Julie's Reviews > Tell the Rest

This story is set up with two characters' present povs interspersed with flashbacks to their experiences at a religious conversion therapy camp. Delia's pov overpowered Ernest's to that point that I don't think we gain much from seeing his. I was often bored during Ernest's sections (he gets very attached to cats and struggles to write a poem about the traumatic camp experience, pretty much sums up most of what we learn from those chapters), and I don't think they really added to the story. The very quiet nature of these sections also fed into the overall anticlimactic feeling I experienced when the two characters were finally in the same place again. I much preferred the way we learned about Cal in the story, a character whose presence felt much heavier than Ernest's despite not getting updates on his life throughout the book. In my opinion, the greatest strength of this book is the basketball story where we see Delia evolve and grow along with the high school basketball team players. In comparison, the conversations on religion felt a bit forced and disconnected. I just don't think the components fit together very well, which left me not feeling satisfied by the ending. Definitely enjoyed parts of the story, but I think the concept could have been better executed.