I went into this book blind to the storyline, I knew there was a Broadway show but had absolutely no idea about the plot. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The theme is a sad, but very relevant, look at mental health issues, and also how we can get caught up in a lie and the consequences that come along with it.

Evan Hansen is a loner, but he soon finds himself the popular boy in school as he gets caught up in a situation he unfortunately keeps digging himself further into, As much as he starts to enjoy the new found attention, he realises it comes at a price to his own mental health and the lie is just not worth it. Can he turn everything around, and how will the new found people in his life react?

I thought this was an interesting and thought-provoking read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

Evan doesn't fit into his school or his life - he's different than everyone else. A chance encounter allows this to change - but at what cost? A thought-provoking novel about societal expectations and people trying to understand each other. Highly recommended.

An honest and emotional story surrounding men's mental health among teens.

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 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. 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. Every day is amazing. Until everything is in danger of unravelling 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.

This novel touches on the profound impact that mental health issues can have on teenagers in the modern day. I found this book deeply touching, through Emmich’s honest story of how incapacitating anxiety can create a world of total isolation amongst many teens. The novel also touches on the battle men can have with sexuality vs appearance, as well as the unspoken issue surrounding men’s mental health.

I think this is a really empowering novel for male teens and should be read to give people a true perspective of these profound issues.

The book has become a Tony Award Winning Best Musical on Broadway, and I will be rushing to see it once it reaches Westend.

Lucy

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I loved this book. As a huge fan of the musical I was desperate to get my hands on more of the story and this definitely delivered.

A novelisation of the hit Broadway musical, Evan Hansen is given an assignment by his therapist to write a letter to himself every day. When one particularly honest letter falls into the wrong hands, it sets off a series of events. What happens when one white lie spirals out of control?

I have never seen Dear Evan Hansen on the stage so I went into this entirely blind. I was worried that this novel might not stand up on its own, as some other novelisations of other art forms have failed to do so in the past. However, it was immediately apparent that this novel has carved its own space as an engaging and incredibly moving coming of age tale. It is quite reminiscent of a darker, less pretentious John Green novel, following an awkward teenage boy with poor mental health who finds that one white lie opened the pandora's box, catapulting him out of obscurity and into the lives of a beautiful classmate and her grieving family. I thought it was really impressive how Emmich does not shy away from Evan's unlikeability as someone who continually makes bad choices in sustaining his fabrications. Despite this, I continued to feel a great deal of empathy for Evan and his situation and really began to care about his well-being.

With that being said, it must be acknowledged that at points I was discomfited by the representation of mental illness and suicide in this novel. As many other reviews have noted, a major character commits suicide and he is discovered with Evan Hansen's letter in his pocket, leaving Evan in a difficult situation with a grieving family. I found it quite distasteful how this tragic death is sidelined by Evan's development as the protagonist of the story, as I am not a fan of using death in fiction in order to further a protagonist's self-discovery. Alongside this, not insignificant sections of this book are devoted to the deceased's point of view which, while I did think was an interesting addition to the narrative, was also discomfiting in the way his death is depicted. Nevertheless, despite this minor quibbles, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Evan and felt that the ending in particular was very strong.

Because of this novel, I am really tempted to book tickets to see the WestEnd show seeing as it comes to London this year. I think that really shows the great praise I have for this book. I look forward to reading what next Val Emmich publishes as I think he has a great YA voice.

Themes - mental health, lies, pleasing others
Likes - social anxiety rep
Dislikes - didn't live up to expectations

I am currently purchasing books for our secondary school library for our senior students. I am trying to provide a balance of genres and periods and really try and introduce them to a wide range of modern fiction. This book would definitely go down well with a hypercritical teenage audience as it has a bit of everything - great characterisation and a narrative style that draws you in and keeps you reading whilst also making you think about a wide range of issues at the same time. I think that school libraries are definitely changing and that the book we purchase should provide for all tastes and reflect the types of books that the students and staff go on to enjoy after leaving school. Dear Evan Hansen is the kind of book that you can curl up with and totally immerse yourself in and I think it will definitely go down well at my school. I think that it was the perfect blend of page-turning fiction with a strong message and will make them think too! I think it would be a big hit with our seniors and will definitely recommend that we buy a copy as soon as we can.

I wasn't sure what to think when I started this book. But I did enjoy it. Evan Hansen is a boy with issues. He is very much a loner, living with his mum and feeling invisible to everyone else. His therapist asks him to write letters to himself. All goes well until his last letter is snatched from him by Connor Murphy. Evan has always had a crush on Connor's younger sister Zoe. The letter is found after Connor commits suicide. Connor's parents believe Evan was his only friend. Things get our of hand. Lies are woven, money is raised, and an orchard is planted. Overall a good read.

I knew I had to read this once I'd booked to see it when it transfers to the West End this year. The book does not disappoint and I'm, if its possible, more excited to see the play.

It’s taken me a while to read this book. I think it’s because I wanted to be in the right headspace. I wanted to be able to dedicate time to it and read it fully.
This book is important it deals with many topics that people today and especially myself have problem truly talking about.
It’s not just about suicide it’s about mental health, about families and friendships and learning how to get through life.
It is it’s own Connor project showing people and trying to help them understand that they are not alone. There will be people around that will listen and care and that they need to speak about these things.
It is an extremely important topic one that needs more people educated on it and I am happy a book exhists out there that deals with it.

I am a HUGE Dear Evan Hansen fan and therefore was so excited when this came up on Netgalley, and when it was first announced at YALC last year. It's lovely to have another way to experience this story.

I loved this book so much, The themes of mental illness were portrayed in a honest limelight The friendship is very special and fills all youth with hope .

Dear Grace Taylor, today is going to be a good day and here’s why.

I highly doubt that you would have managed to avoid this musical. That said, I don’t know why you would want to - I have a friend who paid over $650 to see it. She’s still paying it off to this day but is adamant she has no regrets.

I went into this book in a weird place. I knew the plot, and I knew it very well. I’ve also read novels born out of the new obsession with Broadway Musicals; Mellissa De Le Cruz attempted something similar with Hamilton in the YA novel called ‘Eliza and Alex’ which I unfortunately didn’t really enjoy. Therefore I was somewhat nervous about reading more into the lives of characters I knew and loved. I was worried about ruining them.

I’ve read as much as I can about the musical including ‘Through The Window’ which was fascinating. However, a YA adaptation was right up my street so I leapt at the chance of reviewing it. I wasn’t disappointed, which honestly I was surprised about. Normally books like this don’t live up to the hype, but the novel sticks pretty close to the storyline whilst also delving into parts of the narrative which you wouldn’t get from the soundtrack alone. There’s also some extra plot points which added to the story which, having spoken to said friend who has seen it, are not in the stage show either. These points are excellently intertwined without taking away from the musical, even if you are lucky enough to have seen it… Not that I’m bitter.

Overall I loved the novel. It delved extensively into the plot, and I learnt more than I thought I would about characters I was already familiar with. There are decisions that both Evan and Conor make which are morally wrong, but you can’t help but root from them. It’s also as heart-wrenching as the musical. If the musical has had an impact you in any way I cannot recommend this adaptation enough.

I had no idea this booked was based on a musical or a YA novel, but I really enjoyed it. I thought it covered so many topics that a lot of people could relate to. Loneliness, mental health, insecurity, pressures of social media and desperate to fit in. Evan experiences most of these things and finds it hard to open up to the truth and ends up digging himself deeper into a mess that's hard to get out of. So many mixed emotions reading this book!

A great YA novel, hugely anticipated on the West End. A great concept- Evan read a letter and ends up living a lie- pretending to be the secret best friend of Connor Murphy. His grieving parents welcome Evan into their home, and Evan seeks to give them the comfort they need- but is this okay? He battles his conscience initially before deciding he is helping them- but soon those actions have consequences. A brilliantly written novel that really fleshes out the play.

I absolutely love all of the Dear Evan Hansen but I've never seen the musical, which means up until now every time someone caught me listening to it and asks me what the musical is about I just shrugged and said "something about mental health i think?" I wasn't sure what to expect from the book since I haven't had any good experiences with movie to book adaptations but it was pretty good! The dialogue was witty and funny, I could kinda see where the songs fit in to the story and got a lot more context for them and it was a quick and easy read (read it while waiting to get a tattoo, probably took me 3h at most). What I didn't love was the story. Basically Evan is a guy with social anxiety whose therapist is trying to encourage him to talk to people and write positive letters to himself, so he asks someone from school to sign his cast for him and also prints one of the letters at school before going off to therapy. However, Connor (the guy who signed his cast) picks up the letter, notices Evan mentioned his sister on it and gets upset and takes it with him. Connor then commits suicide and is found with Evan's letter, which makes his parents think it is a suicide note and that Evan is his best friend (and then take the signed cast as further proof) and the story goes from there. I don't know what I was expecting the story to be like, but it certainly wasn't what we got, and while I'm still intrigued to see the musical and I still love the songs, it did make me love Dear Evan Hansen a bit less, which is the opposite of what I was expecting.

What happens when we lie? Even Hansen finds out the hard way when he gets caught up in a big lie at school. The book does a good job of dealing with anxiety and loneliness in teens. It feels genuine and I would recommend it.

I have not seen the Broadway musical and was only familiar with the bare bones of the story before picking up this book. I found it fascinating to follow along as Evan digs himself deeper and deeper into trouble. One small moment that had surprisingly dramatic consequences. I often felt simultaneously both awkward as an observer, and desperate to know what was going to happen.

I am sure fans of the show will enjoy being able to immerse themselves in Evan's world in a different way.

I adored the musical; I indulge in the soundtrack; I loved the book. It didn't hold the same level of magic as the Broadway play, of course, but having seen it, it's impossible for that not to affect my feelings. I laughed and cried when I saw the play in February; the songs routinely bring a tear to my eye. I read most of this book with a tear in my eye. I'd have liked more of an ending, but it did ring true to the play, which also glossed over the end a bit, so I understand the novelisation not wanting to stray too far from the musical. I loved getting more backstory from Connor. I just would've liked a bit more ... something. I'm not sure what. I think it's probably just impossible for the book to live up to such a stunning musical, but I still loved this book.

Supposing the local troubled kid steals a letter you have been asked to write to yourself by Dr Sherman trying to help Evan who has issues when his father left them and they had to relocate and it found by the bully Connor’s family after he has killed himself - how do you act? This story focus on the isolation of Evan whose now single Mum is studying whilst working as a nurse and is worried about her depressed son and has sent him to the local shrink. This adolescent finds High School challenging and he and his Mum are hardly communicating and the letter becomes his way to creat a new persona that will make him a loved friend and boyfriend to the late Connor’s sister Sonia. The Murphy family are so keen to connect with him that he creates e-mails with Jared an acquainted through their mums but he is keen to exploit the situation to make the Murphys believe the boys were close. Add to this that another “outsider”Alana joins him in raising funds that have poured in since his letter was published on the internet and becomes a power crazy leader. So the Connor Murphy Memorial Garden Fund is set up based on an orchard where the Murphy family used to visit with Connor and Evan pretends to have spent time with Connor.
How it ends is beautifully crafted. The story is all about belonging and about how mental health figures largely in adolescents and about getting help for them.