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daniajportman's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug use
ceedy's review
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Drug use
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcoholism, and Vomit
danajoy's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I read a review saying that this felt like an Australian Sally Rooney book and I will agree - although less seeped in politics. The characters are young and not always likable. They make bad decisions and are generally pretty selfish and self righteous.
The story is messy. Relationships are complicated. We follow a sisters Eleanor and Charlie over the summer of Dec 2021 to January 2022. After 2 years of lockdowns and pandemic the arts have begun to revive. There is a juxtaposition of the bohemian artist sister, Charlie and the straight-laced, 'good girl' sister Eleanor. It's an interesting look at sibling dynamics.
Personally the themes of Love & Virtue were more engaging. But this one is still definitely worth the read.
The story is messy. Relationships are complicated. We follow a sisters Eleanor and Charlie over the summer of Dec 2021 to January 2022. After 2 years of lockdowns and pandemic the arts have begun to revive. There is a juxtaposition of the bohemian artist sister, Charlie and the straight-laced, 'good girl' sister Eleanor. It's an interesting look at sibling dynamics.
Personally the themes of Love & Virtue were more engaging. But this one is still definitely worth the read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Infidelity
katarinabee's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Drug use
ballenina's review
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug use
gruizco23's review
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was everything I was expecting it to be but also different somehow. I enjoyed it, although some of the characters actions made me so angry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
nibs's review against another edition
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I was disappointed in this book. The characters by themselves are 2 dimensional, and only start getting fleshed out in relation to other people when the plot picks up. There's no sense of the character's as individuals.
The writing itself was overly descriptive at times. But the big sticking point for me was that the author does not know how to handle race. The author goes into detailed character descriptions of their physical appearance (eye colour, nose shape, eyebrows, muscle tone, etc.), focusing on smaller details while ignoring skin colour, assuming whiteness or awkwardly mentioning the country a character's parents are from before/after. Some characters will discuss their white privilege in a situation, but it is only vaguely referenced that other characters they are friends with do not have this privilege. Between the writing and the character's actions, there's a faux-wokeness which actually feels worse than if the author had been doing these things ignorantly / because they didn't know any better.
The exploration of queerness felt half-baked. Yes, there was some good stuff with the queer characters, but then you have moments like when some characters attend a Pride in Law event and completely miss the point of such an event, or a bi character go 'I didn't know you were gay' to another character (yes internalised biphobia plays a part, but it also felt like bad writing). Yes the characters are in love regardless of gender, which is very queer, but the handling of the other parts of being queer (political, social, given we are in a heteronormative society) was glossed over or handled clumsily.
This book got more enjoyable in its melodrama via audio (I switched after chapter 4, because I couldn't stand reading this book without multitasking), but I can't recommend this book to anyone with its clumsy writing. I would have dropped it after the first chapter if not for the fact it's a bookclub read.
The writing itself was overly descriptive at times. But the big sticking point for me was that the author does not know how to handle race. The author goes into detailed character descriptions of their physical appearance (eye colour, nose shape, eyebrows, muscle tone, etc.), focusing on smaller details while ignoring skin colour, assuming whiteness or awkwardly mentioning the country a character's parents are from before/after. Some characters will discuss their white privilege in a situation, but it is only vaguely referenced that other characters they are friends with do not have this privilege. Between the writing and the character's actions, there's a faux-wokeness which actually feels worse than if the author had been doing these things ignorantly / because they didn't know any better.
The exploration of queerness felt half-baked. Yes, there was some good stuff with the queer characters, but then you have moments like when some characters attend a Pride in Law event and completely miss the point of such an event, or a bi character go 'I didn't know you were gay' to another character (yes internalised biphobia plays a part, but it also felt like bad writing). Yes the characters are in love regardless of gender, which is very queer, but the handling of the other parts of being queer (political, social, given we are in a heteronormative society) was glossed over or handled clumsily.
This book got more enjoyable in its melodrama via audio (I switched after chapter 4, because I couldn't stand reading this book without multitasking), but I can't recommend this book to anyone with its clumsy writing. I would have dropped it after the first chapter if not for the fact it's a bookclub read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
jouljet's review
challenging
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity and Drug use
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