Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - All This Could Be Different

A solid queer immigrant self destructive sadgirl tale of your 20s and the turbulence of growing into yourself and into community. Sneha wasn’t always very likable but was always understandable, which I appreciate! Sometimes the writing felt a little stilted or not quite finished off at the end, all in all a good read!

Content Warnings

isareader's review

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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.

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ienbdri's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense 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

3.5

The first 100 pages were so hard to get through I almost DNFd multiple times. The main character is so deeply unlikable that I just wanted to hit her and nothing else. But after getting to know her and her social circle and her struggles, the book definitely picked up for me. I didn't fully love the story but I can appreciate what the author tried to do and while the pacing was still a bit weird I really like the deep dive the author did into immigrant problems and growing up and the struggles and pressure that come with it.

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rachaelwho's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Pacing was off for me. It took me a long time to get invested, and even once I had, the first act felt so long that I was surprised to find more acts beyond it. But the author had a lot to say. It's not 5 stars bc it's perfect, but because there's nothing worth faulting it for, if that makes sense. A very caring, thoughtful book. Excellent voice acting from the narrator.

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malayapapaya's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense 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

3.5

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melfake's review

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emotional funny slow-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

3.75

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billyjepma's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.5

I had to read this in increments over several months, not because it wasn’t good or because I wasn’t invested, but because it rang with a truth too heavy for me to manage at the time. I will admit to not reading much fiction of this style—you all know that I live in weird genre stuff almost exclusively—so take this with a grain of salt if you want, but this is one of the most honest and truthful representations of what it feels like to be a twenty-something in America. All of the crushing anxieties over whether you’re political enough, angry at the right things, aware of your internalized prejudices, rebellious against the systems that you know will also keep you alive and happy, the quiet bitterness at how goddamn hard it all is—all of that is here in savage details that feel sharply unique yet fully relatable.

Even when the protagonist makes mistakes and acts like a shitty person, Matthew’s characterization ensures that we know it’s a side effect of a deeper issue (usually internalized racism, prejudice, or self-hatred redirected outward). Our world is messy, and the people in it are clumsy, and I appreciate it when a book lets its protagonist be messy and clumsy without defining her by those things.

The book is also rich with cultural specificities that reckon with realities I’ve never experienced or probably considered—the fears, hopes, and other turbulent, fragile emotions involved in trying to, or trying not to, assimilate into a society that might not want you. That Matthews does it with this much confidence and care feels like a massive feat. She wields emotion like a scalpel and a sledgehammer, sometimes simultaneously. It leads to a book that’s often ugly in how honest it is—which is why I had to pace my reading—but also deeply empathetic. There’s tremendous compassion in these pages, compassion that’s informed by harsh realities and supported by fragile hopes that, when carried communally, can become the precious things that keep us alive.

A wonderful book. I don’t think I’ll ever read it again, but it has left fingerprints on me.

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