Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Rosewater

This was a really frustrating book that I really liked but wanted to love more. Elsie is an absolute mess of a protagonist that you can’t help but root for - a down-on-her-luck poet who feels discounted from life and is desperately searching for any kind of stability. She doesn’t always make the right decisions, but she does it all with such sincerity and this strive to be better that you can’t help but root for her.

When Liv Little’s prose gets going it really takes you by the hand and sweeps you into the world of this book. The middle section in particular I felt she had gotten into her groove and it was where the book most shined.

However. You can tell this book is a debut. There were sections of writing, particularly the beginning and end, which felt quite clunky, particularly with the dialogue. While this is character-driven work, the plot points that were there often felt quite contrived and clearly only existed to get Elsie from point A to B. Yes, all plot technically exists to do that, but as a reader it should feel natural.

I also think first-person present was the wrong tense to use. It’s a very hard narrative technique to pull off, and it highlighted some of the clunkier plots points that might have been hidden by good prose in a third or first-person past. There was a lot of ‘I pick up the phone, I go to the next room, I pick up my pen’, all quite serviceable writing could have done with more descriptive detail.

I was also completely blindsided by the last 20 pages of the book, which came completely out of nowhere and just felt like Little didn’t have the confidence in an ending, and so added in a ‘dramatic moment’ to bring everything together.

A good book that had the potential to be great - there’s so much in Rosewater that is compelling, and I can’t wait to read what Little does next.

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cass_cgallegos's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

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noah_silver's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Uff ähm reading the book felt very intense - I dived in it and found it hard to put it aside. I loved the writing and the way the inner life of the main character was portrayed. The poems in between. The setting of the the scenes through naming/describing songs that are being played. How Elsie navigates her different relationships and life, how she fucks up, how the people around her try to be there but are sometimes not. In different ways the story feels very real and fleshed out and yeah. I also thought the sex scenes were written well with a mix of explicitness and room for own imagination that I liked quite much. It also portrays quite complicated birth family relationships but I also find them credible - and I loved the nan. And many of the other characters <3

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tlaynejones's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

Loved this. A contemporary coming of age (romance?) featuring a messy, attachment averse, queer Black poet in London. The raw honest depiction of an anxious sexual 20something Black woman trying to figure out life reminded me of Queenie by Candice Carty Williams - but queer and with poetry! I felt so warmly towards this MC and found her both relatable and frustrating. The poetry was lovely as well. Definitely recommend.

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nerdysread's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-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

2.75

Not a bad book tbh but its pacing was off sometimes, like some
Parts were unnecessary. One last thing, the MC was 😬 most of the time. Like go get therapy girl

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kaywhiteley's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

I think this book has potential. The characters and story itself were okay. I just thought the pacing was really off. Most of the book was just...boring and then all of a sudden

we have blackmail and a car accident? It felt so out of place.

I think the author had a lot of ideas and tried to cram them all into the book and it just didn't really work.

I also thought the main character was just so unlikeable, and not in a compelling way. It was difficult to watch her make the same mistakes over and over and over again, have her come to jesus moment, repeat the mistakes, and then see everything work out for her at the end.

I can see the appeal of this book but it was not for me.

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drawahardline's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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