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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
sad
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
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Coming out of the haze of this book leaves me confused and conflicted. Overall, the book was not unpleasant, and was a rather easy, languid & pleasurable read. The main character is not so flat as I had felt in the beginning, and perhaps the dreamy squalor really is its own character and thus makes this novel a biting satire. I am amused at the seeming lack of conflict, lack of tragedy for our heroine; a super chill surfer party girl who gets everything she wants and is a successful accomplished writer with a drinking problem, oh the horror! I did come to appreciate the humanity in the back-and-forth, disappointing tug of the heartstrings embodied in Jacaranda‘s feelings toward/about Max; the ambiguities, the tension and anticipation, the climactic moments of feigned spontaneity, the incredulity of “shit, that’s it?”; as well as the beautiful devastation of the party’s ending, the trip’s ending, the movie’s ending; that these fleeting moments can never be experienced or recreated ever again. That there will be no more firsts, for “the first time was all gone.”
emotional
lighthearted
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
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-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
I thought I wouldn’t enjoy this book because of the reviews, but I liked Jacaranda a lot, and I was rooting for her at the end.
Here are some quotes from the book that stood out to me while reading.
“The more someone liked her writing, the fewer clothes she felt she had on”
“Sometimes when you have had a little too much to drink, people who don’t know how wonderful you are might get the wrong impression” — “You’re fun when you’re drunk. The life of the party”
“Jacaranda’s face mirrored, over and over in the shop windows, how vulnerable and foreign she was.”
“Those skies had been done as well as they ever could be. All the art she’d ever done was but a thimbleful of color compared to one inch of this Matisse…Picasso had been through the sky, come out the other end, dug to China with a child’s shovel, and sen opposite skies…while Matisse just sat at home. And somehow his skies were bluer.”
Here are some quotes from the book that stood out to me while reading.
“The more someone liked her writing, the fewer clothes she felt she had on”
“Sometimes when you have had a little too much to drink, people who don’t know how wonderful you are might get the wrong impression” — “You’re fun when you’re drunk. The life of the party”
“Jacaranda’s face mirrored, over and over in the shop windows, how vulnerable and foreign she was.”
“Those skies had been done as well as they ever could be. All the art she’d ever done was but a thimbleful of color compared to one inch of this Matisse…Picasso had been through the sky, come out the other end, dug to China with a child’s shovel, and sen opposite skies…while Matisse just sat at home. And somehow his skies were bluer.”
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Fatphobia
After Black Swans, I didn't think I'd make it through another Babitz book (I almost didn't), but Sex and Rage was just so unremarkable, that sometimes I'd be in the middle of a page and forget I was reading it. It's patchwork-y and incoherent, but consistent enough to moderately dislike. I'd have much rather been confused or swept-away, instead I was just mildly unimpressed. All of these things working together made it somewhat of an easy read. I enjoyed the monotonous story enough to ignore Jacaranda Leven's flatness or the lack of conflict, generally.
Something interesting about this is that even though there were points in the novel where tensions could've boiled over and conflict could've been complex and interesting, Babitz wrote them in a way that defanged them to the point of boredom. Everything was delivered in immature, kind of naïve language and ideals.
A nice beach read though, if you're into that.
Something interesting about this is that even though there were points in the novel where tensions could've boiled over and conflict could've been complex and interesting, Babitz wrote them in a way that defanged them to the point of boredom. Everything was delivered in immature, kind of naïve language and ideals.
A nice beach read though, if you're into that.
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
People on this app need to read more literature and less books. No sex scenes doesn’t mean it’s not about sex. No rage scenes doesn’t mean it’s not about rage. And that’s why this book is brilliant.