Reviews - Oleander: A Great Expectations Retelling

287 reviews for:

Oleander: A Great Expectations Retelling

Scarlett Drake

4.56 AVERAGE

bflem05's review against another edition

5.0

emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

luv_eclipse07's review against another edition

5.0

I don’t particularly know how to describe this book. I could use words akin to despair,devastation,relief, and joy to describe this book and what emotions it conjured within me. Yet it still would not be accurate in the way of describing the profound impact that this left on me. I have the urge to pick up a journal - the same one I gave up on writing in a year ago. I have the urge to write and write all the words i have felt but never once thought off. Every piece of desire and resentment I have ever felt to be evidenced.
The love that these two characters feel towards each other is so intimate and so utterly human that I find myself envying it. From Jude’s helpless devotion, to Caspian’s innate desires - to the way that I can practically feel their hearts dance together through the pages. Oh, it’s just so human that it is so terrifying.

monismmreviews's review

4.0

emotional sad tense

Oleander is really everything that had been promised by the hundreds of reviews. This book is outstanding in the way a tragic, beautiful painting is: it makes you feel all the pain and all the heartbreak while you recognize the work of a great artist that went into it. It has taken me nearly a year to finally write this review simply because I wasn’t ready to relive the hurt this story holds. Don’t worry, it does have a happy ending … just buckle up for the long, long, LONG road that leads there. It is a coming-of-age story of Jude who starts to work in Cas’ house at the age of 15. His hate-to-love-to-hate relationship with the entitled, rich Cas lasts for many years, his adoration for him mostly unbroken even though Cas abuses Jude’s feelings over and over again. Cas, who is partially the result of his emotionally toxic upbringing by his uncle, is not an easy character to love, even in his brokenness. It’ll take you to read the entire book to truly see who he is. Their story sucks you in … I could not put it down until I was completely finished with it, even though my heart was breaking. There is more than one despicable character (do check the TW) and I truly hated their guts. This is a book that makes you think about it over and over again and every time you do you can consider a new angle that you haven’t before. By the time I reached the happy romance part, I felt like my heart had been through a meat grinder which is how I assume most readers felt after reading this deeply emotional book.