Our Chemical Hearts was a touching insight into first love and love lost. We are introduced to Grace who walks with a cane, wears oversized men’s clothing and doesn’t take much care with her appearance. Soon you learn she hasn’t always been that way and it takes almost half the book to find out why. I felt it was pretty clear what had happened and Henry’s lack of insight and complete naivety about it slightly frustrated me. However, it probably is realistic and he is a seventeen year old boy who’s falling in love for the first time. His perception is probably a bit impaired.
The side characters in this book were pretty loveable. First and foremost, our protagonist has great banter with them all. However, Henry’s Australian best friend; Murry, did seem ever so slightly over stereotyped. It is admitted that he is doing some of it on purpose, but he just carries on and plays on it, even trying to look like Crocodile Dundee! Henry’s other best friend Lola, is a lesbian and strong feminist, she often calls Henry out for saying the wrong thing or tells him to be careful in his developing relationship.
Henry also has a very understanding and open relationship with his parents and sister which was really touching to see. In a lot of YA books you often see teens who resent their parents for watching out for them, despite that not always being the case in real life. It was refreshing to see a different perspective.
The ending was also really necessary, and without spoiling anything, I’m glad not everything was completely wrapped up with a nice little bow on it. I ended up feeling so much for Grace as we learnt more and more about her and I think her story had a very realistic conclusion. This was such a sad read, but it was an important narrative that needed to be told that packed a punch despite being quite short.
The side characters in this book were pretty loveable. First and foremost, our protagonist has great banter with them all. However, Henry’s Australian best friend; Murry, did seem ever so slightly over stereotyped. It is admitted that he is doing some of it on purpose, but he just carries on and plays on it, even trying to look like Crocodile Dundee! Henry’s other best friend Lola, is a lesbian and strong feminist, she often calls Henry out for saying the wrong thing or tells him to be careful in his developing relationship.
Henry also has a very understanding and open relationship with his parents and sister which was really touching to see. In a lot of YA books you often see teens who resent their parents for watching out for them, despite that not always being the case in real life. It was refreshing to see a different perspective.
The ending was also really necessary, and without spoiling anything, I’m glad not everything was completely wrapped up with a nice little bow on it. I ended up feeling so much for Grace as we learnt more and more about her and I think her story had a very realistic conclusion. This was such a sad read, but it was an important narrative that needed to be told that packed a punch despite being quite short.