There's a lot going on in Every Word You Never Said, and also very little

You know, some books just work their way into my atmosphere, and I have no idea how they got there. Every Word You Never Said by Jordon Greene is one of them. I genuinely don’t remember how I found out about this book. I know it was one of those that was sat on my Amazon wishlist – the wishlist that I use to keep track of when books are coming out – for a while… Other than that, I couldn’t tell you. So going into this book, I had no pre-conceptions about it, nor did I know what to expect.

Also, since the book doesn’t mention any content warnings, I’ll put in some that I think would apply: Homophobia (particularly religious homophobia), bullying and ableism.

Anyway, the blurb is a lot of text. There’s a little four-line thing on the top of the back of the book that’s like a little pitch, and then a whole paragraph for each of the characters – and I think there’s a spelling error on the blurb as well.

Still, Skylar Gray is adopted, non-verbal, and feels most comfortable wearing skirts and life has never been easy, but he’s getting a new start with new parents in a new state. He also struggles to trust people as people are quick to ditch him at the first inconvenience, so there’s the thought of are things going to be any different this time around. And for Jacob, he doesn’t give a damn, especially not since he came out over the summer. He expected the hate from his father, but not his, now ex, best friend. But it doesn’t matter, because he’s going to paint his nails, dye his hair and strike a heavy rift on his guitar if he wants to… Me writing “rift” there was on purpose, that’s what it says on the blurb – despite the fact I’m pretty sure it’s “riff” and not “rift”. But then when Skylar turns up to school in a skirt, a new, sexist, dress code proposal pops up, so Jacob decides to take a stand.

Now if that seems like a lot. It’s because it is. I do think that a lot of that could have been cut down. Hell, what I wrote was an abridged version of the blurb and it still felt like a lot. I do feel like some of what was on the blurb could have been conveyed simply through the story, without being told to us on the back of the book. It’s one of those things that’s not explicitly a negative, it was just unnecessary if anything.

Still, chapter one opens on Skylar Gray as he now is starting at the new school, and on literally the second page, we find out he’s nonverbal because of laryngitis that he got when he was young and it messed up his vocal cords, so he speaks through text-to-speech on his phone, and Jacob gets assigned to give him a tour/show him around the school. Chapter two jumps over to Jacob’s POV, and he’s immediately clowned himself in front of Skylar – slay. But he gives Skylar the tour, and also thinks Skylar is really cute. Also, we find out Jacob is on the swim team and has had the bible shoved down his throat. Chapter three goes back to Skylar, he's in Sociology, and has to introduced himself, and ends up in a group with these two, Imani and Seth. Also, these chapters aren’t actually numbered, and this book does tend to flit between the two character pretty quickly.

One time I tweeted about how it annoyed me that whenever books reference singers and bands that the characters liked, that it was only ever really popular people. But the absolute validation when this book mentioned Myylo, someone who has popped up on my Discover Weekly on Spotify and has, as of me writing this, 66,000 monthly listeners. And I know it’s such a nothing detail, but I was so happy to see it.

So, as a person, Skylar has basically been in the foster system, so he’s been in a bunch of different homes, but the vibe is the Grays, Bob and Kimberly, who have taken him in at the start of the book are in it for the long haul. My point here is leading to that they throw him a birthday party, and from the way it seems in the book, I don’t think he’d ever had one before. He invites some of his friends at this point, and then Aunts and Uncles, that he’d never had before turn up. And the whole thing was just so wholesome. To be honest, we are Bob and Kimberly Gray stans first and humans second in this house.

There were a lot of adverbs used, and there were definitely a few times throughout the book where I think a few of them could have been removed. It was like not everything needed such a descriptive action. Sometimes things can just be. However, thinking about it from the other side, I did maybe wonder if it was because Skylar physically can’t talk, that’s why there were so many of them. Perhaps it was almost filling in the gap of how it sounds to him. Or, it could have just been that the author loves an adverb. Speaking on that for a second, I noticed the word “blurt” appeared a lot. Like, a lot of people blurted things in this book. And I bring it up specifically, because I’m wondering if it’s the word that just pops up in Greene’s writing a lot. Because I’ve noticed when I write creatively myself, I use the word “just” a lot.

What was a little weird about this book is that it was somehow one of those “things just happen” books while also having a plot. The sexist dress code that was mentioned in the blurb didn’t even come in until about halfway through the book, before that, it’s definitely things just happen vibes, it’s when the dress code moment happens where more of a plot comes in. And it’s odd, because, I might have done, but I don’t know whether there has been another book that’s been like this: One half is things just happen boots, and the other is actual plot. Although saying that, there is a plot there, but the things just happen the house down is far more present.

One thing I very much appreciated was Skylar, just in general. I feel like it could have been quite easy, since he’s non-verbal, for him to just be lacking a personality, and I think it would have almost been a little obviously to have him be nervous and not confident. But Greene managed to give Skylar a whole-ass snarky personality. And I also really appreciated that, yes, he’s like fifteen/sixteen, but he’s still mostly confident in himself, despite being a teenager. One thing, however, if I did have to nitpick. There are bits where Skylar questions the position he’s in – with his new parents, with Jacob. And I wish that had been more present than it was. While it was there, I think there were opportunities that it could have been ramped up even further than it was, just so it felt more like a looming threat, rather than just this little nagging thing.

I will also say, the conflict that happens between Skylar and Jacob felt a bit weird to me when it came out. First of all, both characters are clowns, and that comes with the territory of them being teenagers, that I’m fine with. I don’t have a problem with teenagers being bad communicators, because let’s not lie, they often are in general. But when the conflict happened, it gave me very much Leah Kate What Just Happened? tease. And it ties back to my last point about how I wish Skylar’s anxiety would have been ramped up, and more present throughout the whole book. I know that the conflict stemmed from his anxiety, but had it been more constantly present I don’t think I’d have had that ‘what just happened?’ vibe. Let me just say, I don’t have a problem with the conflict, I just think it happened very suddenly.

Even though I spent a whole paragraph complaining about the conflict reveal, I still had a nice time. This is one of those books that made a decent version of its own wheel. Like, did I feel like it did anything new? No. But, personally, I don’t need every book I read to be new and hyper-inventive for me. It’s one of those books where there are plenty of books I’ve enjoyed more, but there are also books I’ve enjoyed less. Like, if this book was a contestant on Drag Race it would have placed ‘Safe’, probably not gotten much screentime, and made it through to next week. A really good track record I’d compare it to would be Jade Jolie’s (on Drag Race or Dragula lmao) or Farrah Moan’s. They place ‘Safe’ for a solid few weeks until they eventually just drop off at about the halfway point.

Okay, bye!