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alexture's review against another edition
i am so sick and tired of books about people being drugged messes and I don't know why they keep popping up in my toRead list
carterjj's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
piercer43's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Michelle Tea’s Black Wave is about writing about something that someone you love has expressively forbidden you to write about. Tea tells you as much in the first meta-fictional turn the novel takes, following a break-neck, self-pastiche first leg, which situates the reader in Tea’s life of dykes and drug use in San Francisco. A minor but extremely striking character is revealed as the subject, and recurs only in bits and pieces of narrative commentary. These are timed to great effect. The reader is caught up in the action, only to be whipped out of it. Despite the scattering of the subject into a handful or two of other characters, we’re left with an immense amount of pathos and empathy for both that absent yet omnipresent character, and the ones displaced by their omnipresence.
At points, I felt as though I were reading Dennis Cooper’s The Sluts for lesbians. I would highly recommend this book.
sleepingsaha's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I enjoyed reading this fun and weird novel! I think Tea did a great job building out Michelle's worlds, both in SF and LA, to the point where I was fully inhabiting her life. Tea also has a great sense of character and I loved the incisive emotional interiority of even the side characters. I did feel that the end was a little rushed and I would have been excited to more fully explore the magical realism elements.
amaiso's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
3.25
What a kooky time. Got very meta in the second half which I didn’t expect and absolutely loved. I’ll definitely be keeping tabs on Michelle Tea’s future work
liamistrending's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
ken_untitled's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-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
5.0
pajge's review
4.75
this was so beautiful. such keen and perceptive insights on love, addiction, all the things i’ve come to expect from michelle. i will say—no spoilers but there was a bit towards the end likely inserted to home in on a point about addiction and the way that impacts your brain? regardless i found it unnecessary and disturbing. of course not enough to denounce the whole book, i get she was going for a nuanced thing, but i really could do without that. regardless i still recommend this story with my whole heart. such a realistic dystopia/utopia?? it was all just so well thought out and written and had so much heart and humanity within it.
clownwitch's review
5.0
This book shifted something fundamental inside of me. I’m not sure what, but I feel the better for it.