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vmusing's review against another edition
3.0
My goodness, what a way to start my reading this year. Two deeply flawed, complicated people trying to find their way through loving each other while they deal with mental illness and all that comes with it and ultimately deciding that they will try, and try, and try and choose each other through it all. I would describe this book as deeply romantic, captivating, subtlety bizarre, and not like anything I’ve read recently. As someone who prefers the smaller, softer, less obvious intimacies to sex (such as the intensity of hand-holding), this was divine.
albrieli's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
samanthag3's review against another edition
2.0
*2.5
Parts of the book were closer to a five (the least romantic parts), and parts of the book were closer to a 1, but that probably has to do with the fact that I'm just not a fan of romance. Probably my first and last foray into that genre. In any case, I don't understand how this has a higher rating than the Atlas Six and the Atlas Paradox.
Parts of the book were closer to a five (the least romantic parts), and parts of the book were closer to a 1, but that probably has to do with the fact that I'm just not a fan of romance. Probably my first and last foray into that genre. In any case, I don't understand how this has a higher rating than the Atlas Six and the Atlas Paradox.
mcl20's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
chinnyreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
3.75
art_humaniser's review against another edition
4.0
"He believed I was an honest person who lied from time to time instead of a liar who sometimes told the truth, so I was. He believed I could love him and so I did, I do.”
This book is marketed towards people who liked normal people. I didn't like normal people but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The book is an ode to those "problematic" kids who are drown so deep into chaos that being around them is volatile.
Regan’s parents had slept in separate bedrooms since she was ten years old. In Regan’s opinion, marriage was very easy to do if you simply operated in totally separate spheres. If she were to chart her parents as a Venn diagram, the only three things in the center would be money, Madeline’s achievements, and what should be done about Regan.
I don't have a mood disorder, so this book helped me understand bipolar so much.
“Most people are relatively simple. A combination of environmental factors, genetic proclivities, inherent traits…”
He checked that she was with him. “I follow,” she said, nodding as if she did.
“Right,” he said. “So most people are fairly straightforward functions of x and y, behaving within constraints of expectation.”
“Social constructs?” Madeline guessed.
“Presumably,” Aldo confirmed. “So within those parameters, some people are exponential functions, but still largely predictable. Regan”—Charlotte, he reminded himself too late, but dismissed it as a foregone error—”isn’t just difficult, she’s convoluted. She’s contradictory—honest even when she lies,” he offered as an example, “and rarely the same version twice. She’s confounding, really intricate. Infinite.” That was the word, he thought, clinging to it once he found it. “She’d have to be measured infinitely in order to be calculated, which no one could ever do.”
Cravings were wishes that could be satisfied, but compulsions were needs that must be met.
The star of the show are the lyrical descriptions. They are poignant in the way the sets are visualised and emotions are distilled - stream of consciousness style of journal entries for us to understand.
Consistent Baroque devotion to grandeur.
Gothic revival dominated the schema of the space, the ceilings high and vaulted, and the lofty sense of violence and idolatry poured in through color-stained rays of light. It was like bathing in opulence, only colder, stiff with authority. Churches were their own kinds of museums—with their devotion to ritual, at least, if not to God—and to exist inside of one was to dwarf oneself with inequity
“These keys of mine,” she said. “If you could have one of them.”
It was an implied question: If you could open only one part of me for your consumption, for your delectation, for the whims of your carnivorous mind, which part would you wish to see?
The thing about women and clothes was, in Regan’s mind, that nothing was ever a permanent expression; it wasn’t any sort of commitment to being this type of girl or that one, but purely today, I am.
There was blush in there to mimic innocence, bronzer to imitate sun, gloss to postulate desire. It was a bag full of lies and somewhere at the base of it were orange translucent bottles calling for her attention, summoning the liar to her rightful place.
“I heard you talked to Madeline,” she said, something of a challenge.
He shrugged. “A bit. Mostly about math.”
“Not bees?”
“Not bees,” he said, and handed her the blunt. “Bees are for you.”
She smiled at him, accepting it.
“Thanks,” she said, as if he’d told her she was pretty.
The only qualm I've is in the beginning it felt this book is about both of them Regan and Aldo, however it started skewing towards Regan too much to the point Aldo just seemed as a saviour to Regan's self-destruction.
She didn’t feel whole with Aldo inside her. Instead, she felt splintered; like she became, in his hands, an infinite number of pieces, an entire infinity herself. Like she and eternity and omnipotence were the same, or like omniscience could be equated to the sound of his ragged breath in her ear. She wanted him to mess her up, deplete her, to deliver her to something lesser, something baser. Something less inclined to rational thought, and instead diminished only to sensations.
holding her right now, see? (He is, loosely.)
Not like that, not physically.
He wants to … mentally hold her?
After a week, her fantasies, grotesque as they were, began to revolve around him leaving her. Regan, how could you do this? Aldo, please, please I’m so sorry. Regan, you disgust me. Aldo, you can’t mean that! Regan, you’re toxic, you make me sick. Aldo, Aldo, if you go, what will happen to me?
She wanted to cry, needed compulsively to suffer. Jesus, she thought, you really have a fucking problem, and so she left all her madness out of her phone calls to Aldo. When she talked to him, she tried to make all her words beautiful, sensual, like she was painting for him with her voice. She didn’t tell him the depravity of her imaginings, or the repulsion she felt with them, or with herself.
Lastly,
• Aldo and masso have such a beautiful parent child relationship -
Masso only called Aldo by his full name, Rinaldo, and he spoke of him as a man, not a child. As if they had always just been two friends stumbling together through life, one with his love of food and the other with his love of math.
His father came home late, like always, but Regan wasn’t tired, she insisted they stay up. Show me pictures, videos, I want to see it all. Masso didn’t have to be told twice. He dug out the albums, showing Regan, See, here’s Rinaldo’s first bike, here’s his first math competition, he was always so good, I had no idea. I assumed all the kids were like that, silly me, I never even helped him, I didn’t know. Masso seemed sad at that and Regan leaned over, throwing an arm around his shoulders. You raised such a good man, Masso, she whispered to him, and Aldo felt heavy, felt like crying, only Masso turned and smiled. Thank you, Regan, it was only by accident, he was just made this way.
“You are brilliant. Tell your mind to be kind to you today.” - Masso
• Please do read the acknowledgement at the end before moral policing this one.
This book is marketed towards people who liked normal people. I didn't like normal people but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The book is an ode to those "problematic" kids who are drown so deep into chaos that being around them is volatile.
Regan’s parents had slept in separate bedrooms since she was ten years old. In Regan’s opinion, marriage was very easy to do if you simply operated in totally separate spheres. If she were to chart her parents as a Venn diagram, the only three things in the center would be money, Madeline’s achievements, and what should be done about Regan.
I don't have a mood disorder, so this book helped me understand bipolar so much.
“Most people are relatively simple. A combination of environmental factors, genetic proclivities, inherent traits…”
He checked that she was with him. “I follow,” she said, nodding as if she did.
“Right,” he said. “So most people are fairly straightforward functions of x and y, behaving within constraints of expectation.”
“Social constructs?” Madeline guessed.
“Presumably,” Aldo confirmed. “So within those parameters, some people are exponential functions, but still largely predictable. Regan”—Charlotte, he reminded himself too late, but dismissed it as a foregone error—”isn’t just difficult, she’s convoluted. She’s contradictory—honest even when she lies,” he offered as an example, “and rarely the same version twice. She’s confounding, really intricate. Infinite.” That was the word, he thought, clinging to it once he found it. “She’d have to be measured infinitely in order to be calculated, which no one could ever do.”
Cravings were wishes that could be satisfied, but compulsions were needs that must be met.
The star of the show are the lyrical descriptions. They are poignant in the way the sets are visualised and emotions are distilled - stream of consciousness style of journal entries for us to understand.
Consistent Baroque devotion to grandeur.
Gothic revival dominated the schema of the space, the ceilings high and vaulted, and the lofty sense of violence and idolatry poured in through color-stained rays of light. It was like bathing in opulence, only colder, stiff with authority. Churches were their own kinds of museums—with their devotion to ritual, at least, if not to God—and to exist inside of one was to dwarf oneself with inequity
“These keys of mine,” she said. “If you could have one of them.”
It was an implied question: If you could open only one part of me for your consumption, for your delectation, for the whims of your carnivorous mind, which part would you wish to see?
The thing about women and clothes was, in Regan’s mind, that nothing was ever a permanent expression; it wasn’t any sort of commitment to being this type of girl or that one, but purely today, I am.
There was blush in there to mimic innocence, bronzer to imitate sun, gloss to postulate desire. It was a bag full of lies and somewhere at the base of it were orange translucent bottles calling for her attention, summoning the liar to her rightful place.
“I heard you talked to Madeline,” she said, something of a challenge.
He shrugged. “A bit. Mostly about math.”
“Not bees?”
“Not bees,” he said, and handed her the blunt. “Bees are for you.”
She smiled at him, accepting it.
“Thanks,” she said, as if he’d told her she was pretty.
The only qualm I've is in the beginning it felt this book is about both of them Regan and Aldo, however it started skewing towards Regan too much to the point Aldo just seemed as a saviour to Regan's self-destruction.
She didn’t feel whole with Aldo inside her. Instead, she felt splintered; like she became, in his hands, an infinite number of pieces, an entire infinity herself. Like she and eternity and omnipotence were the same, or like omniscience could be equated to the sound of his ragged breath in her ear. She wanted him to mess her up, deplete her, to deliver her to something lesser, something baser. Something less inclined to rational thought, and instead diminished only to sensations.
holding her right now, see? (He is, loosely.)
Not like that, not physically.
He wants to … mentally hold her?
After a week, her fantasies, grotesque as they were, began to revolve around him leaving her. Regan, how could you do this? Aldo, please, please I’m so sorry. Regan, you disgust me. Aldo, you can’t mean that! Regan, you’re toxic, you make me sick. Aldo, Aldo, if you go, what will happen to me?
She wanted to cry, needed compulsively to suffer. Jesus, she thought, you really have a fucking problem, and so she left all her madness out of her phone calls to Aldo. When she talked to him, she tried to make all her words beautiful, sensual, like she was painting for him with her voice. She didn’t tell him the depravity of her imaginings, or the repulsion she felt with them, or with herself.
Lastly,
• Aldo and masso have such a beautiful parent child relationship -
Masso only called Aldo by his full name, Rinaldo, and he spoke of him as a man, not a child. As if they had always just been two friends stumbling together through life, one with his love of food and the other with his love of math.
His father came home late, like always, but Regan wasn’t tired, she insisted they stay up. Show me pictures, videos, I want to see it all. Masso didn’t have to be told twice. He dug out the albums, showing Regan, See, here’s Rinaldo’s first bike, here’s his first math competition, he was always so good, I had no idea. I assumed all the kids were like that, silly me, I never even helped him, I didn’t know. Masso seemed sad at that and Regan leaned over, throwing an arm around his shoulders. You raised such a good man, Masso, she whispered to him, and Aldo felt heavy, felt like crying, only Masso turned and smiled. Thank you, Regan, it was only by accident, he was just made this way.
“You are brilliant. Tell your mind to be kind to you today.” - Masso
• Please do read the acknowledgement at the end before moral policing this one.
amastrina's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
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
jaclyn_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0