4.24k reviews for:

Greta & Valdin

Rebecca K Reilly

4.13 AVERAGE

hologlam's review against another edition

4.25

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

amelia_micheline's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

foona's review against another edition

4.0

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

karrative's review against another edition

3.0

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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?

abigailb's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective

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Did not enjoy this as much as I had wanted/expected. was hoping for something like bautman’s The Idiot. i think maybe the focus on too many characters’ interactions with one another is where this novel fell short. major props to the author for the list at the beginning explaining how they were all related tho and clarifying names.

P.S. I know that Xabi was spanish not Argentinean, but i couldn’t help but imagine him as pedro pascal❤️ 

dorottyax's review against another edition

5.0

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this was such a blast to read - literally Lol-ed my way through the book

ellabadalla's review against another edition

4.0

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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

ellaxiao's review against another edition

4.25

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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I just had fun living life with these character, though sometimes the romantic dramas was a little much for me. Just queer multiracial/cultural chaos, neurotic gay people of color but this time they get eclectic happy endings, family drama but in the loving just weird way. 

sirigusdal's review against another edition

4.25

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 I really enjoyed Greta & Valdin, and read it primarily on the beach. Witty, lighthearted, and in touch with the contemporary time and place when it was written, this was just a very readable novel. I liked all the characters, particularly the father. The older I get, the more I can appreciate stories about existential angst that continues past high school/college age characters. 

 

I can’t find the direct quote, but there’s a line about how if Greta became a small business owner, she would enter the class of people who are spoken about positively in the media or something like that, and that just stuck with me because it’s so true, everyone goes crazy for small business owners. 

 

Potentially a personal issue, but I could not keep track of who all the characters were and how they were all related to each other. My only other critique would be that some of the characters felt a bit underdeveloped, or just kind of repetitive at times. 

 

Cover design rating: 5/5 — love it, nonliteral approach that captures the vibe and appeals to the target audience (me). 

hairlikestardust's review against another edition

2.75

emotional lighthearted reflective fast-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