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andintothetrees's review
5.0
You know how sometimes you get on public transport and put on headphones and stare out of the window and reflect on your life? Oliver A Lover All Over is basically a whole book of looking inside someone else's head whilst they do that, and I loved it. The novel doesn't have a typical structure, it goes back and forth in time depicting protagonist Magenta's relationship with their recently-ex-boyfriend Oliver. But it's about so much more than "just" their relationship, it's about creativity, self-discovery/self-reflection, poverty, city vs. rural living, sex work, vulnerability in various forms, love, friendship, gender, surgery (Magenta is non-binary and recovering from a hysterectomy at the start of the novel) ... and so much more. I found it inspiring in terms of my creative projects too, I want to get stuck in and make them happen. Finally, I know this book isn't cheap as it's self-published (you can get it from the author - Maranda Elizabeth - or on amazon, the e-book is slightly cheaper I think) - I treated myself as it was my birthday. But if you're interested in reading it I urge you to buy a copy if you possibly can in order to support the author and art like this in general - the world needs more truly original novels like this.
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