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mpeach's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Alcohol, and Body shaming
mattyvreads's review
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This was a really interesting read.
It was giving POV relationship abuse, which was sometimes tough, and often (intentionally) uncomfortable.
The most successful element of the book was the visceral nature of the storytelling. Crimp makes the reader feel everything that is happening in the protagonist’s body, which evokes joy, pain, sadness, horror, unease, anxiety, excitement, delight, and more. It is a unique experience.
The book offers some subtle and other times obvious feminist messaging, but it never feels painfully on-the-nose. It is overt when it needs to be. It is straightforward and thought-provoking.
The most successful element of the book was the visceral nature of the storytelling. Crimp makes the reader feel everything that is happening in the protagonist’s body, which evokes joy, pain, sadness, horror, unease, anxiety, excitement, delight, and more. It is a unique experience.
The book offers some subtle and other times obvious feminist messaging, but it never feels painfully on-the-nose. It is overt when it needs to be. It is straightforward and thought-provoking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual assault
aaron444's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
i'm so sad wtf
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Sexual content
Minor: Drug abuse
frannyrdclark's review
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual content
Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Drug use
heresthepencil's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
it’s a hard book to judge. on one hand, there are things i very much wish have happened (if this was a story unfolding in real life), on the other hand, there are literary devices employed here that i find interesting & well executed.
i do wish anna had more figurative meat on her bones, but i also appreciate how the author's chosen to portray her. that we never really see her on her own, always in reaction to someone else. even when she’s describing her childhood, when she’s with a teacher focused solely on her growth - she puts on a persona she assumes people want to see. it makes perfect sense for this kind of story. (and it makes the title strikingly accurate. anna will make anything to appeal to people, of course she's very nice.)
i do wish max got what he deserved, but at the same time he's a great depiction of a manipulative toxic misogynistic piece of shit. it’s interesting to see the way he drains anna's energy, the way he knows exactly what to say and how to act to make her feel small and worthless, and depended on him. everything anna does, max turns into a child’s play. if she feels vulnerable, she’s easier to manipulate, it's easier to get out of her (body) what he wants at any given moment. and the most interesting part of this whole show, is that the book leaves it up to us, as readers, to decide: does he do all those things deliberately or is he just an asshole?
(the way the book makes his actions and motivations a literal topic of conversation between anna and her friend might have been more smooth and natural, but still.)
so yes, everyone is slightly one-dimensional and the main character is sort of a blank page, and the story itself is as old as the world, but the devil's in the details, and those are gorgeous.
tw: dubious consent
i do wish anna had more figurative meat on her bones, but i also appreciate how the author's chosen to portray her. that we never really see her on her own, always in reaction to someone else. even when she’s describing her childhood, when she’s with a teacher focused solely on her growth - she puts on a persona she assumes people want to see. it makes perfect sense for this kind of story. (and it makes the title strikingly accurate. anna will make anything to appeal to people, of course she's very nice.)
i do wish max got what he deserved, but at the same time he's a great depiction of a manipulative toxic misogynistic piece of shit. it’s interesting to see the way he drains anna's energy, the way he knows exactly what to say and how to act to make her feel small and worthless, and depended on him. everything anna does, max turns into a child’s play. if she feels vulnerable, she’s easier to manipulate, it's easier to get out of her (body) what he wants at any given moment. and the most interesting part of this whole show, is that the book leaves it up to us, as readers, to decide: does he do all those things deliberately or is he just an asshole?
(the way the book makes his actions and motivations a literal topic of conversation between anna and her friend might have been more smooth and natural, but still.)
so yes, everyone is slightly one-dimensional and the main character is sort of a blank page, and the story itself is as old as the world, but the devil's in the details, and those are gorgeous.
tw: dubious consent
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Gaslighting
Minor: Suicide attempt
nzmerchant's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Took me a while to get into this book because of all the parallels i could draw between the plot and my own life. But then I got hooked by how accurately the author was able to capture Anna’s thoughts and put into words things that i cannot - about trying to play the cool girl & the game of who cares the least in a situationship, feeling ashamed when recounting to people or thinking about the things you said or compromised for the sake of this other person. And i just feel so seen. It’s nice to know im not completely insane and has also helped me rationalise a lot of things.
Writing was v engaging and enjoyable too - sally rooney esque with the lack of quotation marks and all that jazz. A tad pretentious and can’t say I actually liked any of the characters but overall, a great debut novel and im looking forward to more sad gurl books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Sexism
Moderate: Toxic friendship
cassidy's review
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
A little anxiety inducing… I was rooting for Anna the entire time and ultimately I feel okay about it but if I knew how deep she would get I don’t know if I would’ve read this
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Emotional abuse
leahb88's review
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book explored Anna’s relationship to art and her career as an opera singer, and her need for connection and belonging. She finds that in Max, a wealthy businessman who bathes her in the brightest sun and shades her in the darkest clouds. She contorts herself into a different version of a woman that each person expects her to be in order to navigate both desires and the classism she experiences in both. This felt like reading the thoughts and consciousness of the narrators mind. It felt very introspective and it really got me on the rollercoaster with Anna. I was so annoyed with her at times though, maybe that’s kind of the point of her whole character arc, growing as a person thing, but sometimes I just couldn’t get over my frustration with her. Overall though I was invested in my journey with her and I pulled lots of great quotes from this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Suicide attempt
smlima1992's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
sydapel's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Was this book so incredibly stressful and frustrating I had to put it down for three weeks? Yes. Was it also one of the best and most intimately raw novels I've laid my grubby little paws on since reading Normal People for the first time? Also yes.
I could talk about this book for AGES, the way it dismantles the myth of the "starving artist", it's depiction of the male gaze and how women subconsciously restructure themselves within it and before they notice, their entire identity is being written over, how obsessive we can become the minute we feel the least bit valued or seen or loved, the intersection of classical music and privilege, the often hypocritical nature of white feminism. I could go on and on. If you've been craving more Rooney esque characters and writing, I'm going to be shoving this one at you.
I could talk about this book for AGES, the way it dismantles the myth of the "starving artist", it's depiction of the male gaze and how women subconsciously restructure themselves within it and before they notice, their entire identity is being written over, how obsessive we can become the minute we feel the least bit valued or seen or loved, the intersection of classical music and privilege, the often hypocritical nature of white feminism. I could go on and on. If you've been craving more Rooney esque characters and writing, I'm going to be shoving this one at you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Child abuse