[ULF]∎ Download Gratis 4 to 16 Characters Kelly Hourihan 9780989741101 Books

4 to 16 Characters Kelly Hourihan 9780989741101 Books

Download As PDF : 4 to 16 Characters Kelly Hourihan 9780989741101 Books

4 to 16 Characters Kelly Hourihan 9780989741101 Books

This book honestly took me forever to read.

The beginning is long and horrible but by the time I got to the end I couldn't put it down and I was in tears


Tags : 4 to 16 Characters [Kelly Hourihan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Told exclusively in online content - instant messages, social media posts, e-mails, fanfiction, and more - 4 to 16 Characters examines the role that online friends,Kelly Hourihan,4 to 16 Characters,Lemon Sherbet Press,0989741109

4 to 16 Characters Kelly Hourihan 9780989741101 Books Reviews

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I started this book. I was looking for something to read on Netgalley, and it caught my eye primarily because of the fact that it is about a girl who spends a lot of time online. I'm always interested in books that try to portray Internet culture because it can be done brilliantly or horribly. I wasn't expecting just how deeply this book would also delve into mental illness.

I cannot stress how much I loved this book. It was one of my favorite reads this year. The book is told entirely through what Jane is doing online. That means emails, chat logs, posts on a diary site that will remind many people of Livejournal, and posts on a website that had to be inspired by Tumblr. This means that each section is relatively short, and there are no chapters of any kind. These kinds of books are always hit or miss with me because it can be difficult to get emotion across when writing in that way, but believe me when I say that the emotion gets across in this book. I cried multiple times while reading. It kind of made me an emotional mess.

Jane is such a relatable character to me. There are a lot of people who would read this book and not connect with her, but I do in so many ways. She's very involved in Internet culture and fandom, just like I have been since I was a preteen. Jane is struggling with depression to though, and while I have never been through what she goes through, I know all about using the Internet as a way to escape from the "real world," especially when it comes to my struggle with social anxiety. I've never created alternate identities like Jane, but I still understood her motivation perfectly and completely got it.

Anyone who spends a significant amount of time on the Internet or struggles with depression or other mental illnesses will be able to relate to Jane in this book. To anyone that doesn't fit one (or both) of those two things, I think this book is a good way to kind of help people understand what it's like to be so involved on the Internet and what it's like to struggle with depression and use the Internet as a coping mechanism. I could see the book setting the stereotype that the Internet is a way for people to mask their problems and that everyone involved in fandom is like that, but I don't see it like that at all. Not everyone involved in fandom is mentally ill, but many people do use fandom as an escape in at least some capacity. Jane serves as a somewhat exaggerated example of that. However, so many teens struggle with depression and other mental illnesses, so it is wonderful to have books that address that in a realistic and relatable way. I have no doubt that many, many people could relate to Jane and her situation.

This is one of those books that I just want to give to everyone. Not only is it a book that I emotionally connected to, but it's a great book to get people around you to understand what you spend all your time on the Internet doing. I highly recommend this one. I really do.

Note I received this book for free through Netgalley for review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book.
Whether it intended to or not, this book made me second-guess the identity of every Internet friend and acquaintance I’ve ever made. You see, Jane (the main character) spends most of her time online. Not happy with herself or her life, she carefully crafts multiple online personas and switches between them depending on her mood. There’s a carefree college girl, an angry feminist, a suicidal goth boy, and many others. She keeps a file on each of them so that she can remember their backstories and whose friends are whose. She’s perfected the art of living as someone else, and this coping mechanism comes in handy if she spends most of her life as other people, she doesn’t have to spend quite so much time thinking about her mother’s death, her father’s drinking, the bullies at her school, or the fact that she’s failing math.

Jane outsmarts and infuriates one therapist after another until she ends up in the care of Eleanor Acton, who has an inspired idea why not meet Jane on her home turf? Therapy sessions are held via online chat, and Dr. Acton manages to slowly, oh-so-slowly coax Jane out of her shell. But will Jane ever feel comfortable enough in her own skin to inhabit her own life? Will she come clean to her online friends, some of whom she’s grown close to? And will she ever be willing to talk about her mother?

4 to 16 Characters consists entirely of digital storytelling forum posts, chats, fanfics, emails, and online diary entries. At first, I feared that the format would seem gimmicky, but it doesn’t; it’s a solid piece of YA fiction told in an imaginative — and extremely appropriate, for the subject matter — way. Jane’s story will make you laugh as well as cry. (I just about lost it while reading the old emails from Jane’s mom.)

If you know me, you know that I’ve worked with angry teens before, and Jane’s outbursts were extremely realistic. Of course I found said outbursts to be frustrating sometimes (it’s tough to sympathize with a character that seems too stuck/static, and Jane is pretty stuck at first), but I enjoyed watching her grow as the story progressed. Most frustrating of all for me I found it hard to believe that Jane had such a high level of writing ability combined with such a low level of maturity. I kept trying to remember how much my mom means to me, and how much of myself I would lose if I lost her, but I still can’t imagine treating people the way Jane does. It didn’t add up, and it distracted me from the flow of the narrative more than once.

All in all Read if you like YA and read a lot of it. Otherwise, I’d start elsewhere. This is good, but there are other books to read that are truly *great,* you know?

Also Jane’s only IRL friend, Gary, is my favorite character — and a competitive Skee-Ball player. Need I say more about him? (I loved Skee-Ball as a kid and still do. Haven’t you seen Dogma? Skee-Ball is a heaven-sanctioned sport!)

Note I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I have very mixed feelings about 4 to 16 Characters. I guess, for simplicities’ sake, I will break it down.

The Good The blurb made the book sound awesome. And relatable. As someone that spent an obscene amount of time on the internet (and still does, let’s be honest), I was interested in reading about Jane. The format of the book was pretty awesome. We get Jane’s point of view through the internet (blog posts, emails, etc.).

The Not-So-Good Holy fanfic! Jane’s story seems to center around fan-fiction for a fandom that doesn’t exist. I’ll be honest, whenever it came to the fanfic, I skipped it (and I didn’t feel bad about it at all). I might have been more inclined to read it if it was based on an actual fandom, but as it was I had no idea what was going on with it and I didn’t care. At all. I’m not sure I would have picked up this book if I had known it centered around fan-fiction. It’s not something I’m into (I admit I don’t really understand the appeal) and reading an entire book about it seems rather boring.

Overall, the book was okay. It’s much too niche for me to recommend to anyone, though. Kind of a letdown.

* This book was received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. *
This book honestly took me forever to read.

The beginning is long and horrible but by the time I got to the end I couldn't put it down and I was in tears