The Quick Cut: A teenage boy causes a major meltdown when a letter he wrote ends up mistaken as a suicide note for another kid.
A Real Review:
Evan Hansen is a teenager who doesn't get attention from anyone, but when a letter he writes to himself ends up in the hands of another kid (who subsequently commits suicide) - Evan finds himself with a lot of attention he didn't expect. It doesn't take long for him to start lying to the kid's parents, sister, and flooding track of where the proverbial bodies are buried.
I'm going to cut right to the point on this one: I know this story (originated from a play) is very popular, but it absolutely baffled my mind. The lead character Evan is kind of a terrible person who doesn't really learn his lesson and honestly doesn't feel the consequences of his actions. Not as much as he should have at least. However, so many other people in his life are so terrible it's not hard to see how it ended up that way.
Evan is boring and way too self-pitying to get behind as a character. I get that he struggles and sees a psychologist, but when you turn around and see him do terrible things... hard to support him. Never does he show any real personality or interests. Beyond Evan, the Murphy family isn't consistent in their treatment of Connor (beyond Mom, who takes it to 11) and Alana is horrible but apparently no one notices. She takes credit for what others did, takes over without considering anyone else's feelings, and moves forward on actions without anybody else's permission. I ended up disliking her even more than Evan.
The play may be a hit, but the book is an absolute miss.
My rating: 1 out of 5