Holding up the Universe - Jennifer Niven

"Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout. Following her mom’s death, she’s been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby’s ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for every possibility life has to offer. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything.

Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he’s got swagger, but he’s also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don’t get too close to anyone.

Until he meets Libby. Because the more time they spend together, the less alone they feel. Because sometimes when you meet someone, it changes the world, theirs and yours."


This book isn't about bullying, or fat-shaming, or living with mental illness, it's about high school love.

Jack is popular dude at the school and he has prosopagnosia.

PROSOPAGNOSIA: 1. An inability to recognize the faces of familiar people, typically as a result of damage to the brain.  

He has a stellar quote "People are shitty for a lot of reasons. Sometimes they're just shitty people. Sometimes people have been shitty to them and, even though they don't realize it, they take that shitty upbringing and go out into the world and treat others the same way. Sometimes they're shitty because they're afraid. Sometimes they choose to be shitty to others before others can be shitty to them. So it's like self-defensive shittiness..."

Libby is a force of nature. She doesn't take much shit from anyone! She ignores it or in the case of boys, she just knocks them on their arse! I really loved her.

I'm sure some readers will see the decision to have such different protagonists as an indication of depth, but I truly feel like this is a very shallow book. Stereotypes and cliches abound. Dress it up however you want, but this book is about an unpopular girl who sees herself as unattractive, and a popular good-looking guy who comes to see how said girl is so much better than all those hot, evil cheerleaders he's been dating. His hot, evil girlfriend constantly fat-shames and bullies Libby, obviously, because we all know pretty popular girls are mean, shallow and have no feelings.

Also Libby's journey to self-love seems to be almost entirely revolve around finding a guy who will actually like her. I was hoping this would be addressed as the novel wore on, but the small rushed steps toward it at the end were dissatisfying.

The pace also slows down as the story moves forward. I remember feeling at one point like the book should be coming to an end, and yet there were almost another hundred pages to go.

Then there's my disbelief that Jack has managed to hide face-blindness from his family for years. That seems impossible to me. I guess this book never was about the reality of the issues it offered up. Also that Jack can only see Libby, just, just no. The power of love doesn't defeat a cognitive disorder.

Age Rating 13+. Typical high school parties so drinking, making out and one main character takes one pull of marijuana.