Scan barcode
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
More...