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challenging emotional hopeful fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character

This is one of those books that gripped me from start to finish and felt like an xray into my brain. Gilda is neurotic, nerdy, and info-dumps to herself and others at every occasion. She is tender-hearted and compassionate and also can't seem to give that to herself. One of the things that felt the most poignant to me was her intense care for Eli. I actually almost had to stop reading at one point because it felt like she was being ripped directly from my journal/memory.

Entertainment - full marks, I couldn't put it down
Plot - funny as fuck, and utterly unhinged
Prose - "eating an unsliced loaf of bread like an unsupervised goat in a bakery" is worth five stars all by itself
Characters - this is where I almost might take off a bit, because I wanted to know more about her parents and others. On the other hand, their development is understandably limited by Gilda's own limitations, so I can't really blame it for that.
Magic Star - well yes

5/5
emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

people who experience anxiety find it much easier to empathize with non-chronically anxious people than non-chronically anxious people can empathize with chronically anxious people. 

my favorite thing about the ending is that there was no magical epiphany or “poof” that just made Gilda not experience anxiety, that made her just okay with death. too often stories about mental health ending in a “fix,” insinuating that anyone with mental health struggles has to be “fixed” to live a fulfilling life. emily austin wrote such an inclusive protagonist with a voice of a person free of internalized, exclusive perspectives from Catholicism (& Western religion altogether), and Gilda’s blunt take about religious traditions like communion had me, a deconstructed girl, laughing my ass off. like, sure, it’s funny in general, but it’s funny when you’ve grown up with family and peers making those traditions seem so much more than what they actually are. 

one of my fav parts of this read is the realities of talking to people in organized religion as well as those who don’t actively practice religion (her parents) but still exhibit internalized religious sentiment that those in the organized christianity believe (bc colonization and white hetero institutionalization etc. etc.)  

i’ll carry Gilda’s honesty, courage, humor, and articulation of anxiety through forever. and i will be reading all of emily austin’s works xxxx
hanane's profile picture

hanane's review

4.0

Someone’s anxiety all in a book.
peachiepages's profile picture

peachiepages's review

4.0
emotional funny reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

debbejewledpages's review

5.0
emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark 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
_heli's profile picture

_heli's review

4.0
emotional funny fast-paced

Enjoyed this, read it super quickly, was absorbed into the world and characters - liked the style of writing which really did seem to capture how an anxious mind works. Despite this it also managed to stay quite humorous and light!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
madspal's profile picture

madspal's review

5.0
dark emotional funny fast-paced

we love an unreliable narrator 

lesbianvampyre's review

4.75
dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes