Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
3.75+. I am so certain if this book was twice as long, it would be five stars. It’s compulsively readable. There are so many interesting theories and concepts woven here, a critical exploration of feminism and its possible relationship to climate change. I also found myself quickly engaged with just about all the characters. However, this book speeds through plot and time a little haphazardly. We see 25+ years in such a short page count and the character exploration and growth suffers alongside the stifled plot. I will definitely read more from this author but I wish they (or their publisher) trusted them with a higher, more sweeping page count. It’s worth a read if the premise interests you, but I wouldn’t expect anything game changing.
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love utopias and the limitless ways they can collapse.
Jacqueline had created a world based on fantasies: the fantasy of female moral purity, the fantasy that gender is a coin, with a bad side and a good side.
This book has some interesting ideas. The all-female Inside and all the ways it backfires: because trans women don’t get the same treatment as those who can be pregnant, because of the gender essentialism in acting like men are the only ones who commit violent crimes, because of the white corporate feminism its run with, because you can’t draw a clear line around womanhood.
It is to the book’s detriment that it focuses so hard on Jacqueline as the source of these problems and not on the ideology. Or the scene where all the employees miraculously bond together at the end and imprison her? Inane and deeply unearned, especially since we hear nothing about the other staff til this point.
I also think the characters are pretty weak. Olympia agrees to join based on the hope she can change Jacqueline’s ideals, but then (frustratingly) spends years being a yes-man and barely standing up to her. Similarly Ava raises two children but doesn’t seem to grow at all in that time. None of the characters, from Shelby to Olympia to Ava, have any strength of self or increased maturity after those two decades.
That said, I did truly enjoy reading Ava’s life on the Inside, her perspective was my favorite. Her adjustment period, dancing under the skylight every night and wondering could I be happy here, made all the more poignant when you learn that it’s not truly wine and about the drug being filtered through their systems. And later on it's very sweet to watch Brooke and July grow, learning about seasons and stars and how the world used to be, and the shelter of inside preventing them from forming a sense of self. Ava’s pov feels the most human and grounded in the every-day moments of this dystopia.
At the end of the day the execution of this book isn't perfect, but I am so ensnared by these ideas. I’ve never read lesbian-centric cli fi before. Yours kept me thinking for days after I read it and I’ll always appreciate a book that makes me ponder. 3.5/5 stars
This book has some interesting ideas. The all-female Inside and all the ways it backfires: because trans women don’t get the same treatment as those who can be pregnant, because of the gender essentialism in acting like men are the only ones who commit violent crimes, because of the white corporate feminism its run with, because you can’t draw a clear line around womanhood.
It is to the book’s detriment that it focuses so hard on Jacqueline as the source of these problems and not on the ideology. Or the scene where all the employees miraculously bond together at the end and imprison her? Inane and deeply unearned, especially since we hear nothing about the other staff til this point.
I also think the characters are pretty weak. Olympia agrees to join based on the hope she can change Jacqueline’s ideals, but then (frustratingly) spends years being a yes-man and barely standing up to her. Similarly Ava raises two children but doesn’t seem to grow at all in that time. None of the characters, from Shelby to Olympia to Ava, have any strength of self or increased maturity after those two decades.
That said, I did truly enjoy reading Ava’s life on the Inside, her perspective was my favorite. Her adjustment period, dancing under the skylight every night and wondering could I be happy here, made all the more poignant when you learn that it’s not truly wine and about the drug being filtered through their systems. And later on it's very sweet to watch Brooke and July grow, learning about seasons and stars and how the world used to be, and the shelter of inside preventing them from forming a sense of self. Ava’s pov feels the most human and grounded in the every-day moments of this dystopia.
At the end of the day the execution of this book isn't perfect, but I am so ensnared by these ideas. I’ve never read lesbian-centric cli fi before. Yours kept me thinking for days after I read it and I’ll always appreciate a book that makes me ponder. 3.5/5 stars
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-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:
Yes
adventurous
slow-paced
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
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
(5.0 Stars)
This book hit a lot of my sweet spots for the books I like to read. Vibrant characters, dystopian, evolving plotline, vivid environments, and great storytelling.
Yes, it was slightly predictable, but that is just how the genre is.
The narration was good.
This book hit a lot of my sweet spots for the books I like to read. Vibrant characters, dystopian, evolving plotline, vivid environments, and great storytelling.
Yes, it was slightly predictable, but that is just how the genre is.
The narration was good.
dark
reflective
medium-paced