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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
fast-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
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Xenophobia
As someone with Long COVID I just can’t handle reading about the pandemic yet
medium-paced
I wanted to like this one so much more than I did. It all just felt so surface. That actually fits since the story revolves around social media, but it didn't make for a particularly enjoyable read. Fun idea, but didn't hit as hard (ha!) as I had hoped.
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I haven’t disliked reading a book this much in a very long time. I was trying to read it for book club but can’t do it.
I just cannot get into it, it's so boring so far. I simply don't care about any of it.
Expected to love this but literally hated it. cover is gorgeous tho
💭 "From birth until death, people looked for people they could touch and be touched by comfortably. Spectator sports were invented so lonely people could at least watch other people touch each other."
Nguyễn's protagonists—Six (#6, the more butch one) and Green (#19, the veteran baller)—are breakout stars: trans women at the top of their sport, who have helped to make men's volleyball a global phenom. They've been long distance dating for about a year, making two daily good morningnight and good nightmorning video calls to update each other on teammate troubles and Covis exposure woes, plus to plan for their weekly public Instagraph show. Now they're crashing together again at the tournament, annoyed at dude bros, eager to shed masks, suddenly grappling with the violent deaths of women like them and rapidly gaining followers while losing sleep.
Mostly, their biggest worries are public reputation, starting positions and weird social interactions. But as magazine columnists, mic'd up commentators, network execs and hangers-on continue to distort their every move into imagined narratives on labor, sexuality, gender, dignity and more, their day-to-day warps further and further.
Chaotically propulsive, like a social media feed—Nguyễn recreates real-time internet caterwauling for pages at a time, forcing your eyes to scroll through streams-of-steaming-hot-barely-conscious-garbage takes studded with adoration.
A whirlpool sirensong—Nguyễn almost instantly sucked me into this parallel world of operationalized pseduo-therapeutic insights, multiple nemeses and wicked sociocultural observation.
This is so of-the-moment, dramatizing the ways we all imagine theatrics into our lives: "She had to play it right—not just these silly ball games, but the real game of life." By recreating and revealing the silent, insecure monologues of main characters, Nguyễn insists that we make our own determinations. The ending felt like a performance of a performance, an analysis of a therapy session before the hot girls get out there to woo again. It's in line with the textual vibe but I'm unsure if we ever got an 'authentic' character moment (except maybe when the biggest hater is revealed as another villain?)
If you're ready to laugh at how terrible we are, Nguyễn is ready to spike in your face!