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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
If you saw this book is about body-swapping and are looking for a high action scifi thriller where they find out how and why they swapped bodies and how to swap back, don't read this. However, if you're looking for a slow paced yet quick and interesting book about marriage, gender, relationships, and love, read this. I thought it was much more about relationships and marriage than it was about gender, but I did find it interesting that instead of freaking out about their new bodies and wanting immediately to go back, Eli and Elizabeth adjusted very quickly and honestly both liked being the other gender. I liked that McElroy wasn't afraid to get a little transgender and bisexual with bodyswapping.
Points off for every character in this novel talking like an insufferable and pretentious litfic stereotype. Especially the mom's perspective at the end-- I believe that people like this exist but I don't believe that they talk to themselves like this! I could mostly deal with the unbearable dialogue and sometimes unbearable narration, but it really started to wear on me by the end.
Points off for every character in this novel talking like an insufferable and pretentious litfic stereotype. Especially the mom's perspective at the end-- I believe that people like this exist but I don't believe that they talk to themselves like this! I could mostly deal with the unbearable dialogue and sometimes unbearable narration, but it really started to wear on me by the end.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I fear that I personally do not care for an ambiguous ending
reflective
sad
medium-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
This book made me think hard about marriage, partnership, and autonomy. I appreciated the many interesting observations the characters had about gender expression and their new bodies post-swap. My main complaints are that we don't ever find out what happened to make them swap (or if they ever swap back), and that the ending was... Odd. This book is more concerned with relationships (romantic and otherwise) than saying anything particularly important or nuanced about gender. Overall, I appreciated the journey this book took me on, but I wish the ending answered more questions about the plot.
emotional
reflective
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book hit me deeply. An exploration into gender, breaking out of the lives we build and keep ourselves stuck in, gaining deeper understandings of ourselves through deepened understanding of those we love, and the complications love has when we misunderstand (or try to control and change) each other. The family turn at the end had me weeping - the mother leaning into her child in the body of someone else. The analogy to what it can be like to change as you grow, to someone so different to who you were, and for your family to struggle to accept or see you, or to love you more than they wish to control you.
challenging
mysterious
reflective
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