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pizzaformunchlax's review
5.0
This was written in second person and very emotional to read, but here I am giving it five stars. A beautiful read about navigating your twenties, becoming too dependent on your best friend, and the effects of endometriosis.
*I received an eArc of this book*
*I received an eArc of this book*
frombethanysbookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
"You can't fight the feeling that there is something wrong with you, that you are made badly, that you are cold in some rigid, unchangeable way. When you confess these fears to Ella, she tells you that being sick doesn't make you unlovable."
An affecting and delicate story with a hard-hitting concept and beautiful storytelling. From the first few lines, it reads like poetry - soft, descriptive, rich and lyrical but absolutely enchanting in its style and the imagery it creates invokes. Whilst at times these conceptual writing styles can be difficult to digest, especially with a lack of speech marks and running, rambling sentences almost always starting with the same word - I still found it stunning if a little testing in places.
The narration refers to our main character as ‘you’, which at first threw me but slowly became easier to find the flow. Scenes shifted fluidly from one to another instead of a structured narrative; with short chapters that melted into each other in an almost dreamlike state piecing together moments of life, of youth and that in-between state of growing up and growing old. Navigating love, sexuality, friendships, health and identity as our nameless character, us, grows up in front of our eyes - in messy, egotistic, mistake-riddled confused truth that is youth. It carefully dissects the many ways we love, the quiet and the loud, the toxic and the healing in a thoughtful way.
It felt extra personal for me as someone dealing with PCOS to see similar struggles reflected on the pages - a struggle women face every day but are continually gaslit into ignoring despite it infecting every part of their lives. It captures the way chronic illnesses and health problems can take over and how they affect your relationships with others and ourselves.
The narration refers to our main character as ‘you’, which at first threw me but slowly became easier to find the flow. Scenes shifted fluidly from one to another instead of a structured narrative; with short chapters that melted into each other in an almost dreamlike state piecing together moments of life, of youth and that in-between state of growing up and growing old. Navigating love, sexuality, friendships, health and identity as our nameless character, us, grows up in front of our eyes - in messy, egotistic, mistake-riddled confused truth that is youth. It carefully dissects the many ways we love, the quiet and the loud, the toxic and the healing in a thoughtful way.
It felt extra personal for me as someone dealing with PCOS to see similar struggles reflected on the pages - a struggle women face every day but are continually gaslit into ignoring despite it infecting every part of their lives. It captures the way chronic illnesses and health problems can take over and how they affect your relationships with others and ourselves.
This was a powerhouse story with an important message - add it to your bookshelves!
sashabaker177's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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
5.0
A whirlwind tour through one messed-up woman's early adulthood, Gender Theory's sparse yet evocative second person prose make the reader feel as if they are being addressed directly. This is such an intimate and painful (in a good way) reading experience, that will have anyone whose erratic behaviour has destroyed a friendship, relationshp or job oppurtunity cringing with empathy and frustration.
stefanieslibrary's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
lillyrb's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Absolutely incredible. I usually find it difficult to connect to characters deeply in shorter books, but this was not the case here. I am still wiping away my tears.
Gender Theory is unique from the first sentence onwards. Surprisingly, it is written with a second person narration, a style that I’m not sure I have actually ever read before. It works absolute wonders. Especially as somebody in their early twenties currently experiencing some of the things our main character does, the narration truly makes you feel like you are her. And that’s bittersweet. The non-chapter, almost stream of consciousness, style that the book is written in all adds to the content of the story itself. I really did feel like I was experiencing every sentence myself. For the writing and construction of the story alone, this book deserves the highest praise. But that’s not all. The story itself, I don’t even really want to say anything about it because I think living it by reading it is so much better, but the book manages to perfectly capture the feeling of being lost, the feelings of change and uncertainty that come with growing up, illness, and finding yourself and your own sexuality. I kept finding myself highlighting whole paragraphs that felt like they were giving voice to feelings and thoughts I have myself experienced. The friendship with Ella is bittersweet and in a lot of ways watching this friendship and all other relationships evolve throughout the book is heartbreaking and painful, you recognise the destructiveness in some of the behaviours and you want to shout no don’t do that and you want to help but you can’t and you know for certain that continuing to read is going to hurt because you can see what’s unfolding. But you also can’t stop reading because it’s beautiful in a way, it characterises human relationships and all of the feelings of not belonging and wrongness and how that can affect your own actions. And you also recognise maybe how you yourself have sometimes fallen into these patterns which inevitably makes reading about it more painful because it’s like the book is telling you look this is where you were an imperfect human acting in flawed ways. And of course at the centre of it all is also a story about Endometriosis and how the lack of research and care that we have as a society shown for health can negatively impact women and expose us to lives filled with so much physical and emotional pain.
This book is truly a work of art. I cannot wait for everyone to get to read it and I sincerely hope that it gets the attention it deserves. Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an advanced copy of the book so I could already experience it.
Gender Theory is unique from the first sentence onwards. Surprisingly, it is written with a second person narration, a style that I’m not sure I have actually ever read before. It works absolute wonders. Especially as somebody in their early twenties currently experiencing some of the things our main character does, the narration truly makes you feel like you are her. And that’s bittersweet. The non-chapter, almost stream of consciousness, style that the book is written in all adds to the content of the story itself. I really did feel like I was experiencing every sentence myself. For the writing and construction of the story alone, this book deserves the highest praise. But that’s not all. The story itself, I don’t even really want to say anything about it because I think living it by reading it is so much better, but the book manages to perfectly capture the feeling of being lost, the feelings of change and uncertainty that come with growing up, illness, and finding yourself and your own sexuality. I kept finding myself highlighting whole paragraphs that felt like they were giving voice to feelings and thoughts I have myself experienced. The friendship with Ella is bittersweet and in a lot of ways watching this friendship and all other relationships evolve throughout the book is heartbreaking and painful, you recognise the destructiveness in some of the behaviours and you want to shout no don’t do that and you want to help but you can’t and you know for certain that continuing to read is going to hurt because you can see what’s unfolding. But you also can’t stop reading because it’s beautiful in a way, it characterises human relationships and all of the feelings of not belonging and wrongness and how that can affect your own actions. And you also recognise maybe how you yourself have sometimes fallen into these patterns which inevitably makes reading about it more painful because it’s like the book is telling you look this is where you were an imperfect human acting in flawed ways. And of course at the centre of it all is also a story about Endometriosis and how the lack of research and care that we have as a society shown for health can negatively impact women and expose us to lives filled with so much physical and emotional pain.
This book is truly a work of art. I cannot wait for everyone to get to read it and I sincerely hope that it gets the attention it deserves. Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an advanced copy of the book so I could already experience it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Vomit, Drug use, and Chronic illness
teainthelibrary's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Drug abuse and Abortion
stefsbookshelf's review
emotional
funny
fast-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
carammcdermott's review against another edition
3.0
A short, undemanding read, a little reminiscent of Megan Nolan’s Acts of Desperation, but not quite as dark. Will feel very familiar to anyone with endometriosis, or even just struggled to be taken seriously by the healthcare community. Would be interested in seeing where the central figure goes next.
lindarrighi's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
rachaelhannahsmith's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
5.0
I received this book at a proof party as part of Durham Book Festival. Finished it less than 48 hours after getting it, and couldn’t put it down. Beautifully written, poignant and challenging. In my opinion, like Sally Rooney’s prose, but better.