Patrick Ness

Release [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2006] hans ulrich obrist; liam gillick; ari marcopoulos; ugo rondinone; richard prince; monica bonvicini; fabrice stroun; william kentridge; pierre huyghe and jim shaw

kelsey

“how do i let go?” “that's the question, isn't it? for everyone.”

this book is all about letting go. releasing. whether from heart ache, anger, secrets. it's about truly being happy, or knowing you will be soon. or you will deserve what you have in life soon.

“they're your parents. they're meant to love you because. never in spite.”


i haven't related to a book this much since reading autoboyography (which is about a bi boy falling for a mormon boy. the mormon boy has a hard time accepting he's gay.) my family is super religious—mormon, actually—so i very much relate to adam here feeling like there's something wrong with him. when i was first figuring out my sexuality i was so confused and just thinking “oh god, i'm going to hell.” it took me more than a year to come to terms that i'm perfectly okay. and if my family doesn't get that when they are told, then that's their problem.

just like angela says,  “you choose your family, you know.”  i'm perfectly content with choosing mine if mine has a problem.

adam got to choose his. and he's happy. finally. he feels like he deserves linus and i'm so overjoyed for him.

menna

I have a lot of feelings


[Completed my Defense Against the Dark Arts exams for the OWLs Magical Readathon✨]

Jamieson

“Maybe hearts don't ever stop breaking once broken.” 


it's my first book review of 2019! and it's a review of a queer book ! I love having a Brand. Also, if you haven't seen this cover STOP AND LOOK AT IT GOOD because it took me so long to realise it's two faces looking at eachother and I was #shook

I've only read one other book by Patrick Ness (A Monster Calls) so I was really excited to read this book! Especially since this follows a gay narrator and has an m/m romance. Release follows Adam Thorn over one day as he confronts his homophobic, religious family, deals with his ex-boyfriend, deals with his creepy work boss, and navigates his relationship with his boyfriend, ex-boyfriend and best friend. 


  “It was so much easier to be loved than to have to do any of the desperate work of loving.” 


While this book wasn't my favourite ever I still liked a lot about it. 


First of all, Release is emotionally charged and honest. If you liked Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and/or History Is All You Left Me I feel you would definitely like this. It has that same feel of rawness and authenticity, plus the writing often felt similar to me. It's also heavy thematically, especially in relation to queerness and past relationships like both these books. 

I loved Adam's storyline and the exploration of his inner turmoil relating to his queerness. You can absolutely tell this is ownvoices because the exploration of identity is so relatable and authentic in a way only someone who has lived/intimately understands this could write. Adam is an extremely sympathetic teen but I liked that while he's facing hardship this book didn't feel hopeless and depressing. Patrick Ness really nailed characterisation. 

There's also a male/female friendship in this I LOVED. MORE GIRLS AND BOYS BEING FRIENDS IN FICTION WE LOVE IT. Angela and Adam were so pure together and I loved all their interactions! I also LOVED the ship in this, while it was kinda messy I was rooting for them and the sex scenes/relationship moments were extremely well written. It was nice to get a well written m/m sex scene in YA. 

Finally, I kinda already touched on this but I LOVED the writing in this and all the character interactions. The writing is poetic and quoteable and lovely while not being too flowery and it's literally my favourite writing style I've read in a while. The writing really makes me want to read more from Patrick Ness ASAP. 


  “Every gay has to have their years in a huge coastal city. It's like a law.” 



But some of the aspects of this book just didn't work for me. 

One day stories aren't my favourite and I haven't REALLY loved one yet. I always find the character development feels a bit unfinished and I felt that here too. (Though I will say it's better than some one day books I've read). While Adam does change quite a bit and confront many things happening in his life, and about himself, within this book, I always just prefer development that doesn't happen in one day. 

There is also a supernatural subplot in this that I did not care about (or understand) at all. I ended up skipping the chapters that involved this subplot. I felt like it didn't really need to be there because I didn't understand how in contributed to the main story. It was just super metaphorical and I was left scratching my head. Then again, skipping it didn't detract from Adam's story for me. 

However, I will say both these issues are specific to me. If you love one day stories you'll probably LOVE this book, and other people might actually understand/appreciate the supernatural stuff. 


  “And there. The power of a word. The power of one word. That's where it all changes.” 


Overall I liked reading this, and I would give it a 3.5! I definitely recommend it if you're looking for an emotional, character driven queer story because it's PERFECT for that. And if you like one day stories you'll probably love this too. 

3.5 star !

I was kinda confused for a lot of this book, mainly due to the two narratives it follows throughout. One of the narratives was quite easy to understand, but i found the other hard to grasp. It had some sort of spirit system that i don't remember ever being explained, so it was difficult to immerse myself in that side of the story.

The book deals with some big issues, and carries some interesting insights on life/philosophy i think? It was a good read, but i don't think the story will stick with me over time.

It wasn't really in my favourite genre of book, so that might be part of the reason it didn't really stick with me.

Amanda Kordeliski

3.5 because I am still struggling to reconcile the two story threads together. I think the book would have been stronger without the fantasy thread.

Caroline Mao

A wholehearted 5 stars, because wow. Also, I feel incredibly blessed that this comes out earlier in the UK than it does in the US, because I just so happened to be in the UK for vacation and actually got a hardcover copy. This is my first time owning one of Patrick Ness's books and I feel genuinely blessed, albeit not in the way Adam Thorn's parents might intend.

I love Ness and I love his characters and plots and how wonderfully his work is crafted. I've read A Monster Calls, the Chaos Walking trilogy, and The Rest of Us Just Live Here, and it's absolutely amazing to see his work change and mature and become something new over time. Every book is different, but still incredible.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here already proved to me that Ness can do magical realism, and the unique way he handles it is something I'm really into. Sure, the actual fantasy in here was pretty light (even lighter than The Rest of Just Live Here), leading me to question whether it was even necessary, but I don't mind either way — it did add a special touch to the book, although it could have been removed without the book suffering. I don't even like contemporary that much but I'd still read 100000 pages of whatever genre he wants to write. Also, Korean bisexual female best friend, and a gay protagonist with realistic and not black-and-white woe-is-me-being-gay-is-such-a-tragedy (it rhymes!) depictions of living with a homophobic Christian family.

Also, I've read Mrs. Dalloway. I find Woolf's writing incredibly boring, but I see how Ness has been inspired it, and I think he chose a lot of good things to imitate. So props to him for actually forcing me to acknowledge that book has some interesting aspects.

10/10 would recommend, especially if you've read Ness before and enjoyed his books.

Tiffany Robinson

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. It was an alright read, but I didn't like both of the stories. I wish it was just the one.

alice nunes

This was Patrick Ness, why did I doubt that I was going to love it and it was going to leave me destroyed?

Jelke Lenaerts

2018 SUMMER BIANNUAL BIBLIOTHON BOOK 1

TW: sexual assault


I really enjoyed this book. It was very fast pasted. The only thing I didn’t like where the ghost parts... I still don’t get the purpose of those.

Nikki Sojkowski

I was given an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t sure where the dual plot lines were going but they tied together nicely at the end. The main plot and character is a teenager named Adam, but there are also brief moments of a lost queen and a trapped spirit of a murdered girl. That sounds weird but the stories of hardship and grief have surprisingly complementary parallels. There were powerful themes about family and teenage relationships without getting preachy about it as the whole book felt very personal. Loved this book!

Hayley 📖🌈💜🌸

2.5 stars.
A bit confusing, tbh. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. 
I didn't mind Adam's storyline, he's a well-formed character, and I loved Angela, but the whole weird queen storyline seemed like it came out of nowhere and didn't really serve any purpose. 
Ugh, I wanted to love you, book! But you let me down. 

And can I just say, there is never a good enough reason to use the word 'penetrate'.

Lisa Beasley

I am so torn by this book. On the one hand I absolutely adored the story about Adam, realising who he is and starting to appreciate who he is and what he has. I love Angela and Linus, they would be amazing friends to have. The issues are handled well (unwanted sexual advances, homophobia, etc) and I really like the overall positiveness that comes from that story.

However, then there is another story running parallel to Adam's about a dead girl wanting to find a kind of peace. That I felt was unnecessary and I really didn't care about those characters or what it was saying. 

So had this just been Adam's story it would have probably received a 4 or 4.5 from me but as it is I am stuck between a 3 and 3.5. A shame but I am glad I read it (or rather listened to it - I have to credit the narrator, he was brilliant).

Release [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2006] hans ulrich obrist; liam gillick; ari marcopoulos; ugo rondinone; richard prince; monica bonvicini; fabrice stroun; william kentridge; pierre huyghe and jim shaw

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