Reviews - Oleander: A Great Expectations Retelling

288 reviews for:

Oleander: A Great Expectations Retelling

Scarlett Drake

4.56 AVERAGE

moodreader10's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

nia_r's review

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

teesbooks_'s review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Laughed. Shouted. Cried. Cried some more.
This was beautiful & tragically painful to read but it couldn’t have been more perfect.

unapologetic_romantic's review

5.0

I love sad books. I love a story that fills me with a deep melancholy and makes me feel like any page could be the one that breaks me. Tragedies are my most favourite romances. The ones with fucked up characters, whose choices are toxic but inevitable. The ones written gorgeously and powerfully and painfully.

Oleander is a Great Expectations reimagining, the story of Jude and Caspien and their addictive, destructive and deep love for each other. It’s difficult to put this story into words. It's deeply emotional and heartbreaking, but addictive.

Jude and Caspien meet when they’re 15, and already Caspien is a complex character. Jude is pure innocence, friendly, loving and warm, wearing his heart on his sleeve and his thoughts all over his face. Whereas Caspien is cool and collected, almost always detached, prickly and difficult. They are so different, and yet Jude is drawn to him from the moment they meet.

The book travels through the years of their relationship from Jude’s perspective, from their almost friendship at the start, the first heartbreak of youth, his bleakness and anger of trying to move on, the acceptance, a summer of hope followed by more devastation, Jude’s acknowledging that Caspien is his one, and then the ending. It's twisty, dark and compelling, filled with angst and tension and heartache, but there is also joy and hope.

Oleander isn’t a true tragedy, it does have a happy ending, but it is one that was fought for, bleed for. The characters are broken and reformed before happiness is within sight. It's tense, painful and there is a lot of suffering, but it is beautifully written, deeply captivating and so worth reading.

alexandria354's review

5.0

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I think this is a book everyone should read at least once. The contents and message of this book were so deeply explored, of love, pain, relationship, obessesion, toxicity. But this book takes that to the next level.
We meet our MC Jude who has a heart so big and views to world so deeply, that when he falls in love with our love interest Caspien, he didn't know it would define his entire for the years to come. Caspien, a cold, toxic thorn constantly poking and ripping Jude's heart piece by piece. What I loved to see is how Jude got back up everytime from Caspien's cold actions and the unfortunate turn of events life threw at him. The story-telling felt exactly like a gruesome autobiography of one of the strongest and love-driven characters I've read yet.
There's not enough words to explain this book throughly! After reading it once I can confidently say Jude and Cas will always be remembered in my soul because I permanently changed the way I view relationships and the idea of love. Oh how painful and deep coming-of-age novel it was! Read this book once and you won't regret the aching classical story telling, a cast of extremely complex characters, and the life lessons of love and heartbreak Jude has to tell.

Content Warnings

rileynicole's review

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-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

syvrina's review

DID NOT FINISH: 48%

I needed to either find the plot interesting or the characters likable, but neither were the case. There were hints to potentially interesting things, but halfway through we still have only hints. I don’t understand why people are so into this book.

knollm15's review against another edition

5.0

I loved everything about this book, I loved the prose, I loved Caspien, I loved Luke but most of all, I loved Jude.

Jude with his big, beautiful, & naive heart. I loved watching him grow into the man he became by the end of the book. His journey was so heartbreaking, so frustrating and so incredibly real.

I have no doubts that Jude & Cas just secured a permanent residence in my head.

p0kefan24601's review

5.0

I was instantly hooked in the prologue. I felt parts of the middle dragged, but the ending was excellent and was well worth the "wait".

akr_reads's review

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

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