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tazzyreads's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
alongreader's review against another edition
2.0
What are two upper class Brits to do when they realise they're both homosexual? Enter into a lavender marriage and keep on keeping on, of course. Through the twenties and thirties, hurtling towards WWII, they do their best to chart a course.
I hoped I'd enjoy this book, but sadly, it isn't for me. It's extremely crude, with constant mentions of body parts and sex. Everyone who passes through Bart and Bettina's orbits seems to suddenly be gay; Bettina is effectively raped at one point and no one makes anything of it; Bart and Bettina are deliberately, constantly cruel to each other.
I loved the language. It really does so well at evoking a time period and a mood. (I could do without the constant, casual cursing, especially with the continuous references to body parts, but that's just me and I know people have different attitudes about swearing.) Parts of the story are very witty and funny. The murder plot, ostensibly the point of the whole thing, was really only important in two different chapters, and the rest of the story has nothing to do with it.
Not an awful read, if you want to read a lot of sex, drugs and cursing, but not for me.
I hoped I'd enjoy this book, but sadly, it isn't for me. It's extremely crude, with constant mentions of body parts and sex. Everyone who passes through Bart and Bettina's orbits seems to suddenly be gay; Bettina is effectively raped at one point and no one makes anything of it; Bart and Bettina are deliberately, constantly cruel to each other.
I loved the language. It really does so well at evoking a time period and a mood. (I could do without the constant, casual cursing, especially with the continuous references to body parts, but that's just me and I know people have different attitudes about swearing.) Parts of the story are very witty and funny. The murder plot, ostensibly the point of the whole thing, was really only important in two different chapters, and the rest of the story has nothing to do with it.
Not an awful read, if you want to read a lot of sex, drugs and cursing, but not for me.
sofijac's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
raytoro's review against another edition
1.0
So many words and yet so little of importance said.
Disappointing to say the least. Here were my main problems with it:
1. It honestly felt like it lacked queer romance- wlw romance in particular. I get it wasn't exactly marketed as a romance, but the blurb talks about "indulging their true natures behind closed doors" and there was very little indulging for Bettina! The only mentions of romance she had were once when she was a teenager, when she gets in a relationship with a truly horrible and pathetic person (with whom very little sex and NO romance is described) and then finally with her long term girlfriend WHO IS HARDLY MENTIONED AFTER THEY ACTUALLY GET TOGETHER???
2. It also lacked murder, WHICH WAS LITERALLY DESCRIBED IN THE BLURB TO BE THE MAIN CONFLICT OF THE STORY! It happens in like the last 50 pages and doesn't affect them at all! It could have been removed from the book and nothing would have changed.
3. The horrifying descriptions of bodily functions. Vomit, diarrhoea and genitals are so incredibly disturbing i wanted to die reading them. I'm not even being particularly harsh here, they were actually the vilest thing I've read in a while. I can't tell if the writer was trying to be funny or something, i was just extremely disturbed.
4. The weird amount of body shaming. I'm not being a snowflake here, Bettina makes fun of quite literally every female character's body.
5. The main characters were honestly just really annoying. My favourite kind of character is the morally grey, kind of horrible kind of character- but these 2 were extremely insufferable. I read review of this before reading, saw that people hated them and thought "no, I'll be different, I love horrible characters" but no i also hated them. You will likely not be different, don't waste your time on it. Don't hope for a morally grey anti-hero because what you're going to get is a predatory, gross, irritating pair.
6. The horrible portrayal of stereotypes. What was that about, hm? As queer woman myself, I recognised all the horrible disgusting stereotypes portrayed in this book. I truly have no idea if the author is gay, if she is it is truly shocking that she didnt catch herself doing this while writing it. Bettina is a predatory lesbian who has sex with men for attention/ revenge, Bart is a drunk whore. These kinds of things are stereotypes were trying to dismantle as a community, its terrible that a piece of gay media would reinforce them!
So why 2 stars? Everything i have described is terrible? I'll give it to Crystal that her writing style is very nice to read and i was entertained (for better or for worse) throughout the entire book. Good writing, terrible content.
Gays if you're reading this, please remember that just because something is queer doesn't mean its good. Be judicious in the media you consume.
Crystal if you see this, sorry for being harsh but everything i said is true. Try again maybe.
Disappointing to say the least. Here were my main problems with it:
1. It honestly felt like it lacked queer romance- wlw romance in particular. I get it wasn't exactly marketed as a romance, but the blurb talks about "indulging their true natures behind closed doors" and there was very little indulging for Bettina! The only mentions of romance she had were once when she was a teenager, when she gets in a relationship with a truly horrible and pathetic person (with whom very little sex and NO romance is described) and then finally with her long term girlfriend WHO IS HARDLY MENTIONED AFTER THEY ACTUALLY GET TOGETHER???
2. It also lacked murder, WHICH WAS LITERALLY DESCRIBED IN THE BLURB TO BE THE MAIN CONFLICT OF THE STORY! It happens in like the last 50 pages and doesn't affect them at all! It could have been removed from the book and nothing would have changed.
3. The horrifying descriptions of bodily functions. Vomit, diarrhoea and genitals are so incredibly disturbing i wanted to die reading them. I'm not even being particularly harsh here, they were actually the vilest thing I've read in a while. I can't tell if the writer was trying to be funny or something, i was just extremely disturbed.
4. The weird amount of body shaming. I'm not being a snowflake here, Bettina makes fun of quite literally every female character's body.
5. The main characters were honestly just really annoying. My favourite kind of character is the morally grey, kind of horrible kind of character- but these 2 were extremely insufferable. I read review of this before reading, saw that people hated them and thought "no, I'll be different, I love horrible characters" but no i also hated them. You will likely not be different, don't waste your time on it. Don't hope for a morally grey anti-hero because what you're going to get is a predatory, gross, irritating pair.
6. The horrible portrayal of stereotypes. What was that about, hm? As queer woman myself, I recognised all the horrible disgusting stereotypes portrayed in this book. I truly have no idea if the author is gay, if she is it is truly shocking that she didnt catch herself doing this while writing it. Bettina is a predatory lesbian who has sex with men for attention/ revenge, Bart is a drunk whore. These kinds of things are stereotypes were trying to dismantle as a community, its terrible that a piece of gay media would reinforce them!
So why 2 stars? Everything i have described is terrible? I'll give it to Crystal that her writing style is very nice to read and i was entertained (for better or for worse) throughout the entire book. Good writing, terrible content.
Gays if you're reading this, please remember that just because something is queer doesn't mean its good. Be judicious in the media you consume.
Crystal if you see this, sorry for being harsh but everything i said is true. Try again maybe.
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
1.0
Nope, a bit yucky nope. I did not enjoy the crude and over the topp "humour" with gentails and bodily fluids and fat shame thrown in there as well. I was looking forward for this book about two queer people decided to get married to each other to make it look like they follow social rules. Bettina loves women and Bart loves men. Set in 1920. It does sounds like it was going to be a great story but no. I did not like it one bit. It was way to much for me.
emmaggedon's review against another edition
2.0
Read this across a couple of sittings during a travel day and I was bored and confused by it. I didn’t get it a lot of the time, felt it was poorly written and just sort of upsetting how good it could have been.
bookscoffeeandreading's review against another edition
2.0
I was really looking forward to reading this book. From the blurb alone it sounds like such a good story, however that’s where it ends. The first and last chapter feel as if it’s from another book. From the first chapter it leads you to believe there will be a murder mystery woven through the book…no it’s not mentioned again until the last two chapters.
The characters themselves are unlikeable. And the writing at times is way too descriptive, honestly I don’t need to read about someone’s bowels. It’s a train wreck of a story and 2 stars may even be a bit too generous
The characters themselves are unlikeable. And the writing at times is way too descriptive, honestly I don’t need to read about someone’s bowels. It’s a train wreck of a story and 2 stars may even be a bit too generous
lotte_898's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
libraryofcalliope's review against another edition
4.0
Firstly, a huge thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for this ARC. I was so excited to get approved for this as this is one of my most highly anticipated new releases. The novel covers the marriage of Bettina and Bart, childhood friends and homosexuals, covering from 1921 to 1943. The pair marry after realising their shared 'inversion', allowing each other the freedom to pursue lovers of the same sex while still having the safety of marriage to guard their reputation. The novel has the glitz and glamour of stories set in such periods but includes the rawness of the repressed emotion and pain faced by 'outsiders' in this period, regardless of their wealth and glamour. It shines a light on the spaces of the gay community at the time and covers key moments in British LGBT history such as the publication of Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness and the use of Polari by gay men to identify each other. The novel's characters are rich and complex and thoroughly grip you from their first introduction as do their various love affairs and exploits. In places, it is a brutal depiction, with the characters' flaws coming out in grimacing details, creating a complex, sensual, and difficult fiction of a lavender marriage in the period. There's wish fulfilment and romance but also a crude, unflinching interrogation of the time. One thing I especially liked was the ways it explored the differences in the existence of how lesbians and gay men navigated the world, both the in the sexual availability but dangerous options for men seeking male companionship and also the isolation and compulsory heterosexuality faced by gay women. I did think at times her decision to be “unflinching” came across as cruel especially in the comments about fatness. It is reductive to say she depicts it entirely negatively but there was a definite discomfort with it in the book. That being said it was a really interesting book and I loved reading it.
warmreapertea's review against another edition
2.0
While I can see where most of the bad reviews are coming from, and agree with a lot of their arguments, I also think they exaggerate here and there. Most of this book was fine, but I think it's the last 100 pages which were poorly done. There's also the author's 'crude' style which seems akin to that British realism which I've seen before, and am not particularly fond of. Could this have done with less gross and judging descriptions? Certainly. Does this author have certain fixations which, especially in the last bit, become a bit obnoxious? Yes. Were the characters despicable? Yeah, but I don't think a character needs to be likable to be a good character. I didn't hate reading about them, and I didn't think this book was that badly written (aside from the aforementioned crude writing). Just think it's a shame that the plot idea wasn't worked out to its full potential.