Madie's Margins

Dear reader, today is going to be a good day, and here’s why: today we’re talking about the “Dear Evan Hansen” novelization by Val Emmich with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

If you’ve heard of this story before, it’s probably through the musical by the same name. It’s a wonderful musical with a compelling story and a phenomenal album. The novelization was meant to expand the story of the musical, providing more context to the cast of characters, including the addition of POV swaps with Connor, who is dead for the majority of the story, which was an interesting choice.

The change in medium also made the story more accessible, as your average person can’t afford to go see a Broadway production. However, a lot of people only liked “Dear Evan Hansen” due to its aforementioned banging soundtrack. The plot itself has always been pretty controversial. I, however, am one of those freaks that actually likes the plot, so let’s get down to it.

I’m going to stick to the basics here, so any spoilers should be fairly minor. Also, be aware that this book has a large focus on mental health, so there will be discussions of mental illness and suicide.

The premise of “Dear Evan Hansen” follows Evan Hansen, an anxious high school senior, who writes letters to himself for therapy. When Evan’s troubled classmate Connor Murphy dies by suicide, he has a stolen letter on him, which is mistaken for a suicide note addressed to Evan. Evan gets caught up in this tragedy, mistaken as Connor’s friend. This escalates into a web of lies that gets more complicated with each page. This novel is the second-hand anxiety final boss, leaving you wanting to strangle Evan, as he shoves his foot further into his mouth.

A lot of people really start to dislike Evan as he gets tangled in this lie, especially as he benefits from it. I agree it’s really messed up that so much good comes to Evan from the lie, but it’s important to remember a few things.

First, Evan didn’t set out to lie. It was a coincidence he got involved in the whole thing in the first place, and he initially tried to contradict the assumptions. He went along with the lie because he wanted to help the Murphys to have closure because of his own anxiety struggle.

Also, while Evan gets a lot out of this lie, we never see him trying to manipulate. He mostly just goes along with what people want to hear. While this is a split topic, I believe Evan didn’t have ill intentions. He wasn’t trying to leverage Connor’s suicide; he was struggling with his own mental illnesses. Going along with the lie offered Evan short-term solutions to his immediate fears.

Do I think Evan was morally correct? No, of course not; he should have come clean instead of doubling down. But, I also don’t think Evan is a trash person undeserving of love like some people *cough* my friend Elizabeth *cough*.

I like Evan conceptually, and I even relate to him a good bit. However, the writers over-committed to the bit with his narration style. I get that he’s supposed to be awkward, but sometimes he seems more like a creep than anything. For example:

“Her toes seem to wave goodbye inside her worn-in Converse as she turns and walks away.” (page 26)

And:

“Her rust-colored corduroys hike up just enough to reveal her naked ankles.” (111)

Lines like this only pull me out of the story and make me mildly uncomfortable.

My biggest grievance is how the book’s handling of mental health is questionable at best.

Evan’s anxiety seems very flat and stereotypical at times, and we don’t ever get to spend time considering the full depth of what he’s experiencing. The next three paragraphs discuss a massive spoiler, so skip ahead if you haven’t read “Dear Evan Hansen” — the musical doesn’t count.

After confessing to his lies, Evan runs out of the Murphy house, ripping at his hair and rambling. He’s described as rabid, hitting himself repeatedly before lying in the street as a car comes. There are no streetlights. Evan is ready to get run over until he’s compelled by the presence of Connor to get up.

Evan moves, but only to spare the Murphys waking up to him dead outside their house. The book does not give this extremely harrowing moment the time and depth it deserves. They resolve Evan having been about to die by suicide by revealing that it would have been his second suicide attempt.

It’s upsetting because they had several moving reflections from Connor. I don’t understand why Evan’s mental health struggle isn’t given the same complexity. If they were going to introduce a second suicide attempt, they should have been prepared to handle it properly.

Why, after this whole situation, is it Connor, who is already dead, who has a realization that maybe life is worth living, and there was value in his family and old friendships, that there is hope. It is a beautiful moment, but Evan, who is still alive and a threat to himself, just time-skips to the epilogue where he’s more or less okay.

Back to no spoiler, I feel like the biggest problem with “Dear Evan Hansen, the Novel” is how it completely missed the point of “Dear Evan Hansen” in several instances. It has so many moments of genuine beauty and depth, and then it will suddenly miss the mark, and it makes me so sad about what could have been if the book had been handled with a bit more care.