Name: Things I'm Seeing Without You
Rating: 3 (8 reviews)
ISBN: 9780735228054

Peter Bognanni

"When tragedy strikes, Tess drops out of school and moves in with her funeral director dad, forcing her to examine life, death, and the boy she thought she knew and loved in a brand new light"--

Things I'm Seeing Without You

When tragedy strikes, Tess drops out of school and moves in with her funeral director dad, forcing her to examine life, death, and the boy she thought she knew and loved in a brand-new light. A funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, and wondrous examination of what it means to love someone--and what it means to truly know them.

Gisela Ayala 

I'm giving the book 4 stars but I think maybe 3.5 is more like it. 

The story about Tess and her mourning period after her boyfriend dies. First off, the author's writing was very beautiful. I liked how he worded sentences and described scenes. I could vividly picture the scenes in my head. The only thing I wish would have been better was character development. I was trying to connect with Tess and her grieving for Jonah, and for the most part, I understood grieving someone (I've been there), but I couldn't connect with her grieving about Jonah. I was hoping to learn more about him somehow. But maybe because of the circumstances of the book, you never really get to know the real Jonah... just like Tess never really knew. Perhaps the author did that on purpose. Other than that, it was a lovely read and there were a few instances that made me tear up a bit. 

This book really made me think deeply about death and how humans decide to handle death.

Tiffany Engler

** spoiler alert **
            
Beware Of Spoilers!! 

  

  


 
My Thoughts: 

  

  



I picked this book up because on the cover it says "Required reading for anyone who's ever loved or lost someone... but especially both." As some of you may know, I lost my grandmother last year and I've been picking up books lately that deals with death and depression. I figured, "hey, this book sounds like a good read." This book is not what I expected it to be at all. I was pretty disappointed in this book.

  

  



I feel like it didn't really focus too much on the grieving process. I think it focused too much on Tessa's dads business. I think the funeral aspect of this book kind of ruined it. 

  

  


 
Pros:  

  

  



Quick Read: This book was such a fast read. If I didn't have a job or a toddler, I'm sure I would have finished it in like four hours. The chapters were short, which I love. I love being able to take little breaks in between chapters and this book is a great provider for that. 

  

  



New Romance: So we know that Tess was technically "dating" Jonah. I feel as if it wasn't a real relationship because I feel like it was just flirting and whatnot. I love that she meets Daniel from this tragedy. Daniel is a great guy and I was totally rooting for him when he was first mentioned in this book. 

  

  


 
Cons: 

  

  



Not Enough Romance: I needed more of Tess and Daniel. We only get a few intimate scenes with them and at the end of the book, they're separated again. I hate long distance relationships in books. It drives me crazy that I don't get any cute cuddly scenes!

  

  



Grieving Process: I feel like this book doesn't do the grieving process justice. I've lost a relative, not a significant other. So I could be 100% wrong about this. I just feel like Tess handled everything wrong and took everything a bit too far. There was also just a lack of emotion throughout the book. I just feel like all the characters were blah. 

  

  



Awkward: There were some awkward parts in this book that made me a bit squeamish. I tend to just think of young adults as kids in high school. Not college students. So when anything sexual is mentioned in a YA book it makes me feel weird. Even though I know the characters are most likely 18+ I feel weird. 

  

  


 
Recommend To:  

  

  



Anyone who likes a quick YA read. 

  

  


 
  

  
My Rating:
  

  
2.5/5 Stars

Laura

I cannot believe that this book was written by the same guy that gave us The House of Tomorrow. Just. How.

I guess he realized that well-written, unique, and literary YA novels weren't great money makers so he decided to become another discount John Green. Guess it's unfortunate for him that this was the year Green broke his five year writing hiatus with Turtles All the Way Down coming this very month actually (no, I'm not going to read it because my masochistic tendencies are just that- tendencies). 

The main reason why I wanted to read this book was because I stumbled upon it after reading The House of Tomorrow and decided, eh, what the hell. I was initially a little turned off by The Fault in Our Stars comparison, but figured that he would surpass my expectations the same way his debut did. And the funeral home angle. Yes.

Things I'm Seeing Without You is basically your typical YA quirky teen book with a certain falseness to it. Our main character Tess Fowler reminds me of other quirky teenage girl protagonists that are clearly written by male authors, like HazelGraceLancaster or Mary. Iris. Malone. Look okay, many male authors write really great female protagonists, in fact, I think men write teenage girls better then women write teenage guys as a whole, but in this case, it was obvious that Bognanni has no experience with teenage girls other than from books like Mosquitoland. 

While it is true that the summary is very... John-Greenish... I wasn't too turned off by it because again, I was going on my prior Bognanni experience with The House of Tomorrow, and that novel may have had a very unusual even quirky setting and premise yet ended up being done very well. It didn't work nearly as well here. Instead, it just came off as being a bit too try-hard, with the Quaker School and the whole constantly talking about pot and just the character of Tess. Also, her online boyfriend was a bit too much like a John Green boyfriend, with the whole calling Tess by her first and last names.

Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...

Milana Marie Waller

** spoiler alert **
           this book was just weird 

it wasn’t relatable at all because it just didn’t really seem realistic at all

we don’t even know Jonah at all , the book provides next to no detail about him or his actual real -life - only -met- Tess -once relationship so why should we even rly care ab him ? 

whatever this book was just weirder that weird and the whole funeral thing at the beginning with the horses and the dog rocket wtf was that about ... uhhhh 

mad weird

And when she jumped in the lake ? With the computer ? Idek

Seventeen-year-old Tess talks to Jonah every day; through texts, tweets and emails. So when she discovers Jonah has committed suicide, her world implodes. Feeling heartbroken and traumatized Tess unexpectedly finds herself at her estranged father's house, wondering how well she really knew Jonah. Now, having dropped out of high school, struggling with questions about life and loss, Tess and her father come together to try and find the answers.

Things I'm Seeing Without You

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