Noah Can't Even

Product Information

Noah is fifteen but looks a few years younger. His dad vanished when he was ten. His mother is on the dole and they are usually quite poor, but she earns extra money by performing Beyoncé tribute acts under a stage name. He loves his paternal grandmother, but she is developing dementia. So his status quo at the start of the novel is not great. Except for his best friend, Harry - their friendship is a calm port in the storm. I also feel like I'm not sure why Harry likes Noah, because Harry doesn't say much until the end. I wish we got more of his mind. He says he likes Noah being weird and crazy (I don't remember the exact quote), but we don't get to see why, we don't get to see scenes where they are doing weird, crazy things together, and enjoying it.

This series still very much reminds me of TJ Klune’s funnier toned books and also of the hilarious Netflix show Sex Education, so if you’re partial to either of these you’ll probably have a good laugh here. But Noah's nothing if not a bit clueless, like how maybe he should've guessed he wasn't quite straight when the school mean girl threw herself at him sexually and he couldn't escape her fast enough. “I’m hot for you, Noah!” she purred, like a bad porn actress.

Yes, I gave this 5 stars, but NOT for the humor... which I, as a general rule, didn't find humorous! :(

Well, yes. Yes there is. It just so happens that it comes from Harry. See, even though Harry was incredibly upset and angry at his boyfriend, he went ahead and dug out the *spoiler* from the bin that Noah was so desperately seeking. Even though this very thing represented what Harry was so upset about - one of the main things detracting Noah's attention from their relationship - Harry rooted around through garbage to get it for the one he loves, even though the one he loves was definitely mistreating him. And that says it all, doesn't it? Noah is probably on the autism spectrum, having massive social skill issues, obsessions with the way things need to be and with mystery detectives, a point that makes his unraveling the details of his predicament insanely funny. It has that Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime feel. He says things out loud that most say in their head. It could just be social skill issues as well. He is massively smart and is a good person, scared and confused.No, Noah, it’s not,” she said, pushing him into his bedroom. “They just say that to make the weird kids feel better." I feel like the first book was better thought out, had longer scenes that were more grounded in the moment. The sequel flew by and we barely stopped at the more important and serious scenes, just touching up on them. I felt like more focus was placed on the crazy/weird stuff happening around Noah and Noah being completely off the charts. Noah Can't Even is silly and over-the-top in all the right ways, making the laugh-out-loud moments an absolute joy to read. This might be London, and it might all be very hip, but they’d forgotten about the one thing that was always en vogue: good grammar.