Name: Holding up the universe
Rating: 3.685714285714285 (490 reviews)
ISBN: 9780385755924

Jennifer Niven

Everyone knows Libby Strout. She s the girl who was so heavy she had to be lifted out of her house by a crane. After being homeschooled for years, she s ready to rejoin the human race, aka the junior class of MVB High. She s free, she s strong, and she s going to get through this or so she lies to herself. (Okay, fine, she s terrified out of her skull.).

Holding up the universe

Nikita

Aubrey Hennig

Nova <3

And then she smiles this beautiful, encouraging smile, like Maria in 

and i float out of there like I'm full of helium. 

It’s okay to be a person. We’re all afraid. We all get hurt. It’s okay to hurt. You’d be so much more likeable if you just acted human.

chloe rae

This book is extraordinary. I am so thankful this book exists.
This novel follows Libby, someone who I'm very sure I'd be very good friends with. She's feisty, smart, kind, and most of all: fat. She was previously the 'World's Fattest Teen' and this story picks up after she's already lost some weight and is regaining her confidence and ultimately, her life back. Now, there's something you might not know about me and that is this: I am a fat girl. That is a part of who I am and I refuse to think there's anything negative/wrong/bad about that. And this book does an AMAZING job at further enforcing that fact. The author deals with the subject of weight and fat-ness in such an incredibly honest, real way. Libby deals with confidence issues and self-love like we all do, showing that sometimes its easier and then sometimes, its unbearably hard. She starts this path of truly believing in herself and knowing that she has worth even when the world is constantly trying to tell her she doesn't. She is a strong force of nature and I LOVED that. She wasn't the victim. She struggled but she always got back up again.
This book is important. I related to this book in ways I haven't been able to with YA before. But that doesn't even matter; this book is just good. Simple as that. Besides really finding herself, Libby deals with loss and family and friendship and, of course, love.
The love interest, Jack, is kind of wonderful. He's dealing with his own problems (one of those being a flipping brain disorder) but he was also extraordinary in his own way. Though I found myself relating to Libby, I never once had more love for her than Jack. I loved both of their characters equally, which I think can be hard to accomplish when you have two POV's in a story. He was just as interesting and flawed as Libby, which is why I had such fun following both of their stories.
I'm just really happy this book found it's way into my life.
Read it.

lexie

it’s hard to read this when you’re in their age. a lot of YAs focuses on traumas or mental illness.

Melissa Palmer

Book #82 Read in 2016
Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

Jack is a popular high school student who has a secret--he suffers from a disorder of face blindness--he cannot recognize faces of anyone, including his family. Libby was once so overweight that her house had to be cut into for her to be able to leave it for medical care. The unlikely duo work their way to couplehood, hitting quite a few bumps in the way. Told in alternating chapters of Jack and Libby, this book is raw with emotion and real. These two characters are ones that readers will care about and root for to get a happy ending. High school students will love this book. I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for a honest review.

lavaaaa

It wasn't bad, in fact it was quite a good piece of literature. But I didn't feel any love towords this book, but that doesn't mean it was terrible, it just meant I didn't feel that love for it like I do for others. I understood the whole point of the book and rarely found myself confused, which means it is an easy to understand book and I find that comforting. But my style for books, particularly of sensitive topics, is beautiful, eleqoquent and emotive. I'm not saying it was written boringly in anyway, but rather, I just compared it far too much to others, which brought my rating down. I would still recommend you read this book though, it allowed me a whole different perspective on certain situations. I do find that is is inevitable for us to have judgey thoughts, and this book proved to me just how harmful they are. 

A very high 3.5/5 star rating for that matter. Do not be devieved by my review which has been altered slightly due to my experience with other books.

surtified™

It wasn't bad, in fact it was quite a good piece of literature. But I didn't feel any love towords this book, but that doesn't mean it was terrible, it just meant I didn't feel that love for it like I do for others. I understood the whole point of the book and rarely found myself confused, which means it is an easy to understand book and I find that comforting. But my style for books, particularly of sensitive topics, is beautiful, eleqoquent and emotive. I'm not saying it was written boringly in anyway, but rather, I just compared it far too much to others, which brought my rating down. I would still recommend you read this book though, it allowed me a whole different perspective on certain situations. I do find that is is inevitable for us to have judgey thoughts, and this book proved to me just how harmful they are. 

A very high 3.5/5 star rating for that matter. Do not be devieved by my review which has been altered slightly due to my experience with other books.

Holding Up the Universe

I loved the characters (Libby & Jack), and I loved their individual stories, but the book felt long-winded and didn’t really go anywhere until towards the end.

I love the idea of Libby and Jack together, but can’t help but feel like they barely even spent much time with each other???

I liked the book, but I wasn’t crazy about it!  

It was ok…

I loved the characters (Libby & Jack), and I loved their individual stories, but the book felt long-winded and didn’t really go anywhere until towards the end.

I love the idea of Libby and Jack together, but can’t help but feel like they barely even spent much time with each other???

I liked the book, but I wasn’t crazy about it!  

AL :)

i liked it but the plot was super predictable so i was a bit disappointed there

Ivy X

I didn't like this as much as All the Bright Places. It could be that I related to the characters in All the Bright Places more than I did to Libby and Jack. I did enjoy this book though because the two characters had to come to terms with themselves in order for them to be happy. However, I didn't like the characters as much as I wish I did. I found Libby annoying at times and empowering in others. I found Jack super sweet at times and just problematic in others. Maybe that is the point of these characters? But I didn't see them coming together in any way after their numerous interactions. It was also hard for me to feel that angst they were all feeling toward the later half of the book...like it felt like it was exaggerated for a certain effect for the two characters to come back to one another and call each other "home." 

This book is definitely a lot better than the blurb made it out to be though and I did enjoy the book (mostly in the beginning).

Ana Paula

| "I think what an amazing world this would be if we all danced everywhere we went"

 I can't help but agree with the idea of this statement.

You know when you read an amazing book that you simply cannot put down? I had the exact opposite problem. 
I started this book around March (I think) and since then, it's been off and on reading. There were parts were I was sucked it and couldn't stop, but mostly it was so easy to get distracted; stop and forget about it. 

I read the entire Harry Potter series (including the Cursed Child one) in a month, this book took me 5 months. 
The only reason I finished it was because I made the conscious choice to stop dragging it around and get it done with.

All in all, it wasn't my favorite book but it could have been a lot worse

Emelie

Gisela Ayala 

This book has changed my life. 

Jennifer Niven can definitely write a story and make it into so much more than just a story. Holding Up the Universe is about about Libby Strout, who plainly put, is an overweight teenage girl. When went through a very traumatic event in her life which determined what came after. (I'm sorry if this sounds vague but I don't want to give too much away.) In short she was dubbed "America's Fattest Teen." And yet... she is brilliant and lovely and courageous. She is so determined and her thought process makes me rethink my own. 

On the other side, we have Jack Masselin and he has what is called prosopagnosia. He cannot recognize people, not even the ones he loves like family. He has to use identifiers; hair, ears, walk, to know who is speaking to. It was very interesting to read how Niven translated this disorder in the book. But as she explained in the acknowledgements, she did her research and it really is evident. Besides his disorder, Jack is so much more, just like Libby. He has swagger and deep deep down, past all the teenage doucheness, he has a heart of gold. And together with Libby, they changed my life. 

I finished this book in two days. I probably would have finished it sooner if it weren't for trivial things such as work. But mind has expanded and changed thanks to Libby, and I don't think I could ever go back to thinking the same. 

The message in the book is simple: "You are wanted." That is something that everyone must hear. 

Maybe I or you will never be the girl that people pine over. Or call pretty. Or want to be friends with. Not everyone will want to be friends with you. You might be the one that gets picked last in gym class. You may never be everyone's first choice. But maybe you or I shouldn't aim to be those things. I want to be like Libby. I want to be fierce, brilliant, brave, and most importantly resilient. I want to be remembered as that. More than just a face. 

We are wanted.

Taryn Quigg

I didn't know much about this book going into it but I was pleasantly surprised with it overall. I liked how each chapter switched between Libby and Jack's perspectives, it gave a lot more context and insight into who they are as people. Even though I gave this book 3 stars, I really enjoyed it and it was a pleasant read.

sarah meeks

** spoiler alert **
           Honestly, I thought it was kinda boring. There was nothing really special about the story. Besides the physical issues that Jack and Libby dealt with, it was a pretty generic story of a popular guy ending up with a girl who was deemed a “loser.” I probably wouldn’t bother to read it again.

Holding up the universe

Reviews

Highlights