Reviews with content warning for Lesbophobia - Surface Breaks

Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

Surface Breaks by Louise O'Neill

9 reviews

lateromantic's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I didn't enjoy it as much as Louise O'Neill's other books I've read, but she did a wonderful job of extending The Little Mermaid and showing the queer and proto-feminist aspects of the story. Some bad language and sex references, though I would say the sex references are OK for young high school students as it teaches them about relating to healthy desires in a safe way and consent. More on-the-nose than her other books, but likely because it's aimed at a younger audience than them.

Content Warnings

owls_rainbow's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Reread 2024: Hated the instalove. Thought there was very little character development, very little world-building.

The men were all awful and on this reading I didn't enjoy the human world. I still want a full book on Ceto and more explanation on the Rusalka.

Again the whole book felt quite rushed but there wasn't really enough plot as is to fill the book more.

Original review: This advertises itself as a feminist retelling of The Little Mermaid and to that I would say yes but at the same time no. The first half was less clear cut. We had few characters, less information about the mer-world than I’d have liked and overall, seemingly vapid thoughts about their appearance and men. Things did not seem happy per say but there was nothing that was a major red flag initially. While I loathe the concept of instalove the story took on a much more interesting turn in the second half once Gaia took on her human guise. It didn’t make a lot of sense, but Gaia only seemed to reveal her full life and understand how bad it was once she was among the humans. The second half of the book definitely took a U-turn with its criticisms of the expectation of women and the trouble with many men. I feel that the ending was a little rushed, despite my small criticism of the pacing I wanted more! Also, my copy had a bonus “chapter” on the Sea Witch and oh goodness I want a whole book on her!

Content Warnings