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funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked this more than I thought I would from the description and marketing that describes a "whisper network of women."
Though this book describes a lot of sex explicitly, it is more about desire and fantasy... Not just sexual fantasy, but constructing a fantasy in order to cope with the stress and complication of life, and then finding time and again that fantasy will fail you.
It's a brutally honest portrait, unflinching, funny, and full of many beautiful moments.
It's Kate Chopin's The Awakening, but funnier and with less suicide by drowning.
Though this book describes a lot of sex explicitly, it is more about desire and fantasy... Not just sexual fantasy, but constructing a fantasy in order to cope with the stress and complication of life, and then finding time and again that fantasy will fail you.
It's a brutally honest portrait, unflinching, funny, and full of many beautiful moments.
It's Kate Chopin's The Awakening, but funnier and with less suicide by drowning.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Miscarriage, Suicide
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
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
This is a hard book for me to review. There are things about this book that hit far too close to home that make me not like it because it is too real. There are sentences in this book that are so stunning that I just read them over and over and was amazed that marks on a page could so completely encapsulate a moment. Then there were other parts of the book that felt like cop out. Overall, this is still a great book for a woman of a certain age, especially who does not have her feet firmly planted in the monogamous hetero world. Also, shout out to a non-binary character whose storyline is not about being non-binary! Love that!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy
Moderate: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If there was a book to make me even less inclined to live in LA, it is this one. It is full of the most self-entitled, conniving, and unlikeable characters I’ve ever encountered between the pages - minus the child who was actually very cute and well written.
I do agree that this was well written and I can also understand that the characters being unlikeable and completely self-obsessed was the whole point - but that doesn’t make that point make any more sense. It doesn’t make the hours it took to read this book any more worthwhile. In fact, it makes me regret ever devoting a second to this drivel.
A fundamental flaw of this book is the cheating narrative and particularly the hypocritical self-exceptionalism of it. The main character gets away with it because, well, she is the main character. It isn’t a compelling case for me and it is also completely unconvincing as she was the most unlikeable person I have read.
Again, yes that’s the point - but also her unlikeableness bled into the other characters and, far from having a diverse cast in this book like it attempted, all the characters spoke with the same voice.
If you can’t already tell, I hated this novel. I don’t think it needed to be written and I especially don’t think it should be lauded. Maybe you m just not cool enough for it but if that is the case then god I’m glad I have nothing in common with any of the characters in this godforsaken novel.
I do agree that this was well written and I can also understand that the characters being unlikeable and completely self-obsessed was the whole point - but that doesn’t make that point make any more sense. It doesn’t make the hours it took to read this book any more worthwhile. In fact, it makes me regret ever devoting a second to this drivel.
A fundamental flaw of this book is the cheating narrative and particularly the hypocritical self-exceptionalism of it. The main character gets away with it because, well, she is the main character. It isn’t a compelling case for me and it is also completely unconvincing as she was the most unlikeable person I have read.
Again, yes that’s the point - but also her unlikeableness bled into the other characters and, far from having a diverse cast in this book like it attempted, all the characters spoke with the same voice.
If you can’t already tell, I hated this novel. I don’t think it needed to be written and I especially don’t think it should be lauded. Maybe you m just not cool enough for it but if that is the case then god I’m glad I have nothing in common with any of the characters in this godforsaken novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Medical content
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Pregnancy
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
El principio muy interesante. El medio vomitivo. El final un viaje emocional intenso de cojones. Me hallo confundida y mareada, que es lo que el libro busca. Moralmente repugnante. La escritora definitivamente se masturbó varias veces en el proceso de escribir el libro, lo que nunca es algo bueno. Una escritura demasiado ambiciosa para sus capacidades. No sé qué es lo que acabo de leer, pero no puedo darle menos nota porque me ha hecho sentir muchas cosas sos.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This hit very close to home! Kudos to July for flying the flag for perimenopausal women everywhere who feel like they're losing their goddamn minds!
While I did find the narrator frequently exhausting and sometimes downright awful, the rawness and honesty of her journey from blissful unawareness to horror and grief to eventual embracement and growth regarding her perimenopause journey, was refreshing and hopeful. Also I don't think anyone has a gift for describing infatuation and heartbreak quite like July does.
While I did find the narrator frequently exhausting and sometimes downright awful, the rawness and honesty of her journey from blissful unawareness to horror and grief to eventual embracement and growth regarding her perimenopause journey, was refreshing and hopeful. Also I don't think anyone has a gift for describing infatuation and heartbreak quite like July does.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Medical trauma
Minor: Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i have read a lot of fucked up books where the author uses graphically sexual or gory scenes to make a point and move the story forward. it is not using them just for the sake of doing it. i think had it been written ten years ago, it would have been provocative and necessary. to be published in 2024? eh, been there, done that.
I realize that I am not the target demographic for this book. i am a 29-year-old monogamous lesbian. but man, even the gay parts were painful for me to get through.
alas i believe in sunk cost fallacy and finishing book club picks. 2⭐
I realize that I am not the target demographic for this book. i am a 29-year-old monogamous lesbian. but man, even the gay parts were painful for me to get through.
alas i believe in sunk cost fallacy and finishing book club picks. 2⭐
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, Medical trauma
Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pregnancy
Minor: Child death, Drug use, Vomit
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Stalking
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If ‘conscious un-coupling’ were a person, a book. (non-complimentary)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Stalking