Carla reviewed Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson
None
3 stars
I listened to the soundtrack of the Broadway musical this afternoon, and it helped me connect with the book better...but I shouldn’t have needed to do that.
Maybe it’s because I’m middle-aged? Or was a therapist? I saw this story from the point of view of a child’s entire personhood and agency being hijacked, and it weirded me out so much it was hard to go along with the ride. But when I listened to the same story through song, I could hear, in the lyrics of Evans apology (which was not truly in the book) how Evan got swept in this thing that was bigger than he was and it gave him what he didn’t have—a nuclear family and the girlfriend he assumed he could never get on his own. It’s wasn’t his motive, but it was an after affect. That plot point was very clear in the musical …
I listened to the soundtrack of the Broadway musical this afternoon, and it helped me connect with the book better...but I shouldn’t have needed to do that.
Maybe it’s because I’m middle-aged? Or was a therapist? I saw this story from the point of view of a child’s entire personhood and agency being hijacked, and it weirded me out so much it was hard to go along with the ride. But when I listened to the same story through song, I could hear, in the lyrics of Evans apology (which was not truly in the book) how Evan got swept in this thing that was bigger than he was and it gave him what he didn’t have—a nuclear family and the girlfriend he assumed he could never get on his own. It’s wasn’t his motive, but it was an after affect. That plot point was very clear in the musical but not in the book.
Plus the added storytelling device of the ghost in the novel was not a good choice at all, in my opinion—I found it jarring. The reader could have learned the same details in a more fluid fashion.
The final, painful truth about Evan’s fall from the tree—that it was accidentally on purpose—was stepped on in the novel, to used stage language. I read it and kept going and then had to pause to realize what I had read.
Finally, I really felt like the fact that Miguel and Connor were dating was hidden at the end from Zoe—and by extension, her parents—as a final gift. In this day and age? Really? Evan is supposedly coming clean completely, and...that’s how it ended? No bueno.
Musical, from only hearing it: 4
Book: 3, unless that ending...? Can’t check, because I have returned it to the library.