Reviews - The Build Up | The StoryGraph

276 reviews for:

The Build Up

Tati Richardson

3.87 AVERAGE

beautynbks's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-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

thebigq's review against another edition

3.5

funny lighthearted relaxing 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: Complicated

Fun to read, decent first book. The architects seemed like terrible people to work with, the misogyny all too real. But the relationship between our two protagonists worth reading for.

Content Warnings

literallymeggs's review against another edition

3.5

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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

thekinnireads's review against another edition

3.25

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

aduchene's review against another edition

3.0

lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It was a good story, took me a while to get through, I’m not sure why. I didn’t feel like I felt completely connected to them, although they were enjoyable. The brother was hard for me to want to read about. The moms were great. And I loved that Ari was supremely talented and more successful than Porter in her field. There is a lot of intersectionality and I appreciated how that was explained and how it impacted Ari’s personal and professional life.

ooohgoshtara's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring medium-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: No

An enjoyable read. It was laugh out loud entertaining. Love at first sight Porter, MMC. Brilliant, funny, successful, curvy Ari, MFC. I liked that the main characters are older late thirties maybe early forties. The characters and their experiences were relatable. An angsty workplace romance. Ari faces many obstacles being a female architect in a male dominated field. She and Porter are paired together for a huge project for their firm which forces them to work closely with each other. They are both against workplace romance so it was fun seeing their relationship grow as they tried to deny being into each other. I wish there were more consequences to the partners at the firm being such misogynistic asses to women at the firm. But all in all an engaging read and I appreciated Porter going away with Ari as she advanced her career by leaving the firm and not having it be the other way around where the woman gives up everything to follow her man.

Content Warnings

itssimplykayla_'s review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-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

kittykolektor's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny lighthearted 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

phoenixinthecity's review

5.0

I dare you to read Tati Richardson's debut, The Build Up and NOT want to jam to all the old skool 90s r'n'b hits referenced! This was so good. I loved that Porter and Ari were architects in their 40s because you have to have experience under your belt in order to be up for designing major projects like your city's new professional soccer stadium.
There's a cast of great secondary characters here and I really appreciated how the different characters experienced colorism in the past through Porter's mother, Eloise, and in the present through his brother and Ari herself. Additional CW/TW for fatphobia, and sexism and misogyny in the workplace.

Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2N2Ww5PEXtHkAgpzAMBvkf?si=WghEGgoQT_a41wgyMwFlJQ&nd=1

antonique_reads's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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

Content Warnings

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