** INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER **USA TODAY BESTSELLERWSJ BESTSELLERINDIE BOUND BESTSELLER From the show’s creators comes the groundbreaking novel inspired by the hit Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen. Dear Evan Hansen, Today’s going to be an amazing day and here’s why…When a letter that was never meant to be seen by anyone draws high school senior Evan Hansen into a family’s grief over the … amazing day and here’s why…
When a letter that was never meant to be seen by anyone draws high school senior Evan Hansen into a family’s grief over the loss of their son, he is given the chance of a lifetime: to belong. He just has to stick to a lie he never meant to tell, that the notoriously troubled Connor Murphy was his secret best friend.
Suddenly, Evan isn’t invisible anymore–even to the girl of his dreams. And Connor Murphy’s parents, with their beautiful home on the other side of town, have taken him in like he was their own, desperate to know more about their enigmatic son from his closest friend. As Evan gets pulled deeper into their swirl of anger, regret, and confusion, he knows that what he’s doing can’t be right, but if he’s helping people, how wrong can it be?
No longer tangled in his once-incapacitating anxiety, this new Evan has a purpose. And a website. He’s confident. He’s a viral phenomenon. Every day is amazing. Until everything is in danger of unraveling and he comes face to face with his greatest obstacle: himself.
A simple lie leads to complicated truths in this big-hearted coming-of-age story of grief, authenticity and the struggle to belong in an age of instant connectivity and profound isolation.more
I should start this review by saying that I actually haven’t seen the musical that this book is based on — yet. But I have listened to the soundtrack an ungodly amount of times, so it was nice to get even more nuance to the story and allow the characters to be portrayed in a little more depth.
Some adaptations don’t do much more than follow the same images, dialogue, and emotional beats of the material they’re based on, but this one managed to build on all of those things, and it’s clear that the authors really knew and loved the cast they created for this musical and they did a really wonderful of bringing that cast to life on the page. Overall, I thought this was a very well-written adaptation. I actually enjoyed the parts of this book from Connor’s perspective the most, and even though I knew why they couldn’t take up the majority of the story (it is Evan’s story, after all), I wanted more of them.
I’d definitely recommend this to both fans of the musical and to fans of YA in general — I think it handles tough subject matter in a way that both cares and is careful of younger readers.
Best book I have read about suicide and anxiety. The ending is realistic, which is probably what I loved most about this book. I wouldn’t change anything.
Great read! It begins with a letter and a lie. A young boy wants to be accepted.
Another family is grieving the loss of a son..When a young boy claims to have been his best friend. Suddenly he finds the acceptance he was longing for. Until his lies begin to unravel and he is caught up in turbulent emotions, confusion and more lies. An easy to read YA novel, there is a moral to this story! I cried and laughed. Extremely moving in a time where we have easy access to connect with others and remain isolated and alone. What would you do to feel acceptable? Highly recommended!
I loved this book! It made me laugh and it made me cry.
This is the novelization of the Broadway musical. It’s an extremely moving portrayal of kids who go through life feeling “invisible” and believe no one understands them or cares about them and how those feelings can often lead to tragic results. There’s no happily-ever-after here, but IMO, it should be a must-read for all teens and parents.
Dear Evan Hansen a five-star read that will make you think. I think this was a compelling read as it deals with something that affects a lot of us at different points in our lives, isolation. It is darkly depressing and its not all fun and giggles, but as someone who deals with social isolation on a daily basis in my professional capacity it was eye opening at the lengths some will go to, usually I see the opposite, but it made me open my eyes so much wider. I hadn’t even known about the musical or soundtrack but after reading this I will certainly be looking out for them.
Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich
This is a book for anyone who felt left out or on the fringe in high school. For those that didn’t quite fit in. For those that were never quite seen for who they truly were.
Evan felt invisible. His parents divorced. Dad remarried, moved to another state and started a new family. Mom worked and went to school. They left notes for each other. At school, he was one of the kids on the fringe. Never really acknowledged or included. Until……
Until Connor dies. Everyone thinks Connor and Evan were secretly best friends. Evan perpetuates the illusion and things get out of control. The lies continue and Evan doesn’t know how to stop it.
This is a great read. I first saw an ad for the movie and thought I should read the book first. Can’t wait to see the movie version now.
I will recommend this book to anyone but especially to someone who needs a little bit of hope.
I absolutely loved this book. I can’t even pick a favorite character. The story was amazing and at times I’d just have to put the book down and process what just happened. It was an emotional rollercoaster and I would 100% recommend it 🙂
Both the book and play are both amazing. This is a story everyone needs to read or see at some point.
I didn’t love this one like I had hoped I would. To be fair, I am not the target audience for this book. I have never seen the musical or heard any of its songs so I was pretty clueless going in. I can’t tell you how this book compares to the musical but this story does stand on its own. Maybe a younger audience will enjoy this one more than I did but I spent a large part of the book wanted to pull these kids to the side and give them a mom talk. It was a pretty easy read and I am glad I gave it a try.
It all starts with a letter. Evan doesn’t have really any friends and has a hard time getting through each day. As a part of therapy, he writes letters to himself to put things in a positive outlook. Connor picks up the letter and takes it from Evan. He dies with that letter in his pocket and suddenly everyone thinks that Connor and Evan were great friends and everything grows from there.
One of my biggest pet peeves is lying of any kind. Unfortunately, this book is packed with lies. Instead of letting Connor’s parents know the truth behind the letter he lets them think that he was really friends with Connor. He then proceeds to expand on that lie and becomes a big part of Connor’s family’s life. He even starts dating Connor’s sister whom he has had a crush on for a very long time. Almost everything that Evan does in this book is a lie or is tied to a lie and I have to tell you that I had some issues with it. I just felt like Connor’s family had enough to deal with without being manipulated by Evan.
There were some things that I did like in this book. I liked that the story is told from two different points of view. I expected Evan’s point of view but the second one was a bit of a surprise. The point of view that I didn’t expect was really my favorite part of the book. I thought that those sections of the book were very well done.
I listened to this book and I thought that the narrators did a good job with it. The female narrator listed did a couple of song segments worked into the story and the males handled the two points of view. I thought that they both did a great job representing their character. Their voices were very pleasant to listen to for long periods of time. I think that I liked the story a bit more because I decided to listen to the audiobook.
I think that a lot of readers are going to like this book a lot more than I did. The book does touch on a lot of important issues but I couldn’t get past all of the deceptions.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers via NetGalley and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library via Overdrive.
I loved the musical when I saw it on broadway and this book was even better!! Loved everything about it!
I just devoured this novel on the plane while travelling back to Oz from the UK. I’ve read a fair few adaptations of films and so on in my time, but this adaptation (and significant expansion) of the musical theatre show is the best I’ve found, no question about it.
I have thinky thoughts, and may need to blog about them rather than include them here. I blogged recently about two issues I had with the play itself – much as I enjoyed seeing it. This novelisation solves both my issues – but also manages to create another issue for me! A lesser issue perhaps. But it’s worth reading for all that it brings to the show and the characters.
… Anyway! If you enjoyed the show, or it has tweaked your interest, then I would highly recommend this novel.
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Read for the second time, because the whole shebang has stayed on my mind… And this is still the best novelisation I’ve ever read. Kudos to Emmich!
It was so good!!! This book changed my life I highly recommended it to everyone
This book was good, and I found the main character very relatable. I found it kind of hard to read/disinteresting at times, but overall, I’d recommend it.
great but hated the end
Very good, book. I really really enjoyed it.It adds to the musical with more points of view and information.