What Goes Up by Christine Heppermann | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

How do you forgive yourself—and the people you love—when a shocking discovery leads to a huge mistake? Acclaimed author Christine Heppermann’s novel-in-verse tackles betrayals and redemption among family and friends with her signature unflinching—but always sharply witty—style. For fans of Elana K. Arnold, Laura Ruby, and A. S. King.
When Jorie wakes up in the loft bed of a college boy she doesn’t recognize, she’s instantly filled with regret. What happened the night before? What led her to this place? Was it her father’s infidelity? Her mother’s seemingly weak acceptance? Her recent breakup with Ian, the boy who loved her art and supported her through the hardest time of her life?
As Jorie tries to reconstruct the events that led her to this point, free verse poems lead the reader through the current morning, as well as flashbacks to her relationships with her parents, her friends, her boyfriend, and the previous night.
With Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty and Ask Me How I Got Here, Christine Heppermann established herself as a vital voice in thought-provoking and powerful feminist writing for teens. Her poetry is surprising, wry, emotional, and searing. What Goes Up is by turns a scorchingly funny and a deeply emotional story that asks whether it’s possible to support and love someone despite the risk of being hurt. Readers of Laura Ruby, E. K. Johnston, Elana K. Arnold, and Laurie Halse Anderson will find a complicated heroine they won’t soon forget.

Verse books are my kryptonite. Seriously, I just got into them randomly and now cannot resist picking them. What Goes Up by Christine Heppermann is a book I started reading on a whim on my Kindle. You see, this is going to sound so shallow, but I was looking for the shortest book to read as a bit of a palate cleanser. This was the book that came up. I ended up reading What Goes Up in a single sitting.

Heppermann’s What Goes Up opens with Jorie waking up in the loft bed of a college boy that she doesn’t know. The book then takes us through why she made this not so great life choice. We see that there were a lot of elements behind her making the decision. Jorie’s home life isn’t what she wants it to be. After all, she discovered that her dad was having an affair with one of his co-workers and cheating on her mother. She breaks up with her boyfriend as well. We also see her relationship with her friends who she goes to the party the previous night with — if I am recalling correctly.

This is a very quick read, as I said. Heppermann’s story immediately engaged me. I found that I instantly cared about Jorie and her situation. She was someone I felt empathy for. After all,  it’s hard to process and think about the marriage of your parents falling apart. I get why Jorie was falling apart. Also — one cool thing about Jorie is her obsession with mushrooms. I feel like I learned a little something from her about mushrooms. In all honesty, that was not a topic I had really cared about before.

I do think that What Goes Up probably would have been a better read via print, just because some of the poems I had to turn and flip my kindle all around and over to read. That kind of thing, for me, just goes over better in print. I definitely recommend this book especially if you are into contemporary verse books.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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