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lozanos's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
racheldrazzle's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a strange book, disturbing in parts, but lots of funny and thoughtful things too.
invertgirl's review against another edition
challenging
funny
sad
medium-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
5.0
mekrasts's review against another edition
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia
loisreading's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
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
3.0
anna1882's review against another edition
3.75
No one is unique and anuthentic and definitely has intimacy issues like Miranda July. (I love her). Kooks is the perfect anthem.
open_far's review against another edition
5.0
Wacky things happen, but they magically speak to unmistakably female lived realities in terms of moments, feelings and through symbolism/premonition.
July's writing constructs a space where certain ways of knowing are privileged in a way that I've never seen done in a novel; you may find these nuggets of truth unexpectedly difficult to recognise but they are even more satisfying (& powerful) offered so.
Every once in a while you read a book that blows open your expectations of the form. So refreshing after a hiatus from fiction, to be reminded of fresh ways of meaning-making possible in the novel form.
July's writing constructs a space where certain ways of knowing are privileged in a way that I've never seen done in a novel; you may find these nuggets of truth unexpectedly difficult to recognise but they are even more satisfying (& powerful) offered so.
Every once in a while you read a book that blows open your expectations of the form. So refreshing after a hiatus from fiction, to be reminded of fresh ways of meaning-making possible in the novel form.
gadicohen93's review against another edition
4.0
"An American love story for our time." Cheryl is a weird and pathetic middle-aged woman but I loved her. She and all of her grotesque neuroses were the only constant characters throughout the book, and they made the book so lovable, so engaging, so freakishly compelling. The book had so many little points where I had to snicker -- some of the things Cheryl thinks, does, says, becomes are so outlandish (or perhaps just outlandish enough) to make this a true comedy. I think I felt so drawn to Cheryl because of the way she sees life -- she knows life, she has developed a real ideology of life, and whether or not I agreed with it, I wanted to stick along to understand it. And in the end, the ideology transforms, grows -- the patient becomes the psychologist, the lover becomes the mother. This feels like a true meditation on someone getting out of the daily grind of life and its oppressiveness because, in the end, it was about much more than that: It was about a woman who finds out why she exists in the world.
Perhaps the book tried to fit too many things happening at once. There is Phillip, then there's Clee, then there are more things -- and truly, the last page and the first page did not feel like they belonged in the same book. There were many lifetimes lived in between, many transformations, that perhaps moved too fast, too unfathomably. But overall, I liked it a lot. Cheryl was a great person to hang out with for these past few days.
Perhaps the book tried to fit too many things happening at once. There is Phillip, then there's Clee, then there are more things -- and truly, the last page and the first page did not feel like they belonged in the same book. There were many lifetimes lived in between, many transformations, that perhaps moved too fast, too unfathomably. But overall, I liked it a lot. Cheryl was a great person to hang out with for these past few days.