As a child of the 90's, I have very strong memories of the songs from Alanis Morrissette's smash record Jagged Little Pill. I remember the music video with Alanis singing Ironic in her car. I also remember Alanis in the rooftop that eventually led to a pie fight in You Learn. And I may have a little too young to fully understand You Oughta Know but that didn't mean I didn't love rocking out to it. In 2018, all of this started coming together in the form of a musical. And now in 2022, this is written record of the Jagged Little Pill story.

Jagged Little Pill is an angst fueled look into a suburb in Connecticut. It is told in multiple perspectives and all very interconnected. This story holds discussions on sexuality, race, drugs, alcohol, broken family, adoption, illness, and other important topics. Each character has their own personalities and experiences which leads to varying levels of growth or even lack of growth. These characters had so many challenges, they often struggled to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Eric Smith loves to drop easter eggs in his books and this one is no exception. Finding the Alanis related easter eggs brought me joy while reading. They are just so well placed that if you were more unfamiliar with certain song lyrics, you could miss it and think it was just part of the story. Not having them interrupt the story allowed the story to keep flowing and the anger to keep building.

With so much angst, there were times when the characters frustrated me. I think that this was a good thing as it reminded me that these for the most part were teenage characters who were still growing up. And for those non-teenagers it was a reminder that people are evolving throughout their entire lives. That and the fact that life can get complicated pretty quickly; and it is not always fixed up perfectly either. The tone of the book was filled with ease which I think made the deep topics it covers easier to absorb. The tone made the story even more important.

Jagged Little Pill is targeted as a young adult book but it contains topics which are important for all ages. There are lessons within these pages. Lessons which if put in the right hands could be life saving making someone realize they are not alone. Through this story the legacy that is Alanis Morrissette will be continued with future generations as they will forever be learning.

I grew up on this album and have loved Alanis since day one. Before Covid seeing this musical was on my list, but I took the next best and read the book. Perfect!

I had a little trouble connecting with the characters of this story. I almost didn't finish, but I'm so glad I gave it a shot. I ended up really liking the book as a whole.

I love Alanis Morrisette. Really wanted to see the musical so this was the next best thing. I do feel though that the story could have been expanded upon even more but it is very deep and thoughtful.

This was a really gutsy YA novel that truly blew me away. So many tough, serious issues were addressed that I did not see coming. I loved the LGBTQ representation and that a main character was struggling with their queer identity. I loved the introduction of a mother struggling with substance abuse. The sexual assault scenes were difficult, but not something that is unrealistic from what actually occurs with teens (especially in the land of social media) today. I respected this novel so much. Full review to come on instagram and tiktok tomorrow, but I loved it! And Alanis is queen, so the lyric egg nuggets were SUPREME!

Love love love!!
If you are a fan of Alanis...this is a must read for you. The broadway show in paper form!

2.5 Stars

As quick of a read that this was, it wasn’t the book for me. Everything moved so quickly that it all felt really rushed. And for the subject matter, it was a disservice, IMO. The first 30% was set up and then the rest took place in days but so much went on it felt like it should have been months. Also for me this was one of those rare books that so many POVs hurt the story because I couldn’t focus on each character long enough to get invested. All in all it just wasn’t for me.

I loved the Jagged Little Pill musical (I saw it twice) so I was very excited about this book. But unfortunately, it majorly missed the mark.

The musical focuses around MJ primarily and her plight, while the book’s changing POVs are the various other characters: her daughter Frankie, son Nick, and other high schoolers Bella, Jo and Phoenix. Maybe this was intended to flush out these characters on the page or to entice YA readers by only focusing on the teens, but either way it’s didn’t work. The storylines were the same as the musical and without delving into MJ’s storyline on the page, it all felt bland.. Bella’s sexual assault was barely addressed except in broad strokes. Jo was barely there and only a casualty to Frankie. Frankie was just selfish and unlikeable, not a fully formed person like in the musical. Nick’s motivations weren’t discussed so I just hated him and Phoenix had a lot of potential with his family but we barely grazed the surface.

Teen books like 13 reasons why deal with these tough topics much better. The author also didn’t distinguish between the characters’ voices: nothing was distinct.

All in all, a big disappointment and made me wish I was watching the musical again and seeing the actor’s depth that was missing here.

I hadn't heard of the Broadway show, "Jagged Little Pill," but I did listen to Alanis quite frequently while growing up in the 90s! Needless to say, I was thrilled to read this book and it did not disappoint.

The book has multiple POVs (which I enjoyed) and covers the lives of five teens who are impacted by the events that unfold after a party. Nick is struggling with being "perfect", Frankie is a black, bisexual teen who has been adopted into a white family, Jo is gay and Catholic (which causes all kinds of issues), Phoenix is trying to fit into a new town, and Bella is the victim of sexual assault.

This book was very easy to read, despite the heavy topics (TW: sexual assault, drinking and drug use). It brought me back to high school and all the struggles we face. I thought it was very well-written with developed characters.

I loved watching the messy lives of a family of four: white mom trying to hide her pain pill addiction, white dad always at work, white teen son forced to be the perfect everything, and adopted Black teen daughter trying to fix the world while trying to figure out where she fits in. It's filled with the many mistakes we make as individuals and as a society but told with a lot of heart, care, and hope.

Based on the original Broadway musical, this novel follows the intertwining lives of five teens whose worlds are shaken after the events of a party. Adopted Frankie struggles to find her place in her family, among her Harvard-bound older brother, Nick, her workaholic father, and her perfectionist mother. She hides a huge part of her life—that her best friend, Jo, is more than just a friend, while she is also connecting with the new student, Phoenix. One tragic night at a party, their friend Bella is sexually assaulted, and the group comes together to fight for justice.

Alanis Morissette’s music is so nostalgic to growing up in the 90s, so while I was disappointed that I was unable to see the show prior to its closing on Broadway this past December, I was thrilled I’d be able to experience the story through the pages of a book. I love how the novel incorporated some of Morissette’s lyrics into the writing, and I thought that was a fun nod to the musical. The story deals with very serious content, and I think it does an excellent job recognizing ongoing issues in society in regard to social justice. I loved the five different perspectives, and thought the character development was outstanding. Overall, this was a powerful novel I would definitely recommend to both adults and teens.

Thank you to NetGalley and ABRAMS books for my gifted e-ARC!

As a fan of the Broadway musical by the same title, I was curious to read the novel adaptation of the book by Eric Smith. Jagged Little Pill is based on Alanis Morissette studio album by the same title. Of course, the musical uses Morissette's music to play out a new story in traditional jukebox musical fashion. The novel, obviously, doesn't have the luxury of Morissette's music to help tell the story, but I think the author does a good job encapsulating the general feel of the original musical.

The book itself does a good job of sticking to the different characters and perspectives from the original musical. There are also a lot of text messages that go back and forth, which is artfully handled.

Overall, I really enjoyed this musical adaptation. I think the book offers an interesting look into a series of provocative issues for older high school students and young adults.

I want to thank the publisher for the advanced review copy of this book. Although I am grateful for the opportunity, the review was completely my own.

Jagged Little Pill is the novelization of the Broadway musical of the same name. I've never seen it, but I'm a big Alanis fan, and so I really wanted to read this book. Frankie is an angsty teen with a bad adoptive mom, but her brother (her parents' birth child), Nick, can do no wrong, while Frankie feels like everything she does is wrong. Phoenix is new in town and his sister is in the hospital with a life-threatening illness, leaving him to step up. Bella just wants Nick, but he doesn't notice her, and Jo doesn't feel like anyone sees her for who she truly is. This is a multi-POV novel, and all of the characters mentioned have POV chapters.

The story here is captivating. The lives of these teens change when Bella is raped at a party. At first, I was really invested in these characters, but the story goes a little nutty at the end, cramming so much into the last third of the book, I felt like my head was spinning, and the characters just lost all depth. What's worse is that often times these characters are indistinguishable from one another. Phoenix, Jo, and Frankie all sound the same, and Bella has very little personality at all. I liked the story a lot (the only reason I kept reading), and I'd love to see the musical to see how the actors breathe life into these characters, but the novel had them feeling very flat to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

*3.5 stars* Thank you Netgalley and Amulet Books for the arcs! I am a huge Alanis fan and so was anxiously awaiting this release. The highlights for me were the Alanis lyrics that were throughout the story. Overall, the characters and plot didn't do it for me but the Easter Eggs made it worth it.

My little theatre loving, 90’s kid heart adored this book. I loved all of the nods to Alanis, it made me want to dust off my Jagged Little Pill CD and attempt to find a CD player and scream You Oughta Know at the top of my lungs. Also as a theatre nerd I’ve already listened to the musical 100 times, and I’m seeing it this year, so I was really excited to read this book as well. Overall I enjoyed the story. Thanks @netgalley and @ericsmithrocks for this ARC!

Jagged Little Pill was such a good book. All of the character relationships and details are flawless. This book dealt with a lot of issues that teens today experience, and was able to do so in a way that made me laugh at some points and cry in other occasions. It was a heartfelt book that made me think about the world and how people interact with each other.

One of the most impressive things about this book was that it was cowritten with many different authors. Normally when this happens, I can tell which author wrote which section, because the transition between writing styles was really jarring. But in Jagged Little Pill that transition point was impossible to find. It was one of the best things about the book. If I hadn’t known that more than one author was writing Jagged Little Pill, I never would have even suspected it.

Something else that I really loved about Jagged Little Pill was the character relationships. I feel like I’ve been talking about these a lot recently, but every book I’ve been reviewing just has them so perfectly. The character relationships really made me smile, and I loved how complex and intertwined they were. There are a lot of families in this book, and all of them handle things differently, and the relationships and bonds within a family really come to light.

There were confusing (for the characters, not the reader) romantic relationships that were really fun to read. This book is, I believe, about figuring yourself out, and where you fit and how you label yourself. It was interesting and refreshing to read about teens grappling with their identities and not knowing things about themselves from the very beginning of the book. It made me super happy to see people also learn more about each other and not mindread all of that and just immediately know. That made the book refreshing as well.

There were a lot of POVs in this book, and that was great because I loved hearing all of the characters’ thoughts and learning why they reacted the way they did in certain situations. It made everything seem much more real and I was able to connect better with the book because of it. That being said, I really wish I had been able to see more of Jo’s POV. She’s one of the side characters, and a lover of Frankie (the main character), and I really wished I could have heard more from her as things developed with Frankie and the people around her.

Speaking of Frankie, she was such a dynamic main character. I haven’t read a lot of adopted main characters, and so that is definitely something that I would love to see more of in books, and hearing about how Frankie grappled with her family and everything related to that made me feel…emotions that I can’t really put a name to. I really enjoyed learning about Frankie’s identity and the ways that she coped with the world.

I also want to talk about diversity for a second! Jagged Little Pill was quite diverse, with characters that had various sexualities, genders, ethnicities, interests, and many struggled with various health (mental or physical) conditions. It made me happy to see characters that weren’t all white, cishet, and healthy on the page, because all stories deserve to be told. (at this moment I would like to note that I am a white, lesbian teen, and so you should also turn and look to see how people with identities other than mine liked the book in terms of representation, because I can’t judge that as accurately)

And finally, onto the plot. I really enjoyed the plot, and I liked how it handled the issues that came up with it. All of it dealt with things that should have content warnings, so I recommend you all look those up prior to reading the book, and it is why I won’t be discussing it too much on this post. I did really enjoy how the book showed characters processing the events that happened, and working on becoming better and growing.

All in all, Jagged Little Pill was really good, and I enjoyed reading it. It seemed to have relatable teen experiences and all of the character relationships were really fascinating and fun to read. I wished I had seen more of Jo and other side characters though, and so this book gets a 4.5 out of 5 stars from me.

Eric Smith, one of the authors of the book is an author ambassador and so you can learn more about him on the Author Ambassador page on our website. This book was also made with the help of the Jagged Little Pill musical producers (I highly recommend you go listen to the musical as well), and the creator of the original Jagged Little Pill album. Those people are Alanis Morissette, Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard, and I highly recommend you go follow them and learn more about their projects as well.

You can buy Jagged Little Pill wherever good books are sold!

A great story with engaging characters, a group of teens you really care about. Makes my adolescence seems like a breeze! Teens have so much to deal with, especially in the social media age! Would recommend to anyone, whether they are in the YA target audience age range or adult!

If you grew up in the 90’s then you can’t help but have listened to Alanis Morrissette’s breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill. It recently became a musical too, and now there’s a book based on the musical. I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to a book based off of a musical written around a 90’s album. Let’s just say that the story takes place in contemporary times and NOT the 90’s and it’s very woke riding high on the #METOO movement.

I enjoyed the various POV’s in the novel, as it gave a better sense of what happened when Bella, gets raped during a party. The book focuses on the downfall of trying to keep up appearances and how that often leads one to bury secrets about themselves that should’ve been dealt with instead.

As much as I enjoyed the overall story, I was also expecting a little bit more. I can’t quite explain. I liked the characters but they kinda felt forced at times.

I recommend this novel if you’re a fan of the musical or just want to check out what a novel based on such an iconic album could be like.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amulet Books for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I should preface by saying that I have not watched the "Jagged Little Pill", the musical, so I can't determine how the book compares to the musical.

The book in itself was a fantastic read! I've always been drawn to stories featuring a group of teenagers brought together due to circumstance and seeing how that one event impacts them all individually and collectively, and vice versa - how the group members' individuality contributes to how the group deals with the event. Jagged Little Pill: The Novel did a great job of delivering this. It featured an interesting group comprised of five teenagers: Frankie, Jo, Nick, Phoenix, and Bella, their lives intermingling in a substantial way after Bella was sexually assaulted at a party. As the four teens try to make sense of the situation and offer Bella their help, they learn more about each other, learn from each other, and ultimately, learn more about themselves and who they are as people and who they aspire to be.

Eric Smith did a wonderful job in bringing each of these characters to life. The voices and struggles of each of the five teens was distinct and their growth and development was executed really well. I found myself emphasizing with each of the characters and hoping for a happy ending for each of them.

The novel also covers many important issues - sexual assault, navigating sexuality, addiction, and the struggles of being an adopted child. I found Smith did a great job of writing about these issues and how they impact adolescents and their everyday life.

Overall, Jagged Little Pill: The Novel was an engaging read and I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys the YA genre and stories revolving around social issues with fierce, lovable teenagers fighting against them.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this Arc!

This is such an iconic album that for me now symbolizes the raw feelings of youth and this story hits all those sharp edges that are catalysts for teen angst.

This story based on the musical by the same name follows a small group of teens, separately and together, as they experience some of life's more difficult issues. Even with such harsh realities it's easy to see from a perspective of a reader how these problems at once create differences between the individuals but at the same time binds them together. That's the main vibe I get from certain music, including this album, a connection to others who feel and understand it like I do.

I definitely want to see the show now, too!

Out on April 26th!