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#BookReview ~
Name of the book: Holding Up The Universe
Author: Jennifer Niven (@jenniferniven )
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟.5/5
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I picked this book up because Jennifer Niven had my heart when I read All The Bright Places all those years ago. If you asked me to pick out a reason as to why I love her work, it would be because she writes about things that matter and she writes it in a way that make them matter to YOU. I had ATBP when I had no clue about mental health disorders and I still felt it. That’s what good writing does to you. Makes you feel what you cannot.
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Coming back to Holding Up The Universe, I loved it for two reasons: the characters and the character development. This book is about Libby Strout and Jack Masselin. Libby Strout is America’s fattest teen and Jack Masselin has prosopagnosia (face blindness). Their story is naked and vulnerable because you’ll feel the humiliation and you’ll feel the struggle. Libby and Jack have a rough start but they’re both compassionate, both outlaws so they fall for each other. There’s sunshine and roses until there isn’t.
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Through Jack I could only imagine how difficult it would be not to remember faces and not recognize people except by identifiers. When Jack says “You deserve to be seen” I know he means it. Libby is brave and Libby will take you out. She’s the kind of character we all wish we knew because she fight body shaming. At one point Libby says “My only crime was that I was fat” and that’s the best line in the book. This book made me hopeful, made me think that there is an end to bullying and body shaming and all the horrible things people do to feel about themselves. Hope is what takes us forward.
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Things I liked:
📚Characters – real, naked, lovable
📚Focused on character development than plot
📚Seeing through Jack’s eyes
📚Realistic, nondramatic situations that’ll feel natural
📚Didn’t end in suicide and that brought hope (mental health books can have an impact without the characters dying)
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Things I didn’t like:
📚The fact that it probably could have had a little more story to it but that’s find
~Do I recommend?
Yes! If you like reading about things that matter, then yes.

I picked this book up at ALA without knowing anything about it and have since purchased a finished copy. It was on my shelf among all my other TBRs and I wasn’t rushing to it until I heard the premise behind it and some backlash Niven was receiving. I was drawn to it because I’m plus size, like Libby, and have been in interracial relationships. Let me tell you something…THIS BOOK IS AMAZING.

Along the way I heard from a friend that someone had accused the author of creating characters who hated themselves. However, that was not my interpretation at all. Especially when it comes to Libby, America’s formerly fattest teen. I found her attitude and acceptance of her body-past and present-to be very inspirational. I would go as far as to say that she loved herself. THIS IS WHAT PLUS SIZE TEENS NEED TO READ. Despite being targeted by classmates, Libby didn’t let that or her weight hold her back from anything, including trying out for the dance team. A new all-time favorite passage comes from this book where Libby questions some of society’s issues with people being overweight. She says, “And this whole ‘pretty for a fat girl’ thing. I mean, what is that? Why can’t I just be pretty period? I wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, Bailey Bishop, she’s pretty for a Bible thumper.’ I mean, you’re just Bailey. And you’re pretty.”

Her counterpart, Jack, was also a well written and multi-faceted character that the reader can’t help but come to love. This was the highlight of Niven’s writing for me because it’s clear that she extensively researched prosopagnosia and brought to life some of the struggles that people with this disorder are faced with daily. Some of these situations would literally make you stress out just reading about them. I didn’t feel like his attraction to Libby was something that happened only after he “got over” her weight. He honestly seemed to think she was beautiful, weight and all. Perhaps some would say that his focus was on her personality, but I would counter that in the end, compatible personalities are the most important aspect of a successful relationship.

Overall, this book was well-written and comes with many important lessons. I didn’t even touch on the depth or all of the issues. All I can say is that I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Ok so this review might be a little all over the place so please stick with my while I try and sort out my thoughts on this book. First, I have to say that I really did enjoy this book. I can agree with some people on how parts of the story are problematic, and I’ll get to that, but as a whole I was entertained until the very end, and that’s what I like to get from my books I read. I didn’t think that the couple of problems with this book ruined it at all and I found the story to be cute, which again is something I want from my contemporary reads, and for once I wasn’t able to predict everything that was going to happen before it happened.

Now being an overweight person myself, I have to say the way that Libby views herself is beyond relatable. I know that I’ve seen people that have a problem with how she views herself and about how often she thinks about her weight and the fact that she’s supposed to be this force for self love at the same time. But come on, this is how a teenage girls brain works. Even now as an adult that’s how my brain works. I go from one day hating everything about the way I look to the next thinking I’m the cutest thing in the world and everyone can just suck it. Maybe because I can put myself in her shoes it makes it easier for me to understand how her brain can work that way, but it’s really accurate and spoke to me on a high level.

Oh Jack. I’m not sure where to start with Jack. I have to say even though he has prospoga…..you know what, EVERY TIME I came to this word in the book it took me like 5 minutes to figure out how to pronounce it again, so I’m just not going to use it here. Anyway, even with Jack’s neurological disorder I have to say he really is a douchey boy. Granted I felt some sympathy for him but then there were times he’d do or say something and I’d just think “Come on, Really?”. But then again I can see that that is how he’s supposed to be written and that’s probably the reaction we’re supposed to have with him.

Let’s talk about the insta love for just a second. Sure that’s usually a thing that happens with contemporaries, you meet someone and bam you’re in love. Granted Libby and Jack knew each other before the insta love happened but you can literally see it suddenly happen where all of a sudden Jack looks different to Libby and he’s a dreamy boy. It wasn’t so glaring wrong that I wasn’t able to move past it, but I do feel that that situation could have been handled a little differently.

Back to Jack’s neurological disorder. I still don’t fully understand how it all works and how he’s able to tell Libby apart from everyone else so easily. It does seem like a Love Cures Everything kind of deal but when I think about it, maybe love could cure prosp…..whatever. Maybe having that connection with someone, a connection so strong that you’re not scared to look in to their eyes, can cause something else to fire in the brain that helps remember what their face looks like. So yet again, even though I can see this as being problematic, it still kind of makes sense to me and does add to the story.

All in all this was a very enjoyable read. I loved getting to see Libby make that transition from homeschooled loaner to being more comfortable in her skin and going to a normal high school and trying to make friends and start a relationship. I enjoyed getting to follow Jack and see that maybe the douchey act he puts on is just a front because he has no idea how to act since no one really knows about his problem and he’s too scared to really tell anyone. I am a sucker for contemporaries and the fact that this one touched on a couple hard topics made me an even bigger sucker for it. I’d recommend this to pretty much anyone looking for a good and entertaining read.

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