Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Loveless

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Loveless by Alice Oseman

32 reviews

anjh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

this book was very good. very well written. i related a lot to Georgia’s descriptions of asexuality but also very much appreciated the aro rep too. i think Alice Oseman’s writing really conveyed the feeling of the process of figuring out your LGBTQIA+ identity through confusion, self hatred, denial and sadness.

i also really loved how the book showed that love isn’t just a romantic thing, but can also absolutely and very much be a platonic thing which is just as strong and just as meaningful, if not more so. it also showed the importance of friendships and how romance can get in the way of these.

this book was also v gay which i appreciated, very much recommended for anyone questioning/figuring out their identity or already identifying as queer (tho please read the content warnings as always!!)

Content Warnings

unusuallyy's review against another edition

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hopeful informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

serendipity421's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad slow-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

1.0

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al3xa's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

4.75

Content Warnings

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-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

4.5

i really loved this, the characters were loveable, the plot was interesting and fun, and the ending felt really perfect for the story. this is such a perfect YA.

Content Warnings

cdoubet's review

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

awxhhlilla's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

theaceofpages's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.5

"I was really quite lonely, and I wanted to be loved. Was that such a bad thing? To want an intimate connection with another human? I didn’t know."

This was a bit of a tough book to rate. I can tell why some people hate it, but I loved it.

So. First from a technical aspect. I can tell why some people don't like this book. The writing is a little frustrating at times. And the pacing was a little annoying. It started off kind of slow and repetitive. Until she realised she was ace. Then it picked up! I liked the pacing in the middle of the book but then the end felt rushed. And the ending was not the greatest?

I'm happy Georgia found happiness but it felt too neat, but at the same time incomplete? I don't know if that makes any sense.

The representation however? So good! And I think that this is exactly why the book is so popular. That confusion and desperation to feel like you belong. That's you're normal. A lot of her feelings and emotions are definitely high school me. Although I went the opposite route and told myself that I didn't want a relationship because I needed to work on myself as it's not fair for someone to have to deal with the wreck I was. But that the right person would come along eventually and if it happened, it happened. So I never really went through that "oh my goodness I need to find someone" experience. Despite that, I still related to her. And both those experiences simply stem from a lack of representation. I'm glad people can at least find things online and in books now, even if it's still not taught in schools. But yes. Seeing someone who's emotions are the same as mine in a deep level for the first time is great, even if they manifest themselves differently! But I do also think that this is where a lot of the hate comes in from ace readers. One of the biggest complaints about the book I've seen is that it doesn't represent their experiences. I'm pretty sure it was clear that there are multiple experiences through other characters, especially Sunil's explanations! And they are also not aro and Jess is aro but not ace, so there's that. I've also seen that some people are unhappy with how other identities are represented. I mean, I kind of get it, but all the characters are well-developed. We also need to remember that the book focuses on an aroace person - and a lot of us have a lot of confusion about why romantic and sexual love are placed on such a pedestal and are such a focus for some people. That being said, I loved the focus on friendship. It's so often underplayed and represented as lesser, even though it can be just as if not more powerful than romantic love.

I feel like Georgia is the type of person who would actually look up what asexual means so I feel like her discovery was a bit drawn out. I would have loved it if she had found the term, panicked, and then tried to convince herself that nope, she can have those things! She got got on my nerves a bit at times, but it's okay. Her cousin seems cool. I liked that that was a way to show how verbally aggressive parents can be. Although, again, why does no one in this book seem to do any research? I love Sunil! Can we please have more about them? I just resonated so deeply with a lot of what they said. I just want to be their best friend and give them a big hug. I definitely preferred them to Georgia. I'd LOVE a book about them. And how they learned to accept themselves. And about how they help others accept themselves too. It's sad that everyone uses he/him pronouns though (although they are okay with either)

Be aware that this book contains a lot of internalised aphobia (as well as some external aphobia, including from parents and LGBT spaces) and can be rather painful to read at times. I had to take breaks to process at times.

Content Warnings

pich's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

a pretty basic but enjoyable read. i liked gaining an understanding of how difficult it is to truly be comfortable with your own sexuality, no matter if you choose to label it or not.

i won’t lie and say the reminders that georgia read fanfic weren’t a little annoying, but i’m glad they stopped mentioning it once the plot actually ‘started’.

Content Warnings

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense 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

4.75

Ever since I read Alice Oseman's Heartstopper comic online, I really wanted to dive into her other works. I was especially excited for Loveless, as there aren't many books out there that focus on an aromantic asexual (aroace) main character.

I'll admit my first impression within the first couple of pages was low. I had a hard time getting into Oseman's writing style, which I found a bit juvenile at times, and had me questioning the placement of the book in my local library (it was in Adult fiction since the main character is 18 and entering college, as well as presumably due to the mentions of drinking). However, it was easy to get into the rhythm of the tone and feel of Georgia's voice as the narrator.

I also felt unsure about relating to the story. I identify as aromantic aceflux at this point in time, but my journey was not typical. Whereas I feel like Alice Oseman, who might've been pulling from her own experience, wrote Loveless with a more common lens. I was also much farther into my journey than Georgia who didn't even know what aroace is at the beginning of the book. However, I held on and found I loved the relationships between Georgia and her friends. The feelings Georgia has about being "broken" or "loveless" are very much relatable and caused some mistiness in my eyes.

Even though I have known about my identity for most of my life before I recently started using specific labels, and though it's been a long while since I entered college, I felt connected to Georgia on a deep level and rooted for her at every turn and twist. I definitely recommend Loveless if you are even a bit curious about the aroace identity. Except for my own personal hang-ups, I think this could've been a solid 5-star book.

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