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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-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
challenging
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“they had so much in common but not enough.” pg. 297
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-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
I was about to DNF this during the first chapter, due to the thickness of racist vibes the MMC was giving. There is something about a forbidden romance that serves me well. I was very shock by the graceful transition the author put us through. I ended up loving Josh more than Jess. I loved how despite their political differences, Josh gave Jess to vent her political views. Which lead to him opening up his own political views. But Jess, she stressed me out start to finish.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've been thinking about this since I finished it. There's one of those reviews on the front of this book from the Times calling it 'the book of the moment' and I guess it's true. This is one of those that occupies that very niche micro genre of liberal falling in love with a conservative. It's a romance and a political novel, the two twining together. I think Cecilia Rabess is a great writer. This is well-written and interesting, with really great attention to character detail and almost political moment. It's one of those "incendiary" novels. I remember the conversation when it was published, a lot of which I just didn't agree with because it seemed obvious to me that the book probably asked the reader to meet it in good faith. So I decided to do it!
Anyway, like I say, I've been thinking about it since I finished it a couple days ago. The two main characters can be boiled down to Black liberal woman and white conservative man who fall in love but they're given a lot of grace and space by Rabess. It's a novel that hinges on the believability of its character as whole people and I think that they were treated with a lot of compassion. Despite what I've just said I think it does a disservice to boil them down to those tenets which is the central argument of the novel in and of itself: do we do a disservice? Is it limiting or informing? How far can we compartmentalise? Do our political ideas affect every aspect of our life, are people capable of change, and how do we treat each other?
Obviously every reader comes with their own assumptions and beliefs to every book. I think this did a really good job of challenging those, as the characters challenge each other. It is a political novel and its interested in that intersection between the individual and the greater community. Jess and Josh make each other laugh and so clearly care deeply about each other. They're both capable of a lot of love and compassion. I also think that Rabess does some really interesting things with Jess: her father is clearly v political and invested in helping their community, where she's existed in predominantly white spaces, in a white workforce, with white friends. There's some really interesting questions about assimilation and how far Jess has been or will be willing to move in order to get the things she wants: money, stability, security. But Jess is also smart and on a clear path towards gaining self-knowledge. She challenges things consistently, has to shoulder a lot of weight she definitely shouldn't, and the narrative allowed her some really great moments of growth and discovery.
There is a really great sense of tension throughout this and the ending was so ominous. I think it would do the actual book a disservice if I was to lay out clearly what I thought of it here, because its a nuanced take and it asks for an understanding and willingness to engage with that. At the heart of this, I got the sense of: is this a good relationship? Is it healthy?
I suspect it can be hard to sit in the conversations the book re-runs, to see the weight and heft of them. To me, these characters were well-rounded and held up these discussions really well. This can make it sound heavy. I suppose it is heavy but its also compulsively readable. I kept wanting to find out how this would be resolved, if it could be. Ultimately, the book seemed to ask if you're willing to suppress everything for love -- and is it suppressing everything. It was very complicated. It was a lot to take in and think about. I think it's really very good but like I say it asks a lot of its readers. They may not be questions everyone is interested in.
Anyway, like I say, I've been thinking about it since I finished it a couple days ago. The two main characters can be boiled down to Black liberal woman and white conservative man who fall in love but they're given a lot of grace and space by Rabess. It's a novel that hinges on the believability of its character as whole people and I think that they were treated with a lot of compassion. Despite what I've just said I think it does a disservice to boil them down to those tenets which is the central argument of the novel in and of itself: do we do a disservice? Is it limiting or informing? How far can we compartmentalise? Do our political ideas affect every aspect of our life, are people capable of change, and how do we treat each other?
Obviously every reader comes with their own assumptions and beliefs to every book. I think this did a really good job of challenging those, as the characters challenge each other. It is a political novel and its interested in that intersection between the individual and the greater community. Jess and Josh make each other laugh and so clearly care deeply about each other. They're both capable of a lot of love and compassion. I also think that Rabess does some really interesting things with Jess: her father is clearly v political and invested in helping their community, where she's existed in predominantly white spaces, in a white workforce, with white friends. There's some really interesting questions about assimilation and how far Jess has been or will be willing to move in order to get the things she wants: money, stability, security. But Jess is also smart and on a clear path towards gaining self-knowledge. She challenges things consistently, has to shoulder a lot of weight she definitely shouldn't, and the narrative allowed her some really great moments of growth and discovery.
There is a really great sense of tension throughout this and the ending was so ominous. I think it would do the actual book a disservice if I was to lay out clearly what I thought of it here, because its a nuanced take and it asks for an understanding and willingness to engage with that. At the heart of this, I got the sense of: is this a good relationship? Is it healthy?
I suspect it can be hard to sit in the conversations the book re-runs, to see the weight and heft of them. To me, these characters were well-rounded and held up these discussions really well. This can make it sound heavy. I suppose it is heavy but its also compulsively readable. I kept wanting to find out how this would be resolved, if it could be. Ultimately, the book seemed to ask if you're willing to suppress everything for love -- and is it suppressing everything. It was very complicated. It was a lot to take in and think about. I think it's really very good but like I say it asks a lot of its readers. They may not be questions everyone is interested in.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Picked this up as I wanted a light easy read. Kind of enjoyed the light romance bits but found it actually quite jarring between the underlying themes of race and the cringe writing style?? Overall probably just not for me
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent