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slightymanic's review against another edition
emotional
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
shubagar's review against another edition
5.0
Such incredible sorrow pressed into such a short book. Made me cry.
lunker's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
3.75
teavani's review against another edition
3.0
Lines:
I'm in this state of one-way desire. I feel this desire swarming in my belly and running up my spine. But I have to constantly contain and compress it so that it doesn't betray me in front of others. Because I've already understood that desire is visible. Momentum too; I feel it. I sense a movement, a trajectory, something that will bring me to him (17).
Because you will leave and we will stay.
It's the violence that the words carry within them, their admission of inferiority, and, at the same time, of love (25).
I kept telling myself: You must be mistaken. It's your imagination. Nobody locks themselves into anything like that at first glance. I'm still there. Still in this innocence. Can you imagine? (29)
Did you hesitate? I know that I must never ask him these kinds of questions, I can't ever ask him to explain himself and knowing this crushes me. I don't say: I missed you. Showing any sentimentality or gushing on my part would horrify him (40).
I'm still thinking that everything has to be done according to him and his desire, his inhibitions too (52).
It's something that comes from using the body. From stirring up desire, sharing oneself with another, finding victory over a kind of solitude (64).
Immediately it makes me think of a world I'm excluded from, the friendships he's developed, all the ordinary days that have nothing to do with me. The friends, the handshakes, crystallize it. I'm from a world that is underground, unique and invisible. Ordinarily this would make me feel happy but tonight it makes me feel like a fool (76).
The passion that can't be talked about, that has to be concealed, gives way to the terrible question: if it isn't talked about, how can one know it really exists? (77)
Jealousy, though not an entirely unknown feeling, is nevertheless somewhat foreign to me. I'm not possessive, figuring no one should have exclusive rights to someone else, as if a lover were a piece of property. I respect everyone's freedom too much (probably because I can't bear to have mine undermined). It seems to me that I am capable of good judgment, even detachment. These are qualities that have been attributed to me, even at that age. Besides, I have always found the spectacle of "the tease" in either sex to be tiresome, it never made me envious. Except all my beautiful principles crumble in a second, the second this young woman throws herself at Thomas. Because this scene not only shows a life lived outside of me. It hurtles me back to a void, to nonexistence, really, in the cruelest way. Because it shows what is usually hidden from me (78-9).
In hindsight, I'm shocked by my attitude. Ever rational and pragmatic, how did I manage to sweep away the evidence, the undeniable certainty of the end? I suppose I didn't want to be overcome by grief in advance (87).
I cannot say: This is only a phone call. I know it's more than that. Even if I were granted immunity, the act of calling him has the allure of betrayal (we come back to that, we always come back to it) or without going to that extreme, a gesture toward Thomas Thomas would be a gesture of mistrust toward the man I live with - a decision to put distance between us, to admit to a love that is not enough (120).
Once he made the decision, how long did it last? A few seconds? A minute? But a minute is interminable under these circumstances, so how then did he fill the time? With what thoughts? (132)
I'm in this state of one-way desire. I feel this desire swarming in my belly and running up my spine. But I have to constantly contain and compress it so that it doesn't betray me in front of others. Because I've already understood that desire is visible. Momentum too; I feel it. I sense a movement, a trajectory, something that will bring me to him (17).
Because you will leave and we will stay.
It's the violence that the words carry within them, their admission of inferiority, and, at the same time, of love (25).
I kept telling myself: You must be mistaken. It's your imagination. Nobody locks themselves into anything like that at first glance. I'm still there. Still in this innocence. Can you imagine? (29)
Did you hesitate? I know that I must never ask him these kinds of questions, I can't ever ask him to explain himself and knowing this crushes me. I don't say: I missed you. Showing any sentimentality or gushing on my part would horrify him (40).
I'm still thinking that everything has to be done according to him and his desire, his inhibitions too (52).
It's something that comes from using the body. From stirring up desire, sharing oneself with another, finding victory over a kind of solitude (64).
Immediately it makes me think of a world I'm excluded from, the friendships he's developed, all the ordinary days that have nothing to do with me. The friends, the handshakes, crystallize it. I'm from a world that is underground, unique and invisible. Ordinarily this would make me feel happy but tonight it makes me feel like a fool (76).
The passion that can't be talked about, that has to be concealed, gives way to the terrible question: if it isn't talked about, how can one know it really exists? (77)
Jealousy, though not an entirely unknown feeling, is nevertheless somewhat foreign to me. I'm not possessive, figuring no one should have exclusive rights to someone else, as if a lover were a piece of property. I respect everyone's freedom too much (probably because I can't bear to have mine undermined). It seems to me that I am capable of good judgment, even detachment. These are qualities that have been attributed to me, even at that age. Besides, I have always found the spectacle of "the tease" in either sex to be tiresome, it never made me envious. Except all my beautiful principles crumble in a second, the second this young woman throws herself at Thomas. Because this scene not only shows a life lived outside of me. It hurtles me back to a void, to nonexistence, really, in the cruelest way. Because it shows what is usually hidden from me (78-9).
In hindsight, I'm shocked by my attitude. Ever rational and pragmatic, how did I manage to sweep away the evidence, the undeniable certainty of the end? I suppose I didn't want to be overcome by grief in advance (87).
I cannot say: This is only a phone call. I know it's more than that. Even if I were granted immunity, the act of calling him has the allure of betrayal (we come back to that, we always come back to it) or without going to that extreme, a gesture toward Thomas Thomas would be a gesture of mistrust toward the man I live with - a decision to put distance between us, to admit to a love that is not enough (120).
Once he made the decision, how long did it last? A few seconds? A minute? But a minute is interminable under these circumstances, so how then did he fill the time? With what thoughts? (132)
cheye13's review against another edition
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was beautifully written - and translated - but with a detachment that made the story depressing rather than moving. I think the story is as long as it needs to be, but I would've liked more time to sit in certain moments or images, more time to identify with or care for the characters (beyond the narrator) on a personal level. I'm glad I read this, but it didn't meet my expectations.
lizzie_w123's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
pommexina's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
graygarrido's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
harpyd's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
Absolutely beautiful. Such a well written story; simple, short and sweet, but utterly devastating and heart shattering. Just perfectly captures the arc of a young love, and the way we succumb to or navigate through the pressures of conformity.