#zenn diagram

[jamietukpahwriting]

Book Review: Zenn Diagram by Wendy Brant

Popularity comes with consequences. Gossip, backstabbing, and hierarchy battles abound. Eva Walker is content with anonymity. Clawing her way up the social ladder is the least of Eva’s worries when the brush of a fingertip against someone else or their belongings floods her mind with all their secrets, their insecurities, their fears. Casual hugs, arm punches, shoulder grabs, and pokes are all out of the question for Eva unless she wants to know way more about a person than either of them would be comfortable with.

Content with her big family and best friend, Charlotte, for companionship, Eva uses her gift to keep her reputation as a math tutor flawless. It’s pretty easy when she can figure out how people are struggling just by touching their calculators. Yet, there’s an exception for every rule. When Eva starts tutoring Zenn Bennet, she gets absolutely nothing from his calculator. Testing the phenomenon, she touches his jacket and gets savage feedback. Usually that would be enough to ensure tutoring is as far as it goes between them, but there’s something about Zenn that keeps Eva going back for more.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be? A familiar question, and one often answered with: mind reading. Eva’s gift is more a type of psychometry, the ability to receive psychic images from skin to skin contact or an object. She finds the visual manifestation of her gift beautiful, but the emotional feedback exhausts her. Sometimes particularly negative emotions even make her feel sick. Like what she felt from Zenn’s jacket, for example.

It’s just that nothing Eva learns about Zenn adds up to what she felt from his jacket. His sense of humor catches her off-guard. So do his artistic skills, his part-time job roster, and his ease with the quadruplets. Even she gets overwhelmed by four toddlers all together, and they’re her little siblings. It seems like Eva’s hit with everything at once. Not only is she trying to solve the Zenn problem, on her own since Charlotte started dating Eva’s jock tutee, Josh, and leapt a few rungs up the social ladder, but she’s also attempting to finalize college plans while juggling the competing identities of obedient daughter, third parent, and independent young adult.

Eva doesn’t want to make things difficult for her family, but she’s starting to realize just how little she’s exercised the freedom available to her. She’s hesitant to meddle in Charlotte’s relationship, but she feels abandoned and the things she’s read off Josh aren’t the best. She knows she should probably stay away from Zenn, but no one else has ever made her so willing to push past her well-entrenched boundaries. Eva is used to keeping her hands clean, but straightening out her life might require getting them dirty.

Zenn Diagram is a young adult novel with a sly, self-deprecating sense of humor. Eva views the world with an immense amount of practicality for a teenager. In particular, there’s a scene where she expresses that everyone has the right to reach for opportunities, even when their awareness of those opportunities is gained directly from her. Her family is religious, but she only internalizes and applies those values which she personally believes in. Eva is also distinctly determined, especially in her journey throughout the novel as she realizes how deeply she’s allowed her ability to isolate, and what little attempt she’s made to nurture connections despite her gift. One of the best things about this novel is that Eva grows a lot, and recognizes that other people have the potential for growth also, from her parents to her best friend’s boyfriend.

There are a few things that might be fairly typical of a realistic portrayal of a teenager, but which I didn’t particularly care for. There were a few instances of casual slut shaming. Nothing rampant, at all. I’m just sensitive to it. Some characters struggled with alcohol dependency, but the impact wasn’t really shown so much as referenced. To be fair, they were secondary and tertiary characters, which made them a little more removed from the central storyline. However, since alcoholism is a problem teenagers struggle with, both within themselves and when friends and family struggle, it would have been nice to have that real life struggle juxtaposed with Eva’s struggle with her abilities.

All in all, I’d give it a 4 out of 5! Not perfect, but definitely worth a reread.

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[lifeofaliterarynerd]

Eva Walker // Zenn Diagram

While I’m good at figuring out numbers, I’m not so good at figuring out people.

[candidcover]

(via Review: Zenn Diagram by Wendy Brant)

Zenn Diagram by Wendy Brant really surprised me. When I first saw it, I was interested in how the author would incorporate a more sci-fi sounding concept into a contemporary, but it ended up working out perfectly. The main character is funny and relatable, and the way the book is written is just what I like. Even the title is a math joke!

[hereswatithink]

Eva Walker has an undeniable gift when it comes to solving mathematical equations. As if that is not enough, she is also blessed with the ability to see the fears and insecurities of people through touching their things. For Eva, this is a curse which hinders her from getting into an intimate relationship, until she met Zenn Bennett.

Zenn Diagram is not like any of those I have previously read and it is a good thing. I was usually good at guessing the plot twists but what Wendy Brant gave me was something unexpected.

The last part for me was kind of a let down. It was as if it had been rushed or cut short. I hate that it ended without answering the question of how she even got her ability? and is there any chance for her to stop getting those fractals?

Zenn Diagram is one of those stories that show how fate works mysteriously. This reminds us that somehow, at certain point of our existence, we are going to meet people that could change our lives forever.

[booksofteacups]

Waiting on Wednesday: The Calculus of Change by Jessie Hilb Date Released: February 27, 2018 Publisher: Clarion Books Synopsis: A poignant and empowering teen novel of grief, unrequited love, and finding comfort in one's own skin.

[bookswritinghappiness]

Title: Zenn Diagram • Author: Wendy Brant • Number of Pages: 328 • Rating: 3/5 Published: April 4, 2017 • Read: May 23, 2020 - May 31, 2020

Goodreads Synopsis: Eva Walker has literally one friend—if you don’t count her quadruplet three-year-old-siblings—and it’s not even because she’s a math nerd. No, Eva is a loner out of necessity, because everyone and everything around her is an emotional minefield. All she has to do is touch someone, or their shirt, or their cell phone, and she can read all their secrets, their insecurities, their fears. Sure, Eva’s “gift” comes in handy when she’s tutoring math and she can learn where people are struggling just by touching their calculators. For the most part, though, it’s safer to keep her hands to herself. Until she meets six-foot-three, cute-without-trying Zenn Bennett, who makes that nearly impossible. Zenn’s jacket gives Eva such a dark and violent vision that you’d think not touching him would be easy. But sometimes you have to take a risk…

My Review: My local library sometimes gives out free ARCs that they have lying around, so I picked this one up right before it came out in 2017. I originally intended to read it before its release day… and as you can tell, it took me another three years to finally get around to it. The premise sounded pretty cool but considering the fact that I haven’t heard anyone else really talking about it, I expected it to be a fairly average book. To my pleasant surprised, I enjoyed it more than I expected to!

I think my favorite aspect of Zenn Diagram was Eva’s narrative voice - I honestly found myself laughing as I read her thoughts and observations. She’s snarkier than I expected her to be, for sure, and I liked her a lot! I also generally loved the development of her relationship with Zenn, though there was one moment (no spoilers, I promise) when I thought their relationship progressed too quickly, like irrationally quickly. They are really sweet together, though : ) There was one scene that I particularly loved in which Zenn meets Eva’s quadruplet siblings for the first time, and ahh it’s so sweet!! The book moved quickly enough that it kept my interest, though not to the point where I couldn’t put it down, and wow, that last third of the book definitely surprised me and was not at all what I expected from the description.

As much as I did like Eva, her narrations sometimes took too many long tangents that I personally feel distracted me from what was actually happening in the moment. I also thought that her conflict with her best friend Charlotte was resolved a little bit too easily and could have been a more significant part of the book.

I liked Zenn Diagram a decent amount as I was reading, and it definitely put a smile on my face, but overall I wouldn’t consider it a must-read or anything.

Zenn Diagram on Goodreads This Review on Goodreads My Goodreads

[jamiesshelves]

[randombrowngirl]

When you order a medium but get a large instead. Happy Sunday

[fascra]

i mean this with absolute love to all of my mutuals but i do not believe you exist :)

[mobilepubliclibraryteens]

The more I touch someone, the more I can see and understand, and the more I think I can help. But that’s my mistake. I can’t help. You can’t fix people like you can solve a math problem. Math genius. Freak of nature. Loner. Eva Walker has literally one friend—if you don’t count her quadruplet three-year-old-siblings—and it’s not even because she’s a math nerd. No, Eva is a loner out of necessity, because everyone and everything around her is an emotional minefield. All she has to do is touch someone, or their shirt, or their cell phone, and she can read all their secrets, their insecurities, their fears. Sure, Eva’s “gift” comes in handy when she’s tutoring math and she can learn where people are struggling just by touching their calculators. For the most part, though, it’s safer to keep her hands to herself. Until she meets six-foot-three, cute-without-trying Zenn Bennett, who makes that nearly impossible. Zenn’s jacket gives Eva such a dark and violent vision that you’d think not touching him would be easy. But sometimes you have to take a risk…

[lifeofaliterarynerd]

Zenn Diagram // Wendy Brant

While I’m good at figuring out numbers, I’m not so good at figuring out people.

[positivity-studies]

[ 05 30 2020 | corona boredom cures day 73/? ] studyblr quarantine challenge day 69

Since today was the first day of BookConline, I spent today watching panels featuring my favorite authors and reading my current read - Zenn Diagram by Wendy Brant!! I’m looking forward to another day of virtual panels, reading, and writing tomorrow : )

challenge topic: What is your favourite word? (in any language)

I’ll do one for each of the two languages I’m most familiar with!!

English: I actually had to think a lot about this because it’s not something I’ve really thought a lot about for English words, but I’m going to go with iridescent - I like the way the word sounds and I love iridescent colors : ) Knowing me, I’m probably going to think of a better word as soon as I post this though lol

Hebrew: בקבוק (means “bottle,” pronounced “bakbook”) - I’ve always thought this word sounded so funny, so it’s become my favorite!!

[just0nemorepage]

Shout-Out Saturday is a weekly feature on my blog to promote one randomly picked lesser-known book blog in order to help it receive a little more attention. Please consider checking them out, following them, or maybe even sending a message!

Every URL featured here will be added for good in the top half of my fellow bookish blogs page. If you are interested in being featured, please fill out this form.

This week’s bookish blog: @bookswritinghappiness

Name: Melanie.

Age: 21.

Lives in: USA.

Favorite books: Red White & Royal Blue ; Simon vs. the Homosapiens Agenda ;  Shades of Magic ; Percy Jackson ; Septimus Heap ; They Both Die At the End ; What If It’s Us.

Unique blog features: Book Reviews ; Original Content.

Also found on: Goodreads ; Twitter ; Instagram.

“melanie | books and writing | she/her / Established 08.11.16 / Currently Reading: Zenn Diagram by Wendy Brant / I follow back as justwannabeafangirl”

[miafic]

hello aly im dyeing my hair red rn (sorry for getting rid of the pink travis, it’ll probably be back soon!) and i’m bored as rocks waiting for it to finish processing. i’ve been meaning to ask for a while but i keep forgetting bc animal crossing but do you have any book recs? i wanna read more during quarantine but i don’t have anything i want to read!!

idk if this will be everyone’s cup of tea, but a monster calls is the book that left me just stunned. holy cow i LOVED it. it’s the book that geoff tells clara rose is the best book he’s read since he’s seen her. i thought it was going to scary, but it wasn’t at all. it was just so good. so good. some of the stuff you can see coming, but 90% of it is like WHAAAAT. at least, for me it was. geoff has read so many things that he’s a little jaded (although he’d never admit it) so he loved the twists and turns that this story took. and right off the bat, you’ll understand what drew him to it initially. (it’s the same thing that almost led him to abandon it.)

imaginary friend is so wild. that book. i could not stop. i was like, one more chapter! and then i’d read for two more hours!! it’s really long, but it’s so good. so weird. will change the way you look at me having foster au awsten call geoff “the nice man” (although that’s not intentional haha). this is written by stephen chbosky (perks of being a wallflower) but you’d never know. it’s so, so different. i went to two concerts in january, and i took pictures of a bunch of pages of the book both nights before i left so i could read between sets. that’s how good it was. hahaha.

you’ve probably seen me say aristotle and dante is good. (shoutout maddy for the rec.) if you haven’t - aristotle and dante is GOOD. like, so so so so so good. ari is everything i ever wanted to read about. he is so wonderful and the story is so nice and i really liked it ahhhh. 

if you’re looking for something lighter than the first two, zenn diagram is a good one. i thought the end was a little cheesy, but i mostly liked it. it was good for what it was. it’s about a high school girl who can feel people’s emotions if she touches their stuff. she’s really into math. i wasn’t super invested in what happened, but i had fun reading it. 

the art of feeling is about a high school girl who has is recovering from a leg injury and emotional trauma because her mom died in a car accident, and she was in the car. she meets a guy who can’t feel pain. if you read this, i’d be interested to hear what you think of the end. 

emi, i hope your hair turns out well!! travis would love to see it no matter the color haha. 

[kookbookery]

‪“I like the library… I like it better than most people. It’s quiet. It has substance.”‬

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[bookswritinghappiness]

Guess who happened to stop at the library and get more ARCs? Me!! :1 One of the books was already on my list and the other I had never heard of but it sounded so good so I just had to take it! It’s not going to be released for another month, so it’s pretty cool that I really do have it in advance :1

Books Pictured:

A List of Cages by Robin Roe Zenn Diagram by Wendy Brant

My Links: [Goodreads • Book Reviews]