The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project

by Lenore Appelhans

• ISBN10: 1541512596
• ISBN13: 9781541512597
• Publish Date: 5 March 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
• Imprint: Carolrhoda Lab
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Readers are often lamenting about "the tropes", and one that often takes a beating is the manic pixie dream girl. This was a fun exploration of the MPDGs and their token boy, as they set out on their quest to save and redefine their trope.

• Pro: I had a lot of fun reading this book. It was odd and quirky, and I found myself laughing and nodding as I recognized so many of these characters and their traits from the books I have read.

• Pro: I've read several of these meta type books, and for me, this was one of the stronger ones, because it actually had more plot than the others. I felt like I went through all the fun stuff with the topes, but I also got a pretty fleshed out world and a complete story.

• Pro: This wasn't all just laughs and poking fun at tropes. Applehans also explored the idea of being more than your label and paving your own way, and I enjoyed being part of Riley's journey to self-fulfillment.

• Pro: Don't get me wrong, I love each and every John Green book, but I did giggle when I recognized some of his MPDGs. For example: Nebraska, yeah, you who she's supposed to be.

• Con: There were a few times I thought the author was trying too hard, but at the same time, the information relayed was quite informative. So, not a total con.

• Pro: When I read the first therapy session, I kept envisioning that scene from Wreck It Ralph, when all the bad guys are sharing how they were bad, and "bad" for the characters in this book was how they deviated from their trope. I thought it was just as much fun, and really looked forward to the therapy sessions.

Overall: This was a super fun romp through Trope Town, which also challenged the reader to look beyond the labels.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[bestmessever]

This is an extremely interesting premise and it is quite unlike anything I have ever read before. There was some great breaking of the fourth wall and the whole book comes off very meta which I really enjoyed. Our main character Riley is someone you start rooting for almost automatically because he has such a likable personality and I really enjoy his struggle with whether he is who he is because of programming or because that really is him. There is a great moment in the book where the characters are talking about how readers are clamoring for more diverse stories and I really enjoyed that the author recognized this and decided to include it. All that being said I do have some issues with the book. The writing style was not my cup of tea, when we are going over a characters trait sheet a letter or two in every word is missing like old school text speech but it ends up just making the book harder to read. (Granted this is an e-arc so this might be something that is changed before the final copy comes out.) I also thought that at times the story was quite juvenile which threw me out of the story since the characters all live on their own and have jobs. Some of the plot was extremely convenient to a point that it was annoying and I wasn't a fan of a particular trope that was used at the end of the story.

Verdict: All that being said, this was a very unique story and it definitely made me laugh. I enjoyed myself for the most part and will be interested to see what else this author puts out. I gave this book a 3/5.