I Hate Everyone But You by Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: September 5th, 2017
Rating: 3 Stars
Source: Purchase
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 344
Summary (from Goodreads):
Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin’s I Hate Everyone But You is a hilarious and heartfelt debut novel about new beginnings, love and heartbreak, and ultimately the power of friendship.
Dear Best Friend,
I can already tell that I will hate everyone but you.
Sincerely,
Ava Helmer
(that brunette who won’t leave you alone)
We're still in the same room, you weirdo.
Stop crying.
G
So begins a series of texts and emails sent between two best friends, Ava and Gen, as they head off to their first semesters of college on opposite sides of the country. From first loves to weird roommates, heartbreak, self-discovery, coming out and mental health, the two of them document every wild and awkward moment to each other. But as each changes and grows into her new life, will their friendship be able to survive the distance?
I Hate Everyone But You is the only book that I read in November and also I basically read it by complete accident. I had been kind of curious about this book since I heard about it because it's told entirely through emails and text messages between best friends who are going to college on opposite coasts. Not curious enough to buy it full price, but I found it for $2 at a thrift store so I picked it up.
I wasn't intending to read it anytime soon, I picked it up to flip through the pages and then put it in its eternal resting place on my bookshelf. But I flipped through the first few pages and got sucked into it.
That's not to say that I loved this book or anything, but I was interested to see how this story went.
The story follows two best friends, Ava and Gen, who are going to college on opposite sides of the country. It basically tells of their adventures with making new friends and exploring new romances and what not.
Ava has some kind of mental illness, I think the book said that she has OCD, but I don't remember because I was rocketing through this book so fast. She's getting used to a new therapist at college and dealing with new problems and what not. She isn't as open to making new friends in college, she seems to cling as best she can to Gen through their digital correspondences. I don't really know what I thought of Ava, but I think that getting to know her through what she writes back and forth to Gen wasn't the best way. She was kind of needy and I feel like it wouldn't have come across so much if this book was told in a different way.
Gen seems to be really blossoming in college. She's making lots of new friends in college and going to parties. A big part of her college experience is exploring her sexuality. It's also a thing that causes a lot of problems in Ava and Gen's relationships because as she is telling Ava about her romantic and sexual partners, Ava is continually trying to give Gen a label. Gen doesn't know what to label herself as, at this point she's just trying to figure herself out and have fun. But Ava needs things to be more black and white and it causes several fights between them because Ava won't stop labeling Gen and asking insensitive questions/making insensitive comments. It's pretty much always called out by Gen, but still, it got old.
There is a lot of romance in this book. Gen has several intimate partners throughout this book, but I feel like the main one is with her TA/professor, Charlotte. I feel like this isn't a super appropriate romance and neither does Ava. And Charlotte has been intimate with at least two other students. Ava's disapproval of this relationship is also a catalyst for several arguments. The other prominent romance for Gen is with her rival at the paper, Alex. Alex is trans and is the other person competing for the job at the school paper that Gen is trying to get. So, this is kind of a hate to love relationship. I'm not really sure what I think about this relationship. I feel like I liked Alex more than I liked Gen?? I don't know.
Ava is out there at her own college, having her own romances, but I also don't really like her romance. I feel like she just wants a boyfriend to have a boyfriend and makes herself like the first boy that shows any interest in her? And nothing that they do together feels like something that she actually wants, but something that she does because it's something that you're "supposed" to do in a relationship. Like, he doesn't force her or anything, but it doesn't feel romantic at all. I feel like she needed to work on some things in her life before she went looking for romance.
It was interesting to see these girls try to maintain the same level of friendship over long distance and I feel like I was interested in their lives in the same way I'm interested when I come across reality tv. I was kind of just in it to see what kind of drama ensued.
Overall, I feel like this book had it's ups and downs. I feel like there was a lot of representation in this book. There was at least mental illness and queer rep (I think at one point Gen went with queer as her label, but I don't remember if it stuck or if I'm making this all up). I can't speak to whether it's good or not. I do know that when I was perusing Goodreads reviews, someone (who never finished the book so idk if this ends up "ok" or not) said they were pissed that the trans character was made out to be the villain in the story because he is Gen's rival at the paper. I liked Gen a lot more than I liked Ava, but I loved how strong their friendship was being able to endure the changes going on in their lives and the long distance.
Have you read this book yet? What did you think?