Ali BenjaminCritiques

Representation: It's complicated...
Trigger warnings: Death of a child in the ocean, death of a friend, grief and loss depiction
Score: Eight points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

This is the first book I have ever read that involved grief and it just delivered! The main character, Suzy, is so unique and interesting which is due to her impressive imagination and good use of metaphors that really made her distinct from other characters in other books. The plot itself is quite simple considering that it's targeted towards middle graders but it was so effective and I think all readers can enjoy this masterpiece of a book. The way this book was written was interesting but it didn't feel gimmicky, disjointed or unnecessary at all, it's just the story is split between two time periods and it just goes back and forth between the two. The plot revolves around Suzy and her friend Franny whose friendship fell apart and later on she died for some reason and Suzy thought a jellyfish stung her and killed her so she embarks on a research project about jellyfish at school while also processing the feelings of grief which I liked and I thought that was executed well. I also supposed Franny was a great friend right until she no longer accepted Suzy as herself and it was a shame that she couldn't restore her friendship with her and I liked the side characters as well since they were all very supportive of her, especially her science teacher whose name I forgot. If you like a well executed story about loss and grief this is the book for you.

After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy must have been a rare jellyfish sting--things don't just happen for no reason. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory--even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy's achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe...and the potential for love and hope right next door.

I’d forgotten that the book is loose modernization of Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome. You don’t need to be familiar with that classic to enjoy this humorous and ultimately profound story about a family dealing with misogyny and social media. It takes place during the Brent Kavanaugh hearings so it takes a bit of an adjustment to read within that context. The ending takes a surprising turn that attempts wrap up themes and the title somewhat successfully. Despite the humor and excellent writing, this isn’t a must read.

This was really gorgeous and I felt all of Zu's emotions.

When 12 year old Suzy's friend, Franny, dies in the sea on holiday, Suzy can not accept that 'some things just happen'. She stops talking and, on a school trip to the aquarium, becomes convinced that Franny was stung by a jellyfish. She begins researching jellyfish, eventually deciding that she needs to go and visit an expert in Australia to find the answers that she is seeking. Along the way, she recounts the story of her friendship with Franny and eventually makes new friends. This is interspersed with amazing scientific facts and information and commentary about the value of silence and the importance of understanding and being understood.
This was a really touching story about loss, growing up, family, science, feeling out of place and the universe. I read the whole book in one afternoon, being swept along by the need to find out whether Suzy would be able to find the explanation that would enable her to say goodbye to her friend.

I think this book is great for students who have experienced loss in their life. Suzy experiences a sudden and tragic loss in her life and must learn how to cope with the events. Readers will be able to see that death is a part of life and that grieving and feeling that sorrow is natural. It also shows that things do get better.

Suzy deals with the drowning death of her friend Franny. She is absolutely sure that her friends death was caused by a sting from a very rare jellyfish, the Irukandji. Suzy goes on an epic journey to find a scientist to help prove her idea/theory and that "some things just happen" is not true.

On the whole, quite a good book on the subject of grieving -- on trying to make sense of unexpected, unimaginable loss. Also a good middle grade book on being an outcast, and how a caring teacher can make a difference. I didn't love the audio book reader. I didn't hate them, either. I just feel kind of neutral on the whole thing -- it's solid. If you like sad books and working through cringy adolescence it's a very fine choice. Also, hooray for gay brother and partner and overall good family support in the face of Suzy's devastating grief.

I enjoyed this a lot, but I went to a weird little school like Mitchell, so I identify strongly with the Originals and their shenanigans. I thought the mixture of formats was very effective, and I think the new girl point of view was an excellent choice. An unusual story, hard to put down. Also, goats! And lots of legendary school hijinks. Goofy and fun.

Interesting book set in 2018 during the Supreme Court hearing. It feels like ancient history. Can we be saved from bad politicians bad politics and crazy situations. Where are the good people. Well worth the read.½

The Thing About Jellyfish is a thoughtful coming-of-age novel that has a tragic beginning that draws the reader into the story. The female author, Ali Benjamin, describes Suzy’s heartfelt and scientific journey to try to determine the cause of her best friend’s drowning accident. As she explores life, death, and the natural world of our universe, she discovers how she feels about grief, friendship, and hope.

After Suzy's best friend dies, she realizes that everthing happens for a reason. She travels the world alone to prove her theory and encounters many expereinces along the way. This coming of age novel is good to assign for a book report, literacy circle, and/or a reflection because it has a lot of underlying themes and meanings and it could potentially touch a young middle schoolers because they are about the same age as Suzy, so they can relate to her.

Though it takes a while to get to the SEARCH for the next great Paulie Fink, Benjamin does such a wonderful job capturing the fleeting moments of 7th grade (good and bad) that I didn't even mind.

a great book for the socially awkward smart or nerdy girl. great for elementary to middle school ttansition and friendship stories. friend beavement story. divorce too.

This review written for the monthly newsletter of The Children's Book and Media Review"

“Jellyfish don't get bogged down by drama, by love or friendship, or sorrow. They don't get stuck in any of the stuff that gets people in trouble.”

When it comes to entertainment, I’m not a crier (real life is an entirely different story). There are only about four books that have made me cry. This is one of them.

After Suzy Swanson’s ex-best friend, Franny Jackson, drowns during the summer before 7th grade, Suzy stops talking. She decides that talking is pointless and stops. When her class goes to the aquarium and she sees a tiny, almost invisible but highly poisonous jellyfish, she is convinced that her friend died because of a jellyfish sting. Her whole life starts to focus on proving that it was a jellyfish that killed her friend, and she creates an elaborate plan to run away to Australia to get help from a jellyfish expert there.

The story is told through Suzy’s distinct style and personality. The story has Suzy’s observations about jellyfish as she does research to prove that it was jellyfish that killed her friend, quotes from her science teacher, and flashbacks that explain the history of her friendship with Franny. One of the most beautiful aspects of Suzy’s perspective is that she doesn’t truly understand what’s going on. As she focuses on jellyfish and not-talking, which for her means choosing not to fill the world with useless words, the perceptive reader understands that this is Suzy’s way of mourning the death of her friend and the earlier death of their friendship when Suzy has no power over the situation.

Her preoccupation with these things is what makes the book so heartbreaking. The reader understands why Suzy is doing these things, but Suzy herself does not. She is very much twelve-years-old and learning how confusing the world is. She doesn’t know how to help herself, or even know that she needs help, so she throws herself into not-talking and finding a way to get help from a jellyfish expert. Reading it made my heart ache for her, and when she finally starts to heal and let the people who love her into her life again, I couldn’t help but cry. Even days after I finished reading it, I couldn’t stop thinking about Suzy and her jellyfish.

The well-developed characters, complex emotions, focus on science, and the beautiful way it handles grief will capture the hearts of many of its readers. It is not surprise that The Thing about Jellyfish was nominated for the 2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

children's middlegrade (main character is entering 7th grade) fiction with incidentally divorced parents and incidentally gay college-aged older brother; dealing with the death of a best friend scientific inquiry. REVIEWED FROM UNCORRECTED ARC. So it turns out that Franny, the girl who suddenly drowns over the summer, was more of an ex-friend to Suzy--they had had a falling out (due to Franny falling in with the "popular" kids) and Suzy was unable to make up with her before the incident, which makes the grieving process that much harder for Suzy. I appreciated that Rocco (Suzy's brother's boyfriend) kept saying that Middle School is just Terrible, period, but implies that it gets better; while Suzy's experiences (outside of her friend dying) were pretty typical, and I liked how Suzy makes friends with Justin (who used to act up but is better when he takes his ADHD meds--even though I have mixed feelings about ADHD meds).

A marriage spirals out of control when the issues of our day—cultural, political, and social—become intensely personal in this fresh, whip-smart novel

DNF. No likeable characters fifty pages in, and it just reminded me about how I didn't like the original Ethan Frome either.

Middle-class student Ethan falls in with exuberant rich-kid Randy at college and joins him to found an innovative media company. Twenty years later and Ethan is living in the New England countryside with his family. Daughter Alex is hyper and struggling with school, she has few boundaries. Wife Zo is avoiding her work as a filmmaker and is becoming more involved with her activist group. Also living with them is Maddy, the daughter of an acquaintance. When Randy is accused of sexual harassment, he asks Ethan to help him out and Ethan feels obliged as his only source of income is the company that he founded. Against the background of #metoo and the increasingly splintered social media, Ethan tries to remain true to himself.
Whilst this is a very pointed book, it is also very entertaining. the scene of Ethan taking mushrooms if particularly funny. However also at times I felt the author tried just that little bit too hard. It's a fun read but almost feels a little too conscious of itself at times.

The Smash-Up is hard to define. It’s a novel (that’s easy) that encompasses the lives of one family but it also covers problems much larger than one town and at times, even the USA. Some themes are universal, some are local. It’s a ball of rage, unrest and unfairness set the in the Trump era told from the point of view of a white middle class man, but before you move on – it’s not like that. It’s a balanced portrayal of #MeToo, American politics and not fitting in to the cultural norms.

Zo and Ethan were once a couple with big dreams. She was a film maker; he was part of the internet revolution. But Ethan sold out his share and now designs websites for doctors who cherry pick evidence to suit and Zo is far too busy being angry to work on her current project. She’s part of a female activist group (All Them Witches) and is trying to get their daughter Alex in to see a paediatrician. Alex doesn’t fit in with the other kids at her private school – she’s a chatterbox and moves at a million miles per hour. Even some of her classmates’ parents are starting to question whether she belongs with their little darlings. Alex is also incredibly fun. Ethan is lost as Zo moves further away, always seeming angry (or ordering furniture online). His solace is through quiet morning walks to the local diner where he engages with his neighbours, conversations with the local UPS store employee and a weird kind of fixation with their houseguest. He’s there to attempt to pick up the pieces – oh and to try to stop a former employee of his company (now world-famous actress) from joining a class action against the co-founder.

The novel has some funny moments, as well as some jaw dropping ones. While Ethan is fairly predictable, Zo is not. She goads the police into arresting her and sometimes it seems her anger has no limits, no matter how big or small the target is. Ethan is by no means the stereotypical hero, as he spends a lot of time pondering the ‘right’ thing to do, whether it be blackmailing someone or returning a rug without telling Zo. One part I did enjoy were the flashbacks to Ethan’s company, Bränd, and their new style of marketing. It was more light hearted and fun to read about big, bold ideas after the minutiae of Ethan’s life. The ending was very powerful and really grabbed my interest as it was so unexpected (but maybe it shouldn’t have been).

Overall, The Smash-Up is very well written and held my interest as it tackled big issues from a small-town viewpoint.

Thank you to Hachette for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

After 9/11, Ethan, co founder of a successful media firm who has sold his share of the business and Zo, a documentary filmmaker, escape from Brooklyn to rural Massachusetts. Here they start a new life with their challenging ADHD daughter, Alex. It is now 2018, and Zo has banded together with fellow female resisters after the shocking election of 2016, while Ethan is questioning his life and Alex is on the verge of being kicked out of her very expensive private school. As the country seems to spiral out of control, so does their life together in this modern take on the classic novel, Ethan Frome.

I really liked this book. I felt the author accurately captured and portrayed the time and the feelings of many. Her thoughts on aging, the world we live in and scary revelations about what social media is doing to us are perception and provocative, as is her question about what kind of world is being left for the next generation. The book begins with the question, “what happened?” and Ali Benjamin does a good job in showing how we got to where we are today and what has become of our society.

Rather than ramble on, I'm going to keep my review brief for a change. I appreciate the author incorporating relevant subjects into the story such as the #metoo movement, the political climate, the Kavanaugh hearings, etc., but unfortunately I never got into a good reading grove with this book. The writing style just didn't click with me and I knew that fairly early on. I'm not sure if quirky is the best way to describe it or not. Regardless the characters just didn't come alive to me and I didn't feel invested in them. And that's a shame because this book is a bit of a modern day retelling of Ethan Frome which is one of my favorite reads.

Not every book is a perfect fit for every reader, and that's okay. Judging by the some of the early reviews, this book was a great read for quite a few people. You never know what will turn out to be an awesome read unless you try.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy! All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.

This is a fantastic middle school book -- the kind that gets it. Suzanne (Zu, Suzy) Swanson has just started 7th grade with a big shadow -- her former best friend Franny drown at the end of the summer. As a result, she has consciously decided to stop talking: "...I'd started not-talking. Which isn't refusing to talk, like everyone thinks it is. It's just deciding not to fill the world with words if you don't have to. It is the opposite of constant-talking, which is what I used to do, and it's better than small talk, which is what people wished I did." (8) This book is her attempt to reconcile both the death and also how their friendship ended when the summer began. Suzy is the first-person narrator and she definitely has a different lens on the world -- a little childish, very literal (maybe on the spectrum?) and extremely intelligent. She alternates between the painful present of not fitting in with her typically cruel classmates and the past of the best moments of her 5 years of friendship with Franny -- until Franny started to change in 6th grade, liking boys and popular girls and knowing how to fit in and ultimately leaving Suzy in the dust. To add to Suzanne's mixed-up life, her parents got divorced around that time. She also has a gay brother who went off to college. Regarding the current state of her life she says: "Sometimes you want things to change so badly, you can't even stand to be in the same room with the way things actually are." Lots of issues to tackle here, none of them too new to this age and genre, but here they are handled so beautifully and poignantly without any of the predictability or treacle that other books rely on. The thing that helps Suzy move forward is jellyfish. "Jellyfish separate the world that was from the world that is....Jellyfish are survivors. They are survivors of everything that ever happened to everyone else." On a school trip to the aquarium (in which she describes her loneliness at being overlooked and forgotten touchingly) she wanders into the jellyfish room and is fascinated by what she sees and learns. True-to-Suzy-form, she gets a little obsessed ("there are 4 to 5 stings every second... twenty-three people are stung within 5 seconds") and begins to research them on her own and becomes convinced there is a link to Franny's death. This also doubles as her science research project and becomes a crazy (cray-cray) quest. Ultimately, she finds peace and understanding and acceptance of herself. One sweet boy, Justin and one true teacher, Mrs. Turton help her on this journey of self-awareness. If only all middle-schoolers could have such guides. I'm trying to decide if this is too young for 8th grade, but the depth would make it appealing -- there is lots of nuance here for a careful reader. Also probably best for 5th grade and up for the same reason.

Suzy Swanson and Franny Jackson used to be best friends until Franny started liking boys and hanging out with the popular girls. Suzy and Franny always told each other that they would give each other a signal if one of them started acting stuck up. So at the end of 6th grade after being ignored and humiliated by Franny, Suzy sends Franny a BIG message. Unfortunately the signal is not received as planned and the two never speak again. At the end of the summer Suzy learns that Franny has drowned. The guilt and grief that Suzy experiences is so deep that she literally stops talking. Her world has been crushed. The only thing that gets her through the year is Mrs. Turton's science class and her project on jellyfish. The book is structured like a science experiment - Purpose, Hypothesis, Background, Variables, Procedure, Results and Conclusion. Franny's death has been explained as "sometimes things just happen" which was not good enough for Suzy. Suzy's hypothesis for her science project is that the worst thing was caused by a sting from a Irukandji jellyfish. Suzy uses science to explain Franny's death. Going through the process of the scientific experience is cathartic and allows Suzy to come to terms with what happened to her friend. Suzy gains confidence and finds her voice as well as some new friends who understand her.

This was a great coming of age book. The format of telling the story by means of a scientific experiment was interesting. I also loved learning more about jellyfish. I read this over the summer for a book club with my 13 year old niece.

Suzy is a great protagonist. She is struggling with the fact that her best friend recently died, and also that really, they stopped being best friends shortly before that. Suzy is smart and excited about things she thinks are cool, but wasn't growing up in the same direction as her friend and couldn't understand why Franny would abandon her for boys and fashion. I feel you, Suzy. It sucks to lose friends for reasons that you can't fathom. When Franny died, Suzy stopped talking and obsessed over an idea that all of a sudden sounded so plausible to her, that Franny must have been stung by a jellyfish because she was a great swimmer, there's no way she could have drowned. Suzy's grief put her inside of herself, to the point where she was an echo chamber without a voice of reason.
I like Suzy's family, who love her and are very supportive. Also her brother is gay which is an unimportant piece in the entire plot, which is greaaaaat. Also jellyfish are cool.