Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Going Viral: A Socially Distant Love Story by Katie Cicatelli-Kuc

2 reviews

jojothefool's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I wanted to love this so much. Claire the main character isn’t very likable in my opinion. The plot of course surrounds the pandemic and so she’s understandably upset and anxious about this new reality but she goes about it all in the strangest ways. Just the way she
blows up at her parents and her friends so quickly. Idk. She’s a teenager with this shared trauma but also sorry I dont feel that bad for you cuz your family is wealthy and accepting. They live in Brooklyn and have savings for literally everything. My least favorite part is when she freaks out that her girlfriend is getting food delivery?????? I can’t like it’s kind of hilarious how dumb that fight was.
since it’s from Claire’s POV, the way she thinks about her girlfriend and her dad is just so disrespectful and kinda mean just cuz they’re trying to take care of themselves and also stay positive? And then she starts this situationship with the girl across the street
and there were a lot of different ways they could’ve pulled the twist here but I hated the one they did pull??? Like Sadie just Wasn’t That Into Her is very???? Strange. Of course the story we’re getting is told from her POV and therefore exaggerated for the Drama and the posts she’s writing (which she kinda hates writing? But keep doing it??? Girl what) but to make everyone including herself to think it’s something more idk man. And she had a girlfriend this whole time. I just didn’t agree with a single choice this bitch made.


Derrick Berry 
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homulucy's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Reading this about 3 years after the Covid pandemic & subsequent lockdown, it still hits fairly close to home. Going Viral was a relatively accurate portrayal of living in lockdown and not being able to go outside. The way the chapters were half real life and half online posts was an effective way of showing how the lines between Claire’s real life and story start to blur. At times, I even forgot that the blog posts were not real.
But, for all of the good parts of this book, there are just as many, if not more, flaws. Claire is a pretty unlikeable character throughout the story and she doesn’t seem to really improve herself even at the end of the book.
Her and Vanessa (Claire’s girlfriend)’s constant fights over text and/or video call never have a proper resolution in the moment, with the argument just getting swept under the rug.  They never address the problems on their relationship

The dynamic between Sadie and Claire is never really present throughout the book, they talk a few times, but besides that there was nothing there in terms of relationship.
The eventual blowup between Claire and Sadie felt like it was long time coming and should have happened chapters earlier. Every bad thing that happened to Claire wouldn’t of happened if she had been honest with Vanessa and Claire about the posts
 
Overall, Going Viral was not bad, but not good either. The basic structure and plot of the book is interesting, but the execution wasn’t the best I’ve seen. Hopefully some better books set during Covid will be published, because it’s important to cover events we all went through.
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