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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
It wasn’t bad. The roaming POV was confusing at times, and not necessary in a romance I think. It was boring at times, but also had really poignant and interesting moments. We saw these little snippets of the side characters’ lives and thoughts which were these wonderful little moments sometimes, and sometimes kind of superfluous and uninteresting.
Read: November 2021
Original Rating: ★★★
Re-Read: October 24, 2022
Rating after re-read: ★★★★
Review after re-reading:
4 stars. Completely disregard my original review. I was being completely biased against this book because of my love of the film which was silly because the film is a very faithful adaptation. Obviously, since Sarif herself directed the film. I do still think that the chemistry of the lead actresses add so much more to the story but I definitely enjoyed and appreciated this book a lot more the second time around. Tala and Leyla’s romance is so swoon worthy. I really like their characters and their journey. This is a really good coming out story with a huge emphasis on the family aspects and a wonderful love story. I’m off to go watch the film now just because.
Original review:
3 stars. I’d rather just watch the film honestly. I love that movie and it is definitely a very faithful adaptation. The book isn’t bad in the slightest but there is something about the writing that left me feeling disconnected from the story. Leyla and Tala are lovely characters and I do really like their relationship and the romance and all of the self discovery but I wasn’t crazy about the writing style. I’d still recommend it and the film though.
Original Rating: ★★★
Re-Read: October 24, 2022
Rating after re-read: ★★★★
Review after re-reading:
4 stars. Completely disregard my original review. I was being completely biased against this book because of my love of the film which was silly because the film is a very faithful adaptation. Obviously, since Sarif herself directed the film. I do still think that the chemistry of the lead actresses add so much more to the story but I definitely enjoyed and appreciated this book a lot more the second time around. Tala and Leyla’s romance is so swoon worthy. I really like their characters and their journey. This is a really good coming out story with a huge emphasis on the family aspects and a wonderful love story. I’m off to go watch the film now just because.
Original review:
3 stars. I’d rather just watch the film honestly. I love that movie and it is definitely a very faithful adaptation. The book isn’t bad in the slightest but there is something about the writing that left me feeling disconnected from the story. Leyla and Tala are lovely characters and I do really like their relationship and the romance and all of the self discovery but I wasn’t crazy about the writing style. I’d still recommend it and the film though.
I'm generally not a fan of lesbian insta-love plots. (Long ago I overheard someone watching this movie, and the line "I want to be with the person who, ten years from now, makes my heart jump when I hear her key in the door, and that's you." What! That's not very good criteria for a relationship, also you just met this person. Think about your life choices.) However! I really enjoyed the depths to which all the different characters were explored (not just the protagonists), and would appreciate a companion book about Reema or Lamia. It seemed like there was so much more there!
emotional
hopeful
fast-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
This book was so problematic for me for so many reasons, mostly to do with the writing.
First, there's a bit of Instalove happening between Tala and Leyla, so much so that I'm supposed to believe that a) they fall in love as quickly as they do and that b) they're each other's soulmates. It's not that I found them unlikeable; it's just that I found them to be boring. So I'm a bit at a loss to understand why they clicked so instantly with the each other. Tala is more problematic than Leyla, but she's supposed to be. But I wasn't invested in them as characters and I was less invested in their love story. I was actually rooting for Leyla and Jennifer at one point.
Second, the points of view changed from paragraph to paragraph and spanned multiple characters and time jumps and geographical locations without warning or a way to signify the change. It wasn't hard to follow, but it was a major distraction.
Third, there's so much potential for interesting discussions: Palestine/Israel, Christianity/Islam, etc, and how those topics effect the LGBTQ elephant in the room. And, yes, those subjects are discussed, but not in any meaningful way. At least I felt they should have featured more.
It just fell flat in virtually every possible way. I read it. I mostly enjoyed it. But I have to ask myself, when I read queer stories, if I like it because it's a love story between two women or if it's because it's actually a good story. If the former, I think that's okay. These stories still need to be told and written and published and read. Hopefully we'll have an abundance of good/bad narratives to choose from in the future. But I'm not there anymore. I want well written stories in traditionally published spaces. I don't want to only find good sapphic stories in fan fiction.
There were a few highlights for me: Yasmin, Leyla's sister provided support and hilarity; Ali and Hani seemed like a standup guys and good friends; Rani, Tala's mother's maid, was my favorite character, but I don't want to spoil why.
First, there's a bit of Instalove happening between Tala and Leyla, so much so that I'm supposed to believe that a) they fall in love as quickly as they do and that b) they're each other's soulmates. It's not that I found them unlikeable; it's just that I found them to be boring. So I'm a bit at a loss to understand why they clicked so instantly with the each other. Tala is more problematic than Leyla, but she's supposed to be. But I wasn't invested in them as characters and I was less invested in their love story. I was actually rooting for Leyla and Jennifer at one point.
Second, the points of view changed from paragraph to paragraph and spanned multiple characters and time jumps and geographical locations without warning or a way to signify the change. It wasn't hard to follow, but it was a major distraction.
Third, there's so much potential for interesting discussions: Palestine/Israel, Christianity/Islam, etc, and how those topics effect the LGBTQ elephant in the room. And, yes, those subjects are discussed, but not in any meaningful way. At least I felt they should have featured more.
It just fell flat in virtually every possible way. I read it. I mostly enjoyed it. But I have to ask myself, when I read queer stories, if I like it because it's a love story between two women or if it's because it's actually a good story. If the former, I think that's okay. These stories still need to be told and written and published and read. Hopefully we'll have an abundance of good/bad narratives to choose from in the future. But I'm not there anymore. I want well written stories in traditionally published spaces. I don't want to only find good sapphic stories in fan fiction.
There were a few highlights for me: Yasmin, Leyla's sister provided support and hilarity; Ali and Hani seemed like a standup guys and good friends; Rani, Tala's mother's maid, was my favorite character, but I don't want to spoil why.
This was a very quick read, but unfortunately it's because I skimmed some parts (mostly Reema's, and some of the Lamia/Kareem bits). I felt like the writing could have been better, and the quick switches from character to character were jarring. There were too many characters, and I didn't really feel like I got to know Tala and Leyla. I think it would have been better if the author had developed the story more. Soon after Tala and Leyla met, for example, they went for lunch, but this was skipped over completely. That would have been a perfect time to showcase their budding feelings, but there was only a paragraph devoted to it. I noticed that the author is a filmmaker, and it did feel to me like she was writing a movie, not a novel.
i cannot recommend the audiobook narrated by lisa ray (who plays tala in the movie adaptation) enough
This is a very, very, absolutely ridiculously biased rating. Another reviewer wrote, "But I have to ask myself, when I read queer stories, if I like it because it's a love story between two women or if it's because it's actually a good story." I absolutely liked this because it's a love story between two women. Two brown women. Two brown women played in the film by one of my favourite people-I-don't-actually-know and a friend of a friend. And I absolutely liked this book because I liked the film.
These are all not very good reasons for liking the book. I don't care. It's a simple, sweet love story. It's an entirely relatable coming-out story (albeit a bit on the fluffy side for many of us). I googly-eyes, heart-hands lurve it.
These are all not very good reasons for liking the book. I don't care. It's a simple, sweet love story. It's an entirely relatable coming-out story (albeit a bit on the fluffy side for many of us). I googly-eyes, heart-hands lurve it.
Wow. I devoured this book in one afternoon. Did not expect to enjoy it so much. And I'd already seen the movie first.
I Can't Think Straight is one of my favorite movies, and I was really pleased when I found out about the book version. They complement each other nicely. My favorite part about the book was getting deeper into secondary characters' perspectives and beliefs about love, particularly the women's mothers.