Hello Rad Readers!
I have so so so many things to say about this book so unfortunately I cannot give a spoiler free review :(. You have been warned...
Ahhh guyssss! I don't know how to deliver this super hot take... I'm just going to say it, I hate Evan Hansen.
He is a lying, manipulative, psychopath that used a boy's tragic suicide to get with his sister and get popular in school. That is the blatant truth of the matter. I understand that there is a bit more to it than just that, that the author isn't necessarily condoning what he is doing, but he definitely wants the reader to feel bad for Evan, feel bad that he has had such a "terrible life" that he was driven to kind of go scorched earth and do this to himself. Honestly, I don't feel bad for Evan. I understand him. That is one thing. I understand that he feels lonely, that he deals with anxiety. However I don't feel pity for that. Many people deal with that but they would never do what Evan did. I see Evan Hansen for what he did to this kids family and even his own family and I think the glorifying of his horrific disgusting behavior made me... kind of hate the book. I thought the story was... well... bad? It was so incredibly unbelievable that my rad reading-ness, if you will, rejected it as a whole.
I think that it was the author's goal in a way for the reader to recognize that what Evan did and is doing throughout is horrible, but what wouldn't sell me on it was the parts where they try to blame it on his anxiety. Anxiety or not, you do not fake the emails of a dead child to become less lonely, and you certainly don't do so to garner the attention of his sister days after he commits suicide. Ugh, gross.
It started out with a lot of promise. I felt like I knew Evan once I'd only just read the first 20 pages. He was interesting. He was living a life that he wanted to change and honestly that is something that everyone feels at some point or another. That is a fantastic plot point for a book! It was relatable. Then however, Evan took a full 180 degree turn into someone complain-y, annoying, ignorant, and by all means possible, NOT relatable.
I will start off with what he does to his mom. Okay, Evan. Dog. Hear me out, if your mom sees that you are unhappy, she will most likely want you to be happy. She is not going out for some selfish attempt to make her son popular. Far from that. And Evan! DOG! You yourself said that you wanted to change, that you were tired of feeling like you were "waving through a window" (which by the way is one of the most amazing and beautiful ways Evan's experiences were described). Evan! Your mom is trying to help you with what you want to do yourself!!! He is complaining, complaining, complaining that nobody cares that he is lonely and sad, but EVAN, your mom asks you all the time how you are doing, how school is. Your family is struggling financially and she pays thousands of dollars for a therapist that you won't even give the time of day. Evan is written to be a jerk. A jerk that I am meant to feel bad for, and I am sorry rad readers, but I just can't.
Now, let us talk about his relationship with his friend Jared. I get it, Evan is socially awkward, but dude, stop making it seem like Jared is being mean to you when he is literally just a sarcastic guy joking around with his friend. Not everything is so deep for God's sake! And don't even get me started about how he starts BLAMING Jared! Jared was the only one that would listen to you. Sure, maybe he shouldn't have helped you with your twisted plan to fabricate a friendship with a dead kid that way you could date his sister, but YOU ASKED HIM TO DO THAT! Of my many problems with our lovely Evan Hansen, one of my greatest is that he is always trying to feel bad for himself. Bad for himself because he victimizes himself, paints his own picture that his mom doesn't care, that everyone hates him when in reality he has just made no effort to get anyone to like him, that Jared doesn't consider him a friend when really he is just messing with Evan. Ugh Evan, there is so much about you that I will never understand. Finally, on the topic of Jared, as Drake once said, "imagine if I never met the broskis." Once Evan gets a hint of notoriety from his twisted crime of a fake friendship, once he gets a girlfriend and people know who he is and say hi to him in the hallway, he completely ditches Jared and is absolutely, totally insensitive to all the hints Jared throws at him to tell him, "excuse me, but you've really hurt my feelings." Practice what you preach dearest Evan Hansen. You can't complain that nobody cares about you when you are so self centered you don't realize when your only true OG friend is upset with you.
Now, onto the biggie... The Murphy's and Evan. Oh Evan, you really did it. What you might ask, what did he do? All of it. Everything that could have been done was done and it was all bad. Every single part of it. Despicable. This is where Evan started to decline sharply in my mind. Before he went to that first dinner with the Murphy's I was hoping this would be a story about him coming out of his shell, getting people to sign his cast and slowly making friends. I liked Evan, I really did, I looked forward to some steep character development vibes and I. Got. Nothing. Instead I got Evan going to the Murphy's house to clear things up, but then realizing that he might be able to get a girlfriend out of exploiting her brother's suicide. And that ladies and gentlemen, that is where I called the downfall. He USED them. He went to their house night after night to be around them, to feel like he was a part of something, and yes, that is horribly sad, devastating, but for the love of God, the lies he was telling were life changing to this family, totally world altering. This entire time might I remind you he was blaming his mother again for not caring about where he was and not having taco nights. Evan YOU DIDN'T WANT TACO NIGHTS! YOU WANTED TO BE WITH ZOE! You wanted to be with your girlfriend through which you build your relationship on lies. Evan! Your mom asked you where you were going and you lied to her! She did is all the time and you didn't want her to know! Stop feeling bad for yourself! Okay, back to the Murphy's, sorry. Things were bad and all yes. Very bad indeed, but when they offered to pay his college tuition! How did he not stop it there! When he sent Alana a LINK to Connor's "suicide letter!" Absurd! How is he like this!!!!!!!
The ending was lack luster and a half. I was disappointed in Zoe for forgiving Evan. What Evan did is not only illegal, but evil. He manipulated her and where she was once suspicious now she is just being stupid. Evan basically pulled a Holden from Catcher in the Rye. He started off as a complain-y jerk, went through a crazy journey that should have changed him, and then came out the other end the same complain-y jerk, ungrateful for what he had and for what the people around him have and will do for him.
Rad readers, that was a rant and a half and I am #sorrynotsorry. Dear Evan Hansen is the most twisted novel of the century and I am not here for it, thank you very much.
I now must find a spectacular book to read next to cleanse my rad reader palette.
Keep it rad my readers,
-C8 ;)