Reviews

Swanna in Love by Jennifer Belle

Only show reviews with written explanations

laurrensthoughts's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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? No

5.0

author nailed the 14-year-old narrative voice but it felt sloppy overall. other reviews have commented that comparing the narrator's reaction to other character's flaws helps ground the reality of how strange it is, but 1) unreliable narrator combined with 2) the flaws themselves (Borislav in general, her mother's sheer disregard for her children, all the men in the book apparently wanting to fuck her, her wearing high heels the whole book including to camp-- RED FLAG lol) just makes it a difficult read altogether. confused at how this is read as "inverse Lolita" or a feminist piece because the narrator is just taken advantage of by older men and blames herself in the end. bleh.

thecosylibrary's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

sineadcstories's review

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dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.5

steobr508's review

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.75

tiffanyrich623's review

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dark sad tense slow-paced

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

0.5

johnbittles's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Quite enjoyed this, although it lost momentum a bit towards the end. The tale of Swanna, a young 14 year old girl, let down by her parents, struggling to make sense of the incoming adult world. Looking for escape she starts an affair with a married man. Swanna is a great character, smart, witty, not able to realise when she's in over her head. Her brother Manning is also great. You really fear for him as he gets older. The end didn't really work for me which was a shame!