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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
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:
Complicated
If you liked Brokeback Mountain and Call Me by Your Name, READ THIS.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
what if I sobbed for days
,, wish I could specify that I read the French version for reasons of narcissism, but incredible quand même
,, wish I could specify that I read the French version for reasons of narcissism, but incredible quand même
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is genuine, inexplicable pain. I knew going into this book that it would hurt and that i would most likely cry… What i did not know is that this books is going to stay with me for a while to come. I ugly cried at this book, with loud sobs and so many tears falling onto the pages that the page almost ripped because I tried to annotate it with a pen afterwards.
At the start of this book, I knew i was going to like it, because regardless of the plot and story, the writing, the analogies, and the descriptions were so incredibly poetic and beautiful that I would have been enamoured anyway. Half way through the book I still didn’t know where this was going. It was heartbreaking enough because i was so mad at thomas, and felt so much sympathy for the narrator… but then lucas… lucas and their interaction made me feel so hollow. and then the ending part came, and it shattered my heart completely. the emotion conveyed and the way it is written absolutely destroyed me. I didn’t see this coming and nothing could have prepared me for it.
Regardless of my clear heartbreak though, this was a beautiful story. The whole book felt like a slow heart wrenching song. Even the parts that weren’t about the two of them, were about them, and every page felt like it was oozing this sorrow that made your heart beat with agony. The writing was heartbreaking. It felt detached and yet somehow so personal and intimate. It was perfect. I have nothing to say other than wow. This is going to stay with me. This is now a favourite. What an incredible story.
At the start of this book, I knew i was going to like it, because regardless of the plot and story, the writing, the analogies, and the descriptions were so incredibly poetic and beautiful that I would have been enamoured anyway. Half way through the book I still didn’t know where this was going. It was heartbreaking enough because i was so mad at thomas, and felt so much sympathy for the narrator… but then lucas… lucas and their interaction made me feel so hollow. and then the ending part came, and it shattered my heart completely. the emotion conveyed and the way it is written absolutely destroyed me. I didn’t see this coming and nothing could have prepared me for it.
Regardless of my clear heartbreak though, this was a beautiful story. The whole book felt like a slow heart wrenching song. Even the parts that weren’t about the two of them, were about them, and every page felt like it was oozing this sorrow that made your heart beat with agony. The writing was heartbreaking. It felt detached and yet somehow so personal and intimate. It was perfect. I have nothing to say other than wow. This is going to stay with me. This is now a favourite. What an incredible story.
In some ways, the pacing and time of this reminded me of Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. It’s a short book yet conveys a melancholy that’s impressive for its length. Lie with me captures the push and pull of the closet well. You sense the reduction of love into this capsulized form when it isn’t given the space to breathe in the open.
It’s straightforward and presents itself with little fanfare, and yet, there are sections of it that struck me because they resonated so fully.
“I think I love him for this loneliness, that it’s what pushed me toward him. I love his aloofness, his disengagement with the outside world. Such singularity moves me.”
We barely know Thomas outside of his fear, and yet the picture painted of this boy and then this man who is trapped in an idea that the world will never allow him to just exist permeates even though the minimal text.
“A moment ago I had imagined myself an orphan and when I found my mother again it was only to bear her recriminations.”
This line was also striking. The whole section about abandonment and that relief of being found giving way to the devastation at being met with anger was something that stood out to me as a point of human relatability.
Other sections I marked were:
“For a long time I wondered if this oppressive religious ideology—the deliverance from evil as a divine principle drummed in day after day, the biblical message of fixed gender roles that his mother internalized, the sanctification of stable relationships as practiced by this unblemished family—could have exercised an influence on a child forbidden to rebel. I think, probably, yes.
He clarifies that he followed the catechism and took holy communion, as was the tradition.
“I surprise him by telling him that it is one thing we have in common.”
And
“(And when you’ve been hurt once, you’re afraid to try again later, in dread of enduring the same pain. You avoid getting hurt in an attempt to avoid suffering: for years, this principle will serve as my holy sacrament. So many lost years.)”
Truly a beautiful book. Highly recommend.
It’s straightforward and presents itself with little fanfare, and yet, there are sections of it that struck me because they resonated so fully.
“I think I love him for this loneliness, that it’s what pushed me toward him. I love his aloofness, his disengagement with the outside world. Such singularity moves me.”
We barely know Thomas outside of his fear, and yet the picture painted of this boy and then this man who is trapped in an idea that the world will never allow him to just exist permeates even though the minimal text.
“A moment ago I had imagined myself an orphan and when I found my mother again it was only to bear her recriminations.”
This line was also striking. The whole section about abandonment and that relief of being found giving way to the devastation at being met with anger was something that stood out to me as a point of human relatability.
Other sections I marked were:
“For a long time I wondered if this oppressive religious ideology—the deliverance from evil as a divine principle drummed in day after day, the biblical message of fixed gender roles that his mother internalized, the sanctification of stable relationships as practiced by this unblemished family—could have exercised an influence on a child forbidden to rebel. I think, probably, yes.
He clarifies that he followed the catechism and took holy communion, as was the tradition.
“I surprise him by telling him that it is one thing we have in common.”
And
“(And when you’ve been hurt once, you’re afraid to try again later, in dread of enduring the same pain. You avoid getting hurt in an attempt to avoid suffering: for years, this principle will serve as my holy sacrament. So many lost years.)”
Truly a beautiful book. Highly recommend.
reflective
sad
I love yearning sad queers
I thought this was going to break me, but it was less destroying then I expected
I thought this was going to break me, but it was less destroying then I expected