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sarieinsea's review against another edition
5.0
I'm noticing that the novels I've given 5 stars this year have trended toward the "you'll utterly love or hate this" end of the spectrum. I picked up Oola because it seemed creepy and intriguing. It was both of those things. It was also stunningly gorgeous prose. I must have said "I cannot believe Brittany Newell is only 21" about 800 times while reading this book. I was absolutely blown away by how strong her writing is. She's SO young, and this book is SO mature.
The plot is simple. Leif is a waspy house-sitter for his parents' rich friends. He meets and falls madly in love with Oola, who joins him as he bounces from city to city. They fall in love in a series of interludes which are sexy and slightly unnerving. Eventually, they settle down in a cabin in Big Sur, where Leif takes up a project to observe everything about Oola, ostensibly so that he can write a novel about her. But, like, EVERYTHING should be taken literally. You'll be hearing a lot about everything from her wardrobe to her toenails - all of it GORGEOUSLY penned by Newell. But once you're becoming fanatic about someone's toenails, you know things are taking a weird, crazy, dark-ass turn - and that's exactly what happens. I can't say any more or I'll spoil it, but at the end of the book, I wasn't ENTIRELY sure what had just happened and wanted to pick it up and re-read it immediately. To me, as a reader, it doesn't get much better than that!
The plot is simple. Leif is a waspy house-sitter for his parents' rich friends. He meets and falls madly in love with Oola, who joins him as he bounces from city to city. They fall in love in a series of interludes which are sexy and slightly unnerving. Eventually, they settle down in a cabin in Big Sur, where Leif takes up a project to observe everything about Oola, ostensibly so that he can write a novel about her. But, like, EVERYTHING should be taken literally. You'll be hearing a lot about everything from her wardrobe to her toenails - all of it GORGEOUSLY penned by Newell. But once you're becoming fanatic about someone's toenails, you know things are taking a weird, crazy, dark-ass turn - and that's exactly what happens. I can't say any more or I'll spoil it, but at the end of the book, I wasn't ENTIRELY sure what had just happened and wanted to pick it up and re-read it immediately. To me, as a reader, it doesn't get much better than that!
sausome's review against another edition
3.0
I'm really between an "It was ok" rating and a "liked it" rating, but I'll just round up.
This book was weird. I knew it was going to be - some of the reason I wanted to read it to begin with - and I really enjoy a good strange book. HOWEVER, there was absolutely no reason this book needed to be as long as it was. At best, it could have been a novella, or even a good, lengthy "title" short story in a small collection of stories. I think that style would've better served the author and showed the talent that gets a bit drowned out by the continuing repetition I felt towards the middle/end of the book.
On the whole, the idea of someone becoming almost maniacally obsessed with someone to the point that they blatantly watch, record, and ultimately mimic every move, is just ... crazy! Add to that, a woman who LETS someone be around them like that, and it becomes clear that there is more psychological strangeness at work than your run-of-the-mill relationship story. Oola is clearly a bit self-involved, yet she seems to feel conflicted about how much she's obsessed with herself. This battle plays out through Leif's observations of her, and their ensuing interactions that result from his obsession with her as this female-type-THING in his universe. It's a bit like Leif is an alien watching his human subject in a lab, only to absorb her essence and take on her form, but is still ultimately missing the essential thing that makes Oola Oola, so something is off.
I hate to say it, but I kind of think I would've liked it better if there had been some climactic moment or interaction, but the book runs pretty much on this course as a kind of Oola-observation-study, rather than giving that piece of a story that lends a hook or makes it more interesting (hence the preference for this in story form versus book form).
All that being said, there were still a couple of interesting passages to highlight:
(Page numbers come from the Kindle e-book format, fyi):
p. 1400 "Words cannot compare to my bounty of pistachio shells, by exhibit of hotel shampoo bottles from inconsequential weekend trips that she'd only used one squirt of. Words cannot compare to the bacchanal of our daily encounters when I came down the stairs around lunchtime and found her, still undressed, finishing her toes."
p. 1452 "I tapped on the glass of her privacy, a kid at a zoo. She stared back at me with yellowing animal eyes."
p. 1599 "The hotter the days got, July morphing into August, the more I got the feeling that someday soon I would get what was coming to me. The household appliances confirmed this suspicion; I was too happy, like a child in the hallucinatory last days of summer, trusting in his time-telling devices (the oven, the TV, the ice cream truck's ditty) to sustain the afternoon ad infinitum. I was too tickled by the piece of bread Oola had left in the toaster, no perforated by mice. I was too pleased when she spend the afternoon tanning, not just because it made my job as stalker easier, looking on from the shaded side of the porch, but also because it gave her freckles, tiny deviations from her confirmed shade of brown, as if I were in danger of running out of things to know about."
p. 1944 "She moved through life by melting things; her absence was marked not by a void or lack but by subtle change. Like now: The crowd broke up, but each listener carried a bit of her with them, the porch, her fear, the smell of smoke, reassembled into something different but whose origins were definitively Oolish."
This book was weird. I knew it was going to be - some of the reason I wanted to read it to begin with - and I really enjoy a good strange book. HOWEVER, there was absolutely no reason this book needed to be as long as it was. At best, it could have been a novella, or even a good, lengthy "title" short story in a small collection of stories. I think that style would've better served the author and showed the talent that gets a bit drowned out by the continuing repetition I felt towards the middle/end of the book.
On the whole, the idea of someone becoming almost maniacally obsessed with someone to the point that they blatantly watch, record, and ultimately mimic every move, is just ... crazy! Add to that, a woman who LETS someone be around them like that, and it becomes clear that there is more psychological strangeness at work than your run-of-the-mill relationship story. Oola is clearly a bit self-involved, yet she seems to feel conflicted about how much she's obsessed with herself. This battle plays out through Leif's observations of her, and their ensuing interactions that result from his obsession with her as this female-type-THING in his universe. It's a bit like Leif is an alien watching his human subject in a lab, only to absorb her essence and take on her form, but is still ultimately missing the essential thing that makes Oola Oola, so something is off.
I hate to say it, but I kind of think I would've liked it better if there had been some climactic moment or interaction, but the book runs pretty much on this course as a kind of Oola-observation-study, rather than giving that piece of a story that lends a hook or makes it more interesting (hence the preference for this in story form versus book form).
All that being said, there were still a couple of interesting passages to highlight:
(Page numbers come from the Kindle e-book format, fyi):
p. 1400 "Words cannot compare to my bounty of pistachio shells, by exhibit of hotel shampoo bottles from inconsequential weekend trips that she'd only used one squirt of. Words cannot compare to the bacchanal of our daily encounters when I came down the stairs around lunchtime and found her, still undressed, finishing her toes."
p. 1452 "I tapped on the glass of her privacy, a kid at a zoo. She stared back at me with yellowing animal eyes."
p. 1599 "The hotter the days got, July morphing into August, the more I got the feeling that someday soon I would get what was coming to me. The household appliances confirmed this suspicion; I was too happy, like a child in the hallucinatory last days of summer, trusting in his time-telling devices (the oven, the TV, the ice cream truck's ditty) to sustain the afternoon ad infinitum. I was too tickled by the piece of bread Oola had left in the toaster, no perforated by mice. I was too pleased when she spend the afternoon tanning, not just because it made my job as stalker easier, looking on from the shaded side of the porch, but also because it gave her freckles, tiny deviations from her confirmed shade of brown, as if I were in danger of running out of things to know about."
p. 1944 "She moved through life by melting things; her absence was marked not by a void or lack but by subtle change. Like now: The crowd broke up, but each listener carried a bit of her with them, the porch, her fear, the smell of smoke, reassembled into something different but whose origins were definitively Oolish."
bxlbooks91's review against another edition
4.0
Hope this book will receive some hype. Very interesting, beautifully written queer novel about a destructive relationship.
4*
4*
jaclynday's review against another edition
4.0
Stunning/brilliant use of language. More modern art than novel.
vonneguts's review against another edition
4.0
let this be a lesson for me about judging books on the yadda, yadda, yadda. I was told it was going to be a disturbing book. Comparable to Palahniuk's Haunted.
The thing is I did not find this novel very disturbing, at least not in the way I thought it would be. It's not simply the actions of the two leads that are disturbing it's the fact that you find yourself relating and sympathizing with them and their darkest behaviors. Where Haunted uses horror Oola uses love, and both are wonderfully disturbing. The pacing is slow and meticulous with only about 3 well placed scenes where I was horrified by the physical acts described but what truly upset me (and kept me reading!) was realizing I had developed such an attachment to both of the characters that even when I hated them, I loved them. That is why I will recomend this debut and look up anythong else Newell creates. Sometimes the path to our darkside is through love and this novel will take you there.
The thing is I did not find this novel very disturbing, at least not in the way I thought it would be. It's not simply the actions of the two leads that are disturbing it's the fact that you find yourself relating and sympathizing with them and their darkest behaviors. Where Haunted uses horror Oola uses love, and both are wonderfully disturbing. The pacing is slow and meticulous with only about 3 well placed scenes where I was horrified by the physical acts described but what truly upset me (and kept me reading!) was realizing I had developed such an attachment to both of the characters that even when I hated them, I loved them. That is why I will recomend this debut and look up anythong else Newell creates. Sometimes the path to our darkside is through love and this novel will take you there.
i_masad's review against another edition
5.0
This is such a fucking incredible book. I have so many thoughts and feelings. I also really really really relate in so many ways to the protagonist (which is often disturbing) and I want to write about this book SO. BADLY.
friend0's review against another edition
Not enough genderfuck, too much obsessive emo white boy
_sophiereads's review against another edition
5.0
It's so hard to write about this book because this book is so beautifully written. Oola by 21-year-old debut author Brittany Newell is edgy, lyrical, and full of heart. This novel won't be for everyone, but in the right hands, its readers will fall in love.
Oola is a completely original story of obsession gone wrong. In a strange hybrid between Lolita and Caroline Kepnes's You, the reader is sucked into the depths of Leif's fixation. Swept away by the young couple's whimsical sense of invincibility, you almost miss the madness that slowly seeps in as Leif builds a shrine of Oola. Observing her every move, capturing fallen strands of hair and used tissues - Leif's actions almost seem charming under the guise of Newell's gorgeous writing. It isn't until you set the book down that you realize the disturbing reality built by the two lovers.
Although, don't pick this book up with the expectation of a firey and fast-paced story. This novel is entirely character-driven, a dive into the mind of someone in the throughs of obsession. It is raw and intense, and at times, brings into question the boundaries of gender. If you love character studies and passionate prose - this one is for you.
Oola is a completely original story of obsession gone wrong. In a strange hybrid between Lolita and Caroline Kepnes's You, the reader is sucked into the depths of Leif's fixation. Swept away by the young couple's whimsical sense of invincibility, you almost miss the madness that slowly seeps in as Leif builds a shrine of Oola. Observing her every move, capturing fallen strands of hair and used tissues - Leif's actions almost seem charming under the guise of Newell's gorgeous writing. It isn't until you set the book down that you realize the disturbing reality built by the two lovers.
Although, don't pick this book up with the expectation of a firey and fast-paced story. This novel is entirely character-driven, a dive into the mind of someone in the throughs of obsession. It is raw and intense, and at times, brings into question the boundaries of gender. If you love character studies and passionate prose - this one is for you.
jkrnomad's review against another edition
4.0
Weird, dark, obsessive...reminded me at times of the characters in The Secret History.