Cover Image: The Movie Version

The Movie Version

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Member Reviews

I really enjoyed the brother-sister dynamic of this; it's not something we see enough of in YA fiction. I really liked the protagonist and I'm excited to see what else Emma Wunsch writes.

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Lost interest, especially after hearing about the poor handling of mental health issues. I am typically someone who wants to read and make up their own mind about a novel, but I have to consider my own anxiety and OCD and what I can handle. Thus, I have decided to not continue on with this novel, especially since it is archived.

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Hi, All I am almost certain I posted a review here but it seems ot have dissapeared so here is the review once again I wrote back then.

The movie version.

Simply put it was forgettable.
It had the recipe to be a great book but it just wasn’t for me.
My favourite character was the brother but in the book they kept making this joke about a movie version. How people going through their daily boring lifes is basically the normal version but when you have action, bombs explosions and bonnie and clyde romance you have the movie version. Ironically enough the book is called the movie version but we are given a fairly normal interpretation of a sad story. I mean the story was sad yes, but I didn’t feel devestated by the end of it. The main character was just not my favourite type of main character.

2 and a half stars.

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Though I was incredibly fond of the cover and the title of the book, I unfortunately cannot say the same about the content. I found the main character very unlikeable and quite dull. The writing style was good, though.

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This was certainly an interesting book. Overall, it's a fairly typical YA book with the main difference having to do with mental health (which is all I will say so as not to spoil anything). Not knowing anything about the topic, I think they handled it fairly well in its depiction. That being said, the majority of the characters were not very likable. The parents seemed very caught up in their own world and made the tough choice (but puzzling one) to keep the younger brothers completely in the dark for most of the book. Amelia is incredibly selfish in her response to the whole thing, worrying more about her boyfriend's perception- a boyfriend who deserves much better than a girl that takes out everything on him. Frankly, he deserves better than her. She's standoffish with almost every single person she interacts with, and the majority of the book I was annoyed with her for not dealing with anything. I will say that Ray was an excellent character. She is one of the best friends I've ever read about and was there for Amelia beyond what anyone could have expected. I will also say that Toast was shockingly caring and a great character compared to how he is first introduced.

I have to also take a shot at few choices by the author. The romance is awkward and the terminology is clinical. Awkwardness among teen romance is common and honest, but not in the way it was done here. It's cringey, but not in the way that young love is cringey, in a way that a poorly written scene is. The other choice is that the brothers are supposedly twins, but they are ridiculously different. If I had not been told that they were the same age, I would have guessed they were at least 4 years apart. Finally, the constant harping on Amelia not having and being scared of getting her license seemed overblown and strange considering there was no reason for her being scared other than... she is. It would have made sense if there was some trauma that had happened, but she just doesn't want to drive and then she does.

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A promising book, but I think Amelia and Toby walk a lot in circles about their relationship for my taste. I know it's a YA book, but this kind of stuff really brought my mood down during the reading.

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Reading the synopsis for this, I expected a story about a girl living in the shadow of her popular older sibling and then learning to come in to her own as that sibling begins to deal with some form of mental illness. While we do indeed get that story, The Movie Version ended up being much more than I thought it would. I'm actually struggling with my feelings for the story - I appreciate the honest way it deals with some very difficult topics, as well as the decision to possibly make the main character a bit unlikable because of her thoughts, reactions, and feelings to the things she's dealing with - there were times when I felt that Amelia was callous and insensitive to what Toby is going through. I also found the movie vignettes to be a bit distracting from the overall tone of the book (though I suppose they were necessary to tie in the title). I can't say that I'm disappointed with my experience while reading the book, but I don't think that it is one that I'll be revisiting nor one that I would recommend to someone as an example of how to address this particular mental illness - I'd rather rely on an "own voices" tome for that. 2.5 out of 5 wine glasses.

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The premise of this book was very promising, but didn't quite meet my expectations. I also didn't expect some aspects of the story, which could be seen as a good thing! I am really glad this book is giving more visibility to mental illness and how it can effect people and families. I felt like the sensitive topic was written about very well and as far as I could tell, accurately. I wasn't a huge fan of the romance and the unrealistic actions of the parents and how they allowed the kids to do many things most parents wouldn't. Overall, I did enjoy the book, but it didn't completely wow me.

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Will no longer be reading or reviewing this book due to lack of interest in the title, and the fact that the title has been archived.

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I liked this, but I felt Toby was a bit too perfect at the beginning of the book which made it hard to like him and sympathise with him later in the book.

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A touching read! I was pleasantly surprised by how much I became attached to the characters. Amelia's character grew exponentially throughout the story and her family began to learn how strong she was. I loved the importance of mental illness in the novel. I felt like her brothers illness was portrayed well with the proper respect. Although it was not my typical read, I did enjoy this novel. I would highly recommend this novel to readers who enjoy YA contemporary novels.

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I did not finish this book! The story seems to be dragging and did not meet my expectations.

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I found this book very interesting. Very few YA novels deal with this particular mental health issue and I really appreciate it being thrown into the limelight. It all felt very real, which made it all the more heartbreaking. It was fantastic for raising awareness about mental health.

However, I feel a bit overloaded by YA mental health novels right now, which probably hampered my enjoyment. I was also so frustrated with Amelia and her deicsion making.

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I wanted to like this book, but it proved disappointing. The premise and character relationships had potential, but I found the writing style (at best) average, and the execution of the novel didn't in any way match the possibilities of its set-up. Not compelling or memorable.

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Honestly, I couldn't get into it. I felt no connection to any characters, especially the main. The writing style was ok, but that was the only thing that was keeping me interested. Unfortunately, I decided to not finish the book around the half way mark.

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I really enjoyed this book. The characters and storyline were very moving. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever dealt with a mentally ill family member. This is a wonderful read for young adults to understand the implications of mental illness. Highly recommend!

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I really enjoyed the concept of this book but the writing really wasn't a good fit for me. I found all the film references too much and sometimes alienating. I watch a lot of Netflix in my spare time, both old and new titles, but I was often finding myself totally lost with some of the references in this book.

Great concept. Wicked cover. Just not for me

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