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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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:
Yes
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've read a lot of romance novels, but we all know that they aren't real life. This isn't that. It is, what it says on the cover, a love story. It touched me in an unexpected way. It is literary, but less so that I was afraid of it being. Details are omitted where they aren't needed, which leads to untraditional storytelling, but allows the messages to shine through clearer.
This novel spoke to me about what it really is to love someone, and to be with them. As a woman, especially a woman of this time (I am only a year older than Hero) you are raised to want independence. To want your own dreams, your own life, your own personhood; but still, you cannot escape the trap that you are also supposed to eventually be a wife and mother. But you still want to be YOU. This is what Hero is up against as she takes a week to decide if she wants to love and marry a man, the best man she has ever known, and if she has to lose part of herself in the process.
The answer is complicated, and she needs these seven days to work through it. In a similar place in my life, this book reached me, and I felt the weight of her decision. We're always told that love is work and compromise, but how much is really okay? How much is too much? And how do we know before it's too late? And when it isn't too much, how do we make peace with it really being okay?
In the final chapter, Hero tells the story of her mother's friend, a writer, who had a shed to write in away from her husband and sons. You'd think from this, that she needed to be alone to create. But later, when her sons are grown and her husband leaves, she can't write anymore, because her heart isn't in it. Being alone isn't better. It's about balance.
This isn't a romance novel. But it is a love story.
This novel spoke to me about what it really is to love someone, and to be with them. As a woman, especially a woman of this time (I am only a year older than Hero) you are raised to want independence. To want your own dreams, your own life, your own personhood; but still, you cannot escape the trap that you are also supposed to eventually be a wife and mother. But you still want to be YOU. This is what Hero is up against as she takes a week to decide if she wants to love and marry a man, the best man she has ever known, and if she has to lose part of herself in the process.
The answer is complicated, and she needs these seven days to work through it. In a similar place in my life, this book reached me, and I felt the weight of her decision. We're always told that love is work and compromise, but how much is really okay? How much is too much? And how do we know before it's too late? And when it isn't too much, how do we make peace with it really being okay?
In the final chapter, Hero tells the story of her mother's friend, a writer, who had a shed to write in away from her husband and sons. You'd think from this, that she needed to be alone to create. But later, when her sons are grown and her husband leaves, she can't write anymore, because her heart isn't in it. Being alone isn't better. It's about balance.
This isn't a romance novel. But it is a love story.
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for this ARC.
I would normally start a review by saying something about the plot, but I have no idea what the plot is.
This was too literary for me, too confusing and fragmented. It's basically a stream of consciousness by a woman called Hero.
I didn't like the writing style. I never knew whether we were in the past or the present, whether she was talking about herself or someone else or just generally what was going on. There's a lot of talk about what women have suffered throughout history and she tries to figure out how she feels about someone, but the story, if you can call it that, is open-ended.
Sorry but this wasn't for me. Mercifully, it's short.
I would normally start a review by saying something about the plot, but I have no idea what the plot is.
This was too literary for me, too confusing and fragmented. It's basically a stream of consciousness by a woman called Hero.
I didn't like the writing style. I never knew whether we were in the past or the present, whether she was talking about herself or someone else or just generally what was going on. There's a lot of talk about what women have suffered throughout history and she tries to figure out how she feels about someone, but the story, if you can call it that, is open-ended.
Sorry but this wasn't for me. Mercifully, it's short.
challenging
emotional
reflective
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