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Jan 29, 2017TEENREVIEWCREW rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Libby Strout is labeled as the fat girl who couldn't even get out of her house. Everyone thinks Jack Masselin is the cool guy who knows everyone. But things on the surface aren't what's really happening. Libby dealed with her emotions after her moms death by eating, but she's lost 200+ pounds and is trying to start over. Jack has a secret that no one knows; he cant recognize a face, not even his own. When these two get caught up in a cruel high school game, they end up in counselling together and bond over the fact that they are both really alone. Although this book sounded really interesting, I couldn't get into it. Hopefully I'll pick it up and try again later because I’ve liked this author’s other books. - @Fallenangelhushhush of the Teen Review Board of the Hamilton Public Library Wow. What a beautifully executed and well established book this was. Jennifer Niven surprised me with her YA novel “All the Bright Places” but I can’t say I loved it as much as this one. Holding Up the Universe was exactly what I have yearned for as a Saturday night book, because it captured the essence of the main characters and focused only on them. Libby, known at one point as America’s Fattest Teen when she was removed from her house by a crane during a fire. Jack, who cannot recognize faces of his loved ones, his friends, and wakes up everyday not knowing who his mother even is. How unlikely for a popular boy with a secret and a girl with an embarrassment she can’t live down, to meet and to hate each other to a point of love. They meet together only because Jack attacks her in a game of “Fat Girl Rodeo”, and she trusts him only because he tells her the biggest secret of his life. Niven has outdone her previous novel by bringing two very real, very interesting and very beautiful characters together in the most perfect way. The sheer perfectness appears to be a bit staged, but otherwise one of my favourite YA romances of this time! Rating 4.5/5 - @jewelreader of the Teen Review Board of the Hamilton Public Library