History Literature / DearEvanHansen

* SuddenlyVoiced: Most of the audiobook is narrated by Evan and Connor (Ben Levi Ross and Mike Faist), and we only hear any of the other characters in the form of Evan and Connor quoting them... until we hear actually hear Zoe's real singing voice (Mallory Bechtel) in the songs "Requiem" and "Only Us", both of which are a WhamLine moment.

* CastingGag: The audiobook version of the novel combines three actors who never actually appeared together onstage to portray their characters in narration -- Ben Levi Ross from the touring cast plays Evan, Mike Faist from the original Broadway cast plays Connor, and Mallory Bechtel, who joined the Broadway cast in 2018, plays Zoe. (Note that Ben Levi Ross voices all the characters when narrating the chapters from Evan's POV; Faist only plays Connor in his own chapters, and Bechtel only plays Zoe's singing voice for the songs "Requiem" and "Only Us".)

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler: Connor at the end]].

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Connor [[spoiler: until the end]].

* HollywoodHacking: The novel goes into more detail about the routine Jared goes through in order to fake Connor's emails, although they don't make it any more accurate than what's described under the HollywoodHacking entry for [[Theatre/DearEvanHansen the musical]]. It's implied that his insisting they drive to a gym to use the public wi-fi there to avoid IP address tracking (which isn't necessary if they just created an account for Connor on [=GMail=] or a similar Internet mail service) or that Evan can't just learn to do it from Jared because he doesn't know about details like "accounting for time zone differences" is actually just Jared pulling a BavarianFireDrill to make Evan think he needs him and stay involved in Evan's affairs.

* PosthumousNarration: Connor Murphy.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The novelization appears to canonize that the story takes place in upstate New York, near the real-life Ellison State Park near Rochester. (Evan tells Zoe the real-life origin story of the park, and mentions that he lives on the East Coast and his dad is 1800 miles away in Colorado.)

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: There's no external evidence that the real Connor's ghost is real, except Evan thinking he sees Connor outside his window the night after Connor steals the letter (before he knows he's dead), and whatever actually happens in the moment [[spoiler: when Connor shouts at Evan not to commit suicide and Evan spontaneously regains the will to live.]]

** Connor suggests that Evan should tell people he broke his arm "battling a racist dude," citing Literature/ToKillAMockingbird as inspiration.

Just like its predecessor, Dear Evan Hansen focuses on Evan Hansen, a high school senior who struggles with social anxiety. After the suicide of classmate Connor Murphy, a misunderstanding leads Evan to fabricate an imaginary friendship with Connor in an attempt to comfort his grieving family. The lie quickly spirals out of control; however, and Evan, who has suddenly been thrown into the spotlight and is given everything he ever wanted, has to grapple with a moral dilemma: if a horrible lie is helping people, is it really so bad?

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Unlike the musical, the novel explains why Evan tried to kill himself: he sent a photo to his dad of the fixed park sign; hoping that he would be proud of him -- only to receive a picture of his wife's latest ultrasound instead. Because his dad simply ''didn't care'' about something that Evan was so incredibly proud of was the last straw]].

* RealAfterAll: [[spoiler: From the POV of fans of the musical -- the effect of giving us Connor's backstory is to let us know that most of the things Evan lied about were ''true'', they just didn't apply to him (Connor really did have a secret fast friendship with Miguel). It also canonizes the jokes Jared made about how Evan's story would only be realistic if they were more than just friends.]]

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The novelization appears to canonize that the story takes place in upstate New York, near the real-life Ellison State Park near Rochester. (Evan tells Zoe the real-life origin story of the park, and mentions that he lives on the East Coast and his dad in Colorado is 1800 miles away.)

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: There's no external evidence that the real Connor's ghost is real, except Evan thinking he sees Connor outside his window the night after Connor steals the letter (before he knows he's dead), and whatever actually happens in the moment when Connor shouts at Evan not to commit suicide and Evan spontaneously regains the will to live.

* SuddenlyVoiced: Most of the audiobook is narrated by Evan and Connor (Ben Levi Ross and Mike Faist), and we only hear any of the other characters in the form of Evan and Connor quoting them... until we hear actually hear Zoe's real singing voice in the songs "Requiem" and "Only Us", both of which are a WhamLine moment.

Dear Evan Hansen is a novel, written by Val Emmich with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul. It is based on the 2016 musical of the same name.

Just like its predecessor, Dear Evan Hansen focuses on Evan Hansen, a high school senior who struggles with social anxiety. After the suicide of classmate Connor Murphy, a misunderstanding leads Evan to fabricate an imaginary friendship with Connor, in an attempt to comfort his grieving family. The lie quickly spirals out of control, however, and Evan, who has suddenly been thrown into the spotlight and given everything he ever wanted, has to grapple with a moral dilemma: if a horrible lie is helping people, is it really so bad?

* AdaptationExpansion: Unsurprisingly, the novel expands upon the story of the musical, giving more detailed backstories to existing characters and adding a few new ones. The addition of Connor's narration, especially, gives an originally mysterious character a chance to give his side of the story, as well as [[spoiler: giving him an UnfinishedBusiness character arc]].

* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler:Connor's idyllic vision of Miguel is shattered when he seemingly ignores an earnest text message that he views as his last-ditch attempt to find help. Though it turns out to be because Miguel was busy at work to respond, Connor never gets a chance to learn this]].

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Unlike the musical, the novel explains why Evan tried to kill himself: he sent a photo to his dad of the park sign that he fixed, hoping that his dad would be proud of him, only for his dad to send him a picture of his wife's latest ultrasound instead. The fact that his dad simply ''doesn't care'' about something that Evan was so incredibly proud of was the last straw]].

* ExactEavesdropping: [[spoiler:Considering the fact that no one can see Connor, he listens in on a lot of conversations that he was never intended to hear. Among other things, he's able to piece together who Heidi is when she calls Evan to check in on him, overhears his family talking about him, and watches as Zoe sits alone in her bedroom, writing "Requiem."]]

* MeaningfulEcho: "I made my exit" is this for Connor. The first time he says it, he's talking about when he committed suicide. The last time? [[spoiler: It's when [[TheAtoner he's finally able]] [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence to move on to the afterlife]]]].

* UnfinishedBusiness: Implied with Connor. He hangs around during the events of the novel and over time realizes [[HeelRealization how terrible he was in life]]. [[spoiler: It's only when he acknowledges his mistakes and [[NotTooDeadToSaveTheDay saves Evan from committing suicide like he did]] that [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence he's able to move on]]]].

* HollywoodHacking: The novel goes into more detail about the routine Jared goes through in order to fake Connor's emails, although they don't make it any more accurate than what's described under the HollywoodHacking entry for [[Theatre/DearEvanHansen the musical]]. It's implied that his insisting they drive to a gym to use the public wi-fi there to avoid IP address tracking (which isn't necessary if they just created an account for Connor on GMail or a similar Internet mail service) or that Evan can't just learn to do it from Jared because he doesn't know about details like "accounting for time zone differences" is actually just Jared pulling a BavarianFireDrill to make Evan think he needs him and stay involved in Evan's affairs.

* CastingGag: The audiobook version of the novel combines three actors who never actually appeared together onstage to portray their characters in narration -- Ben Levi Ross from the touring cast plays Evan, Mike Faist from the original Broadway cast plays Connor, and Mallory Bechtel, who joined the Broadway cast in 2018, plays Zoe.

* MusicalWorldHypotheses: "Requiem" from the musical becomes a song that actually exists in the world of the novelization, a song Zoe is composing in her room on her guitar to try to process her feelings about Connor's death.

* ShoutOut: Connor suggests that Evan should tell people he broke his arm "battling a racist dude," citing Literature/ToKillAMockingbird as inspiration.