Wednesday, February 22, 2017

A Tragic Kind Of Wonderful Book Review | sprinkledpages


Book review time!

Today I am going to be sharing with you guys my thoughts on A Tragic Kind Of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom, who is also the author of Not If I See You First!

I was really drawn to this book after reading his debut late last year which I really enjoyed and I had heard fairly positive things about ATKOW from those who had received early ARCs.

About the book. 

Book: A Tragic Kind Of Wonderful
Author: Eric Lindstrom
Pages: 288
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published in: January 2017
Synopsis: For sixteen-year-old Mel Hannigan, bipolar disorder makes life unpredictable. Her latest struggle is balancing her growing feelings in a new relationship with her instinct to keep everyone at arm’s length. And when a former friend confronts Mel with the truth about the way their relationship ended, deeply buried secrets threaten to come out and upend her shaky equilibrium.

As the walls of Mel’s compartmentalized world crumble, she fears the worst—that her friends will abandon her if they learn the truth about what she’s been hiding. Can Mel bring herself to risk everything to find out? (source)
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Recommended for: Anyone 14+.

Thank you to Harper Collins Australia who provided me with a review copy however all thoughts and opinions are my own and this is an honest review.

My thoughts.

{ WRITING }

Sadly, nothing about the writing stood out for me. It was pretty bland and basic and nothing about it stood out to me. Unlike Not If I See You First, there wasn’t much sass or humour incorporated in the prose and that was so disappointing for me because I was really looking forward to that aspect of the book going in.

A Tragic Kind Of Wonderful Book Review | sprinkledpages

{ IDEA + PLOT }

Unfortunately, I can’t say the idea was pretty interesting either. This book features a main character with bipolar disorder and while I loved that aspect of the book, the execution was, in my opinion, poor.

(Disclaimer: I am not going to be talking about the mental health rep itself as I do not have bipolar disorder myself and do not know anyone that does so I am not suited to comment on that aspect).

I wasn’t able to understand where Mel was coming from and I wasn’t able to learn anything about bipolar disorder, not even the basics as to what it was. (I did know what it was before going into this but if someone didn’t, they would be pretty confused!)

There was nothing about this book that stood out for me as it didn’t have that personal element or spark that Not If I See You First had. While I was interested and engaged in the book, looking back on it as I write this review, there was nothing too memorable about it.

Coupled with that, this book barely had a plot. Not much happened in this 300+ page book. There wasn’t much character development either as you don’t see the character grow or change from the person she was at the beginning.

I will say, however, I did like the exploration of friendship in the book, even if it was quite shallow and not that well explained.

A Tragic Kind Of Wonderful Book Review | sprinkledpages

{ CHARACTERS }

I bet you’re thinking that this is where the review becomes positive…but sadly, not.

I found it so hard to connect with and love the characters. There was such an air of ‘meh-ness’ around everything, including the main and side characters. It was so difficult to get on the same level with these characters and I personally, felt so detached.

There was no link or connection that bonded character and reader which was so disappointing for me, especially since I loved Parker from Not If I See You First because she was such a snarky, unapologetic person whose personality just bounced off the pages.

I wasn’t a big fan of the romance either. It was quite forced and almost thrown in there for good measure and there was zero chemistry between the two.

A Tragic Kind Of Wonderful Book Review | sprinkledpages

{ FINALLY… }

While I didn’t hate this book, I didn’t love it either. It was quite bland and dull and I don’t even have a lot to say about it, which you can probably tell seeing how short this review is compared to my other ones.

I know there are some other people that absolutely loved this book and I am sad to realise it wasn’t me but what can you do??

OVERALL RATING:

½

Have you read this book? What did you think? And if not, are you planning on it? What are some other books you have wanted to love but ultimately found them to be pretty ‘meh’?

You May Also Like

20 happy thoughts

  1. Sorry you didn't enjoy this. I've had it on my TBR for a while. It caught my eye because the main character had bi-polar and I was interested in learning more about it but if it's not represented then I might not bother! Great review though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for reading and commenting Kirsty!

      Delete
  2. Sorry you didn't enjoy this. But your review is very well thought out and definitely helps to decide if you want to read it. You still gave it 3 and a half stars, so I can definitely see maybe some other people might have enjoyed it more. Great review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Lisa! AND AWWW I REALLY APPRECIATE THOSE KIND THOUGHTS AFTER THE HELLISH DAY I'VE HAD! <3

      Delete
  3. I got this book back in May at BEA, but I hadn't read it yet. I have heard such good things about his other work. I was sort of excited. Sorry it was less than you expected.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aha what can you do, right? Thanks anyway for reading and commenting Sam!

      Delete
  4. Oh no, I'm sorry to see you didn't care for this one! I read both this and Not if I See You First, and funny enough, I had a lot of the same thoughts for the first book that you had for this one, while I loved this one. I'm sorry to hear it wasn't your thing, but you did an awesome job with your review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING AND COMMENTING KELLY! and hahaha that's so funny/weird! But I guess that is what makes book blogging so interesting bc we all have such different opinions!

      Delete
  5. I haven't seen any other reviews for this one around Anisha and wasn't aware it had a character living with bipolar. I think sometimes books don't really need that big AH HA type of moment but they certainly need direction. It sounds like it might be one of those books that could be a hit or miss for a lot of readers and I'm wondering which side of the spectrum I'll be on. Wonderful review nonetheless and hopefully you enjoy your next read much more <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KELLY YOU ALWAYS LEAVE SUCH THOUGHTFUL COMMENTS YOU ARE THE SWEETEST! <3333

      Delete
  6. oh hey but 3 1/2 stars isnt entirely bad right? I feel like a fish out of water for books like these right? Everyone loves it and you end up just kind of meh.. I'v been there. Sorry it was bland.
    I don't know how to feel about mental issues these days. I kind of appreciate books that address it, but at the same time I get it if they feel overplayed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OMG LILY THAT IS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL! I feel quite guilty about not liking it esp since it was a diverse read and by a really well known and well loved author but the lack of connection just made it fall flat for me sadly!

      Delete
  7. Sorry to hear that you didn't love this one, Anisha! It is/was on my TBR but for some reason I just don't feel super drawn to it. The lack of a plot would've bothered me too - thanks for your honest review. <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for reading and commenting Reg! I adore your blog!

      Delete
  8. Aah, I'm so sad you didn't love A Tragic Kind of Wonderful! I absolutely loved it! I felt I did connect with Mel, and felt I learnt more about bipolar than I did previously - especially around the medication debate, that it works for some but not for others. And I loved the msytery surrounding the end of her friendship. There was a lot going on in her life, which I felt was realistic, as we never just have one thing going on, do we? There's always a number of things. So she had her blossoming romance, the problems with her ex-friends, and battling with her bipolar, plus continuing to grieve for her brother. I really loved that she had so much going on, and had so much to think about. It's such a shame you didn't enjoy it :( Great review, though! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I totally agree with the mystery parts as they were so intriguing! And aww after your comment I feel like it was enjoyable but due to the lack of connection I just couldn't get into it! But so good to hear you enjoyed it Jo and I love your detailed comment so thank you for taking the time to leave that here!

      Delete
  9. Oh man, I'm definitely going to skip this book, so thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'm sorry you didn't love this book as much as the author's first one--that's always upsetting. I'm kind of surprised that you rated it 3.5 stars though, because for me, that's a pretty good book XD

    Brittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I found it wasn't a bad book but I just didn't really connect with it but because it focused on such an important issue, I didn't want to give it any lower because I still wanted to encourage people to do it!

      Delete
  10. Ahh probably going to skip this one. Sorry it didn't work out for you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aha idk you might enjoy this but sadly I didn't!

      Delete

Leave me a comment below! And feel free to leave your website URL so I can come visit!