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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
i love unlikeable protagonists, but not when every single story has the exact same font of self deprecating white woman
I’m getting back to feeling like I’m not on the Taddeo bus like I felt after Three Women. I only really liked Ghost Lover. The rest I had to force myself to get through.
CW: Sexual assault, fatphobia
Ghost Lover is a collection of nine short stories exploring societal perceptions of desire and womanhood, following women through diverse stages of life and relationships. I'm not sure if I really liked many of the stories in this collection (probably because the characters are an iteration of one another, intentionally unlikeable, and come across as vapid) but I still enjoyed the sharp and observant way Taddeo writes.
Thank you to Avid Reader Press and #NetGalley for the copy of the book.
Ghost Lover is a collection of nine short stories exploring societal perceptions of desire and womanhood, following women through diverse stages of life and relationships. I'm not sure if I really liked many of the stories in this collection (probably because the characters are an iteration of one another, intentionally unlikeable, and come across as vapid) but I still enjoyed the sharp and observant way Taddeo writes.
Thank you to Avid Reader Press and #NetGalley for the copy of the book.
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The author speaks of women with disgust and hate. She also uses the r word which we are way past using or trying to brush off.
Although I liked the concept of Taddeo’s ‘Ghost Lover’, the execution just didn’t sit right with me. The writing was incredible, the content was really sub-par. Unfortunately, it followed the same trend as ‘Three Women’, telling the stories of upper-middle class, straight, white women, the strife they face during intimate relationships and struggles with body image (to the extent where some parts of the book titre on the edge of fatphobia), claiming to be representative of the whole female population. If these are autobiographical stories, I wish it could be stated for context, otherwise the perspective is just unrealistic.
This book seems to be marketed as ‘feminist’, however in my opinion it mostly just consists of women putting other women down, which is neither feminist nor sexist. The characters in each short story all seem to share one personality, defined by being shallow and self-conscious, pretty much the only perspective we receive in the book. Just because something is written by a woman, or from the point of view of a woman, does not mean it is a work of feminist writing, something I learnt after reading this. I didn’t find this book empowering at all.
Nevertheless, Taddeo’s writing is some of the best I’ve ever read. The prose alone is the book’s only redeeming quality, sometimes outshining the plot and the only reason I didn’t ‘DNF’ the collection. I really hope Taddeo diversifies her characters in the future as I’d be interested in diving back into more of her work, she clearly has the potential to write a genuinely great book.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
This book seems to be marketed as ‘feminist’, however in my opinion it mostly just consists of women putting other women down, which is neither feminist nor sexist. The characters in each short story all seem to share one personality, defined by being shallow and self-conscious, pretty much the only perspective we receive in the book. Just because something is written by a woman, or from the point of view of a woman, does not mean it is a work of feminist writing, something I learnt after reading this. I didn’t find this book empowering at all.
Nevertheless, Taddeo’s writing is some of the best I’ve ever read. The prose alone is the book’s only redeeming quality, sometimes outshining the plot and the only reason I didn’t ‘DNF’ the collection. I really hope Taddeo diversifies her characters in the future as I’d be interested in diving back into more of her work, she clearly has the potential to write a genuinely great book.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
sad
tense
fast-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