You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
emilybacher's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Incest, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Alcoholism and Police brutality
isareader's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
As many others voiced in the reviews, the beginning of this book was the most difficult for me to enjoy — I found the protagonist a little immature and her views and irrational outbursts hard to understand… but maybe this is just a reflection of what it is like to be young…
The most impressive and heart-warming part of the book to me is the importance of platonic love and close friendship. The love the friends have for the protagonist is so dearly touching, and to me, more enjoyable than the romance aspect in the book.
My biggest critique and issue with the book was how many serious topics (see content warnings) are attempted to be covered in the book and seem too glossed over to me, especially the struggle with mental health and political struggles. Though perhaps this is also just a hard-hitting reality.
Overall, an impressive & quite beautifully-written first novel of Matthews with an overall theme of longing and a representation of so many characters that we don’t often read about.
The most impressive and heart-warming part of the book to me is the importance of platonic love and close friendship. The love the friends have for the protagonist is so dearly touching, and to me, more enjoyable than the romance aspect in the book.
My biggest critique and issue with the book was how many serious topics (see content warnings) are attempted to be covered in the book and seem too glossed over to me, especially the struggle with mental health and political struggles. Though perhaps this is also just a hard-hitting reality.
Overall, an impressive & quite beautifully-written first novel of Matthews with an overall theme of longing and a representation of so many characters that we don’t often read about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual assault
Minor: Hate crime, Homophobia, and Transphobia
stierwood's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Gutting, raw, gripping, stayed up later than I should have multiple nights reading it. I so related and felt for Sneha, her problems and philosophies, her pain and joy. Beautiful beautiful
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Sexual assault
sakisreads's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This was slightly disappointing to me. BookTok sold me quite a lot on this so I had high hopes and they weren’t necessarily met 🥲
In saying that though, there were some real tender moments where I truly felt for Sneha. She’s obviously brought so much trauma to the forefronte.g. her father’s deportation, her inability to ‘come out’ to her parents, her uncle’s sexual abuse towards her so it’s completely understandable that she does the things that she does. Also, I got quite frustrated at Marina and Thom throughout the story, when they dropped her whenever they felt it was convenient. Friendships, I have also found through personal experience, are so volatile that sometimes it can be hard to keep up 🫠
Someone said this was one to read when you felt a bit lost in your 20’s and it definitely fits that genre. I’m hopeful to read other things by Sarah Thankam Mathews that’ll work better for me though 🥰 Thank you!
In saying that though, there were some real tender moments where I truly felt for Sneha. She’s obviously brought so much trauma to the forefront
Someone said this was one to read when you felt a bit lost in your 20’s and it definitely fits that genre. I’m hopeful to read other things by Sarah Thankam Mathews that’ll work better for me though 🥰 Thank you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Racism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Deportation
patedm's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Need more of Tig and their story with KJ and their lovers/wife and just everything about them.
This is definitely a book where I found myself more drawn to the side characters than the main character. And that’s okay because who wouldn’t fall in love with Tig, as I right? They’re the best!
This is definitely a book where I found myself more drawn to the side characters than the main character. And that’s okay because who wouldn’t fall in love with Tig, as I right? They’re the best!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Drug abuse
kds's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, and Racism
Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual assault
stevie_in_the_stacks's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, and Transphobia
yajairat's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Took a bit for me to get hooked, but once I didn’t the book went by very fast for me. This story is a wonderful deep dive into the story of a queer immigrant Indian woman that is navigating her career and relationships in Middle America during the Obama administration. It touches on many topics, but I never felt like it was half-assed, they are very true to the experiences Snehah was having at that time. I grew to appreciate her growth as a person, and was left feeling hopeful that she will be okay.
The writing blew me away, just so beautiful and poetic. I was moved to tears at some points. A lot of the times I saw myself in her, as I’m a child of immigrants, and struggle with sort of building my identity. Overall, I enjoyed this!
Some quotes:
“Lord, I confess I want the clarity of catastrophe but not the catastrophe. Like everyone else, I want a storm I can dance in. I want an excuse to change my life.”
“This is built into adulthood, like one of those wall-mounted ironing boards in old houses. Somewhere in their twenties, people like me become far too horny for interior design.”
“We all have our truth if a place. There is no universal narrative of any city that is also real. Only marketing.”
“White Americans could be so cold, just like that, out of the blue. Perhaps the important thing was to not let them in deep.”
“The process of really getting to know anyone is a process of years, and for most people there is just a switch that flips and they decide, okay, this could be my person, I’m making the choice to commit to them.”
“Wp get to own their lives, they get to feel like their lives belong to only them.”
“Nobody consoles you after a rupture with a beloved friend… you only have the ache. No script to accompany it. No ritual to give it shape.”
“How was anyone expected to dream loftily about the future when the present ground them down to powder and nothingness.”
“This is what it means, to come here as an immigrant. You are here in sufferance. You are a form of currency, not a person, and only a person has the right to desire, which is to say, to be difficult.”
“The refrains of our lives are the moments we revolve around, maybe the moments that were stopped too soon, stopped before we were ready, and so we are frozen, pirouetting in time, always thinking on the possibility that might have been.”
“What nobody told me when I was a very young person was that obedience, fearful toeing of every line, chasing every kind of safety, would not save you. What nobody told me growing up was that sometimes your friends do join your family, fusing care, irritation, loyalty, shared history, and affectionate contempt into a tempered love, bright and daily as steel.”
The writing blew me away, just so beautiful and poetic. I was moved to tears at some points. A lot of the times I saw myself in her, as I’m a child of immigrants, and struggle with sort of building my identity. Overall, I enjoyed this!
Some quotes:
“Lord, I confess I want the clarity of catastrophe but not the catastrophe. Like everyone else, I want a storm I can dance in. I want an excuse to change my life.”
“This is built into adulthood, like one of those wall-mounted ironing boards in old houses. Somewhere in their twenties, people like me become far too horny for interior design.”
“We all have our truth if a place. There is no universal narrative of any city that is also real. Only marketing.”
“White Americans could be so cold, just like that, out of the blue. Perhaps the important thing was to not let them in deep.”
“The process of really getting to know anyone is a process of years, and for most people there is just a switch that flips and they decide, okay, this could be my person, I’m making the choice to commit to them.”
“Wp get to own their lives, they get to feel like their lives belong to only them.”
“Nobody consoles you after a rupture with a beloved friend… you only have the ache. No script to accompany it. No ritual to give it shape.”
“How was anyone expected to dream loftily about the future when the present ground them down to powder and nothingness.”
“This is what it means, to come here as an immigrant. You are here in sufferance. You are a form of currency, not a person, and only a person has the right to desire, which is to say, to be difficult.”
“The refrains of our lives are the moments we revolve around, maybe the moments that were stopped too soon, stopped before we were ready, and so we are frozen, pirouetting in time, always thinking on the possibility that might have been.”
“What nobody told me when I was a very young person was that obedience, fearful toeing of every line, chasing every kind of safety, would not save you. What nobody told me growing up was that sometimes your friends do join your family, fusing care, irritation, loyalty, shared history, and affectionate contempt into a tempered love, bright and daily as steel.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Deportation
nfoutty's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual assault
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Police brutality, and Alcohol
Minor: Eating disorder and Vomit
bodiesinbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug use, Transphobia, and Police brutality