Reviews

Costalegre by Courtney Maum

bethwis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

writerrhiannon's review against another edition

5.0

**I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

I devoured Costalegre by Courtney Maum in just a couple hours and while it was a quick read it will stay with me forever. The 15-year-old narrator was naive and pining for the knowledge of the artists who surround her and the love of her mother. Written in diary form (I love that!) this book will have you remembering what it was like to be 15 (in the best and worst ways). Going into this book I did not know that this story is based on the real-life relationship between heiress Peggy Guggenheim and her daughter, Pegeen, but now I will be on the lookout for anytime the Guggenheim name pops up again.⁠

emfahastra's review against another edition

3.0

A chittering book full of vitality that asks big questions. I'm sure its audience is out there but not my cup of tea as I found little empathy with the characters...though the writing is lovely.

marissab's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

babydmarie's review against another edition

5.0

Love, love, love this book! I read this in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. The entries in this fictional diary all feel marked by a heady, humid, anticipation, much like the novel's anticipation of the storm to come. Our teenage narrator, Lara, feels authentically adolescent, but never dumbed down or hyper-juvenile. She talks with complex grace about a very genuine desire for love, romantic love, familial love, platonic love. This book is brilliant, dreamy, and packs a punch in a brief package. I also loved the illustrations throughout and the small details of the diary format. While Courtney Maum's books are all wildly different, and this one is her most ambitious yet, they all manage to take complex and dazzling ideas, about art or tech or humanity or love, and pull them into intimately rendered characters.

baileyb3978c's review against another edition

4.0

This is an odd little book. The diary of a 15 year old girl living in the jungle among a group of temperamental, selfish, but brilliant artists. What this book does well is bring the reader right inside the mind of Lara, the diarist. As a young adult reader I particularly loved the genre of "teen girl writes in diary" and that likely contributes a large amount to my liking this book. I wouldn't, however, recommend the book on that basis alone. The story is a fascinating and deep snapshot into a very brief moment in the life of it's narrator. It takes almost no time at all to read in its entirety, but it transports the reader nonetheless. Lara's frustrations, her heartbreak, and her longing are keenly felt and her experiences, told in her unique voice match the wild and treacherous landscape in which she has found herself.