4.22k reviews for:

Greta & Valdin

Rebecca K Reilly

4.13 AVERAGE

lighthearted reflective relaxing
emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad 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
emotional funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

gay characters being gay!!! love to see it
emotional funny fast-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
emotional funny lighthearted fast-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
funny 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

While I found this book quite funny and enjoyed the slice of life vibe with characters I related to, I did feel a bit unsatisfied by the ending and didn’t feel like some of the conflicts were resolved properly or at all - but maybe that was the point? Maybe we step in for a few weeks with these characters and when we leave them their lives go on. 
funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced
emotional funny 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

This is a weird book that really doesn't offer much beyond depicting queerness. For the sake of queerness, if nothing else though, one wishes the book was just better? To start with, it does not really have a plot? Most things do not happen but actually are told one character to another. Including retold stories that feel really out of place like siblings who seem to have reasonably good relationships telling each other their coming out stories as though they were reporting them to strangers. The voice of the two narrators (Greta and Valdin) are very hard to distinguish which makes one further wonder why there were introduced. Lastly, the understanding of love (the key driver for the characters' actions) is really quite bizarre. Like when two people who previously in a relationship, but one fucked off to the other side of the world following the other's mental breakdwon (because they worry they contributed to it?), do not communicate for months, but then meet up when work brings one to the city where the other lives, and close to immediately afterwards become engaged and want to raise an adopted child together. What?