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alisonfaith426's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content, Alcohol, Classism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abortion, Colonisation, Cursing, and Sexual assault
annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
i want to talk about the ending. at first i was disappointed, asking myself how the author could think that's a good place to stop. but i read it back and there's more to it:
Moderate: Alcohol, Biphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Lesbophobia, Abortion, Classism, and Cursing
Minor: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Bullying, Colonisation, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Drug use, and Fatphobia
adelal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, and Classism
sindunfin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Minor: Sexism and Xenophobia
antoniav's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Infidelity and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia and Rape
Minor: Racism and Sexism
randomheart's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
So...I do really like the setting of this book. I don't think I've ever read a book set in Hong Kong before, but I thought that the setting was written in a pretty immersive way (love the use of the street names and the various locations in Hong Kong). I've been there a few times, and have relatives that have lived and worked there as well, so there was something comforting about the setting for me.
I also thought that the technical explanations of language was quite interesting...it made me realise a lot of things I'd never really thought about (as someone that speaks English as a first language). There's so much that I didn't realise had to be learned that just comes innately to English speakers just because we're used to it. I liked how it was noted that the parents of these children only wanted them to learn a specific type of English too (no slang, colloquial language, etc.), which definitely seemed realistic to my own experiences (my mother, like Edith's, is Singaporean...so I was brought up speaking Singlish too).
I can see why people compare Dolan's writing to Sally Rooney's. Of course, they're both Irish, but this book had a similar mundanity, focus on relationships/connection and internal characterisations to a lot of Rooney's books...but I feel like there's a key difference there. Whilst Rooney's writing, for me at least, always has a simplicity and ease while reading, Dolan's tends to be too overwrought and long-winded to flow in the same way that Rooney's does. It's not a long novel, but it FEELS long because of the way that it's written. Sometimes I didn't know whether it was because I was just too stupid to understand what was going on (was it too cerebral?), or was it just too needlessly complicated for its own good? Did every second word in this book need to be so long that it sounded like it was from a spelling bee competition? Using big words doesn't make a book 'smarter' or more sophisticated. As a former 22-23 year old, I also just don't feel like most of them speak like that either?
Interestingly though, I do think that Ava's thoughts and actions (aside from some of the language used), was pretty typical of someone in their early twenties...so I did feel like there was definitely some realism there. Her low self-esteem, the way she projected all her insecurities on both Julian and Edith (always thinking that they thought a certain way about her without actually hearing it from them themselves) were relatable to me. Her self-centredness (and inability to communicate her actual feelings to Julian and Edith out loud), whilst true to life, was quite frustrating. I didn't really like any of the characters in this novel (Edith was okay, at least), but I do think that they were interestingly written. Julian and Edith always felt a little less fleshed out, but that makes sense since everything is told from Ava's point of view, and she's quite an unreliable narrator. You're never really sure if she's reading things correctly, or if she just thinks she is because she doesn't really seem to be able to see things from other people's perspectives unless it relates in some way to her own. I think because of this, although her character has obviously grown from the start, it doesn't feel like there's been enough character development overall for this novel to feel completely satisfying.
Although I do think that some of the writing was a tad pretentious at times, there were some turns of phrase and observations that I did like a lot or that I found insightful. I didn't dislike anything in this novel whatsoever...and I generally like character driven books even if they're mundane with no real plot, but admittedly, I just think that this one went over my head at times.
3/5
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexism
skudiklier's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"The best wedges of words were the ones my eight-year-olds wrote: I like her face. With her I am happy. I wished I’d never learned more advanced grammar and could only make sentences like that. It would give me an excuse to say them aloud."
Anyway. This book didn't really go anywhere and I'm not sure the characters are very good in any real way, but I enjoyed the narration for sure. It's interesting and I'd recommend it to some people, but not everyone.
Graphic: Infidelity, Cursing, and Biphobia
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Rape, Sexism, Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, and Sexual content
Minor: Racism
sewn_up's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Minor: Racism, Rape, and Sexism
ienbdri's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Addiction, and Bullying
Minor: Abortion
nzmerchant's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content and Homophobia
Minor: Racism and Sexism