Title: What's Broken Between Us
Author: Alexis Bass
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication: December 29th 2015
Cover Rating: 5/5
What's Broken Between Us is a sad book, for many reasons. It's about death. coping, loss, love, hate and so many other screwed up things. I really liked the book but after having time to sit down and actually think about all the chaos that actually went on... I am not sure how I'm feeling towards the book. But if you don't want to read my review and you just want a simple yes or no answer as to whether you should even read this book, my answer would be yes, if you like chaos.
After sitting here for a while, I am not sure how I feel about Amanda OR Henry. Amanda is a hypocrite, but so is Henry. They are both preaching to their older siblings about what the did wrong... But they aren't exactly the best people to be teaching right from wrong. And Henry has an anger problem. I admit, he has a right to be upset about what happened to his sister. But the way he reacts around Jonathan are ridiculous. Maybe if Jonathan or Sutton told Henry what really caused the accident he would calm down.
Jonathan is an asshole. Yes, Amanda still loves him and keeps looking for redeeming qualities in him but there aren't any. Yes, after he admitted what truly happened with the accident I did kind of feel sorry for him and light was shone on the fact that maybe the accident wasn't entirely his fault. But he is still an asshole. He was given a wonderful chance to start over, even after killing his best friend in that accident, but he pissed it away with whiskey and some whore at Starbucks. Maybe his grief was just too bad and he couldn't figure out how to function in the normal world after what had happened. Who knows.
AND THEN you have Amanda and Jonathan's parents. I do admit their dad tried. But it was a little too late. But their mother... Talk about a basket case. Her son when to jail and she completely vanished from Amanda's life. She hid in her room and went to the spa with her friend. That was it. So Amanda had two absentee parent's. Her dad did admit to not wanting to raise them like his parents raised him but sometimes being your child's friend instead of their parent is the worst thing you can do for them.
Alcohol... This book is about alcohol. I don't think I have ever read about drinking so much in any other YA book. Even a book about an alcoholic teenager... And it is so ironic, even after watching what alcohol did to their classmates and siblings, everyone is still drinking like fish. Everyone still hates Jonathan, Amanda's brother, yet they are still partaking in the EXACT behavior that got him to where he is now. Everyone in this damn book are hypocrites.
One thing that always gets me with books like this is WHY are the siblings held accountable for what their older sister or brother did? I don't understand that. Like with academic records, athletics, and then horrible things like drunk driving or school shootings. Why are the siblings frowned upon? They didn't do it. And it's not like shooting up a school is genetic...
Plus, something along the lines of the previous paragraph... Why did Henry and Amanda choose to ignore each other for sixteen months after the accident? If anything that should have brought them closer together. Maybe then Amanda could have mourned. Since she was weird and didn't allow herself to do that. UGH. So many things were wrong with this book and the characters. I don't know if this book was meant to make the readers mad but it has made me mad. Yet, I still enjoyed it. What does that say about me?
This book also contains cheating. I have now read two books in a row that have cheating teenagers. I don't approve of this being in YA books. And the fact that the author is kind of making cheating into a positive thing is disgusting. It's almost like she is saying "as long as you are cheating for love then it's okay." But it isn't okay and this is teaching younger generations that cheating is normal and perfectly fine. This world has enough problems without THIS being shoved in kids faces.
The ending was sad. But if Amanda hadn't of done what she did he brother would still be getting drunk and not facing his responsibilities. I just hope the second time around he has learned not to take second chances for granted.
Overall, I gave the book 4/5 stars.
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