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2.82 AVERAGE
2.82 AVERAGE
this was a reread, and it was definitely worse the second time lmfao
more thoughts coming in the next day or so, but...safe to say this book made me unnecessarily angry.
more thoughts coming in the next day or so, but...safe to say this book made me unnecessarily angry.
I don't usually go for romance novels, as they all seem a bit too... girly for me? Well, that's certainly bad terminology when reviewing this book.
What We Left Behind is the story of Gretchen and Toni/y, girlfriends, moving into college and discovering their identities to do with sexuality and gender. That's it in a nut-shell. It was really refreshing to see a young adult novel about transgender or gender queer people, rather than just gay people. Not that I'm opposed to LGB books - not at all! Just that this was something a bit more original.
It really made me think a lot more about the nuances of things - I've never thought about the use of pronouns particularly, or the difference between gender queer, gender nonconforming, non binary etc. Toni/y is struggling with all of these things throughout the novel. I liked the way that each chapter alternated the perspective (Toni-Gretchen-Toni-Gretchen), but, unfortunately, Toni was a much more dominant character. Until the end, Gretchen is fairly passive and a sort of vessel for Toni's continued rumination on her problem of labelling. She came into her own a bit by the end, but it was still much more Toni's than Gretchen's story.
Talley captured, I think, the confusion of indecision and identity very well. As a window in to what some people's lives can be like, I think this is a valuable book. But, because of the nature of a lot of the circularity of her ruminations, the book felt like it was also perambulating and repeating itself a lot. Sometimes perfect portrayal of a feeling or experience doesn't actually make for the most scintillating reading. Maybe some more editing wouldn't have gone astray?
Basically, I liked the premise, the story, and sort-of liked the characters, but I felt the writing let it down. It was fantastic and fascinating, though, to have some small insight into this world.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
What We Left Behind is the story of Gretchen and Toni/y, girlfriends, moving into college and discovering their identities to do with sexuality and gender. That's it in a nut-shell. It was really refreshing to see a young adult novel about transgender or gender queer people, rather than just gay people. Not that I'm opposed to LGB books - not at all! Just that this was something a bit more original.
It really made me think a lot more about the nuances of things - I've never thought about the use of pronouns particularly, or the difference between gender queer, gender nonconforming, non binary etc. Toni/y is struggling with all of these things throughout the novel. I liked the way that each chapter alternated the perspective (Toni-Gretchen-Toni-Gretchen), but, unfortunately, Toni was a much more dominant character. Until the end, Gretchen is fairly passive and a sort of vessel for Toni's continued rumination on her problem of labelling. She came into her own a bit by the end, but it was still much more Toni's than Gretchen's story.
Talley captured, I think, the confusion of indecision and identity very well. As a window in to what some people's lives can be like, I think this is a valuable book. But, because of the nature of a lot of the circularity of her ruminations, the book felt like it was also perambulating and repeating itself a lot. Sometimes perfect portrayal of a feeling or experience doesn't actually make for the most scintillating reading. Maybe some more editing wouldn't have gone astray?
Basically, I liked the premise, the story, and sort-of liked the characters, but I felt the writing let it down. It was fantastic and fascinating, though, to have some small insight into this world.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I was so excited for this book but I have to say that after reading it I'm a little disappointed, especially about how non-binary genders are portrayed. See, by the end of the book, there are no non-binary people. Non-binary genders are portrayed as a stepping stone to a binary one. There are some people who do that, but it's disappointing to see this portrayed as the main story, with no other non-binary characters - only binary trans people. For context, I'm a non-binary person who most of the time, feels closer to agender than female or male. Sometimes I feel like a girl. Rarely I feel like a boy. Gender can be fluid.
Also, I didn't like Tony. He was sort of Problematic. There's one part where he points out that girlie things mean cisgender, which ... uh ... trans boys can wear dresses. Agender people can wear makeup. Trans girls can wear jeans. And I didn't like how he refused to use gendered pronouns for most of the book. It felt disrespectful to the binary trans characters who wanted "he" pronouns.
The characters and story wasn't anything special. I didn't like the Instalove. I mean, I'm thrilled about trans representation but this only represented trans men, and we need more than that.
Also, I didn't like Tony. He was sort of Problematic. There's one part where he points out that girlie things mean cisgender, which ... uh ... trans boys can wear dresses. Agender people can wear makeup. Trans girls can wear jeans. And I didn't like how he refused to use gendered pronouns for most of the book. It felt disrespectful to the binary trans characters who wanted "he" pronouns.
The characters and story wasn't anything special. I didn't like the Instalove. I mean, I'm thrilled about trans representation but this only represented trans men, and we need more than that.
If I could get myself to finish this book, it would get a higher rating, so take that into consideration. That said, I can't. I didn't enjoy it, plain and simple.
Maybe it's that feminazi was used, seriously, by a cis gay man, and it wasn't even called out.
Maybe it's that a trans man was an ass towards a gender-non-conforming-questioning character for not wanting to use gendered pronouns.
Maybe it's that the couple in question didn't even talk or trust each other.
I don't know.
It combined together into a truly un-enjoyable experience for me.
The cis gay man mentioned above was truly an asshole, btw. Could've easily ruined the experience for me all by himself.
Maybe it's that feminazi was used, seriously, by a cis gay man, and it wasn't even called out.
Maybe it's that a trans man was an ass towards a gender-non-conforming-questioning character for not wanting to use gendered pronouns.
Maybe it's that the couple in question didn't even talk or trust each other.
I don't know.
It combined together into a truly un-enjoyable experience for me.
The cis gay man mentioned above was truly an asshole, btw. Could've easily ruined the experience for me all by himself.
I DNF'd this book around the 200 page mark, which was 50%. The queer representation in this book was very bad. It also did a poor job of explaining the gender identity spectrum. I agree with a lot of the 1 star reviews of this book and was disappointed.
This novel begins so beautifully. I adore how Toni met Gretchen at the dance and how they just knew they were going to be together. I loved how it was purely about two people discovering a mutual attraction without the novel being too specific about what gender or sexual orientation they were. It was gorgeous and I couldn’t wait to read more!
However, from the point when Toni and Gretchen leave for University it felt like this novel became less of a journey of discovery for these two characters and became more of a platform to educate the reader on issues surrounding gender identity. Toni prefers to be referred to in a gender neutral way, so no he or she. The problem is that when a novel is written like this it is incredibly jarring to read; to have a person’s name repeated two or three times in a single sentence, and then repeatedly through entire paragraphs means it just doesn’t flow at all well and I found it brought me out of the story too much. I absolutely understand that Talley was putting the reader right into Toni’s place and getting us to see the world through this character’s eyes, it’s about making us see and understand how hard it is to be gender neutral and I commend the attempt, but it prevented me from getting into the book so it was problematic.
Toni very quickly becomes one dimensional. All the thoughts and conversations Toni has throughout the book just felt like like I was being lectured to, it was all very dry and there was very little emotion, which made it hard to see Toni as any more than a platform for awareness of gender identity issues. This really did feel like less of a novel and more of a statement being made. I don’t think we really learnt anything about Toni other than the gender identity struggles, and then the struggles seemed to be explained over and over again without any progression. I know the issues in this book are incredibly important but a novel still needs to maintain a level of entertainment and to evoke feelings in the reader, and the characters still need to be fleshed out otherwise it stops the reader making any kind of connection with the book. For me, it doesn’t matter what a character in a book is experiencing, it doesn’t have to be something I have any experience of but the character has to be three dimensional otherwise it just becomes words on a page; to get really engrossed in a novel the characters have to become real to a reader.
I did find more to connect with in Gretchen due to her character being a little more rounded. We see more of Gretchen relating to her new friends about a range of things, which gives her an added dimension that Toni’s character never really has. The beginning of the book when Toni and Gretchen first meet, and the point when they finally figure out their relationship are about the only times in the novel when there was a lot of emotion and feelings and therefore more depth to Toni’s character, which made Toni, just for that brief time, seem real. I really wish we’d seen much more of this emotional side of Toni throughout the rest of the novel, it would have made the character feel like a person rather than a mouthpiece through which a point could be made.
I can appreciate what the author was trying to do in this novel but for me it just doesn’t achieve what it seems it meant to achieve.
I received a copy of this book from Mira Ink via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
What We Left Behind is out now and available on Amazon.
However, from the point when Toni and Gretchen leave for University it felt like this novel became less of a journey of discovery for these two characters and became more of a platform to educate the reader on issues surrounding gender identity. Toni prefers to be referred to in a gender neutral way, so no he or she. The problem is that when a novel is written like this it is incredibly jarring to read; to have a person’s name repeated two or three times in a single sentence, and then repeatedly through entire paragraphs means it just doesn’t flow at all well and I found it brought me out of the story too much. I absolutely understand that Talley was putting the reader right into Toni’s place and getting us to see the world through this character’s eyes, it’s about making us see and understand how hard it is to be gender neutral and I commend the attempt, but it prevented me from getting into the book so it was problematic.
Toni very quickly becomes one dimensional. All the thoughts and conversations Toni has throughout the book just felt like like I was being lectured to, it was all very dry and there was very little emotion, which made it hard to see Toni as any more than a platform for awareness of gender identity issues. This really did feel like less of a novel and more of a statement being made. I don’t think we really learnt anything about Toni other than the gender identity struggles, and then the struggles seemed to be explained over and over again without any progression. I know the issues in this book are incredibly important but a novel still needs to maintain a level of entertainment and to evoke feelings in the reader, and the characters still need to be fleshed out otherwise it stops the reader making any kind of connection with the book. For me, it doesn’t matter what a character in a book is experiencing, it doesn’t have to be something I have any experience of but the character has to be three dimensional otherwise it just becomes words on a page; to get really engrossed in a novel the characters have to become real to a reader.
I did find more to connect with in Gretchen due to her character being a little more rounded. We see more of Gretchen relating to her new friends about a range of things, which gives her an added dimension that Toni’s character never really has. The beginning of the book when Toni and Gretchen first meet, and the point when they finally figure out their relationship are about the only times in the novel when there was a lot of emotion and feelings and therefore more depth to Toni’s character, which made Toni, just for that brief time, seem real. I really wish we’d seen much more of this emotional side of Toni throughout the rest of the novel, it would have made the character feel like a person rather than a mouthpiece through which a point could be made.
I can appreciate what the author was trying to do in this novel but for me it just doesn’t achieve what it seems it meant to achieve.
I received a copy of this book from Mira Ink via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
What We Left Behind is out now and available on Amazon.
I made it about 150 or so pages before I gave up. This book simply isn't worth continuing so I've officially DNFed it.
The story itself was really just flat and boring. The main relationship between Toni and Gretchen is insta-love and you don't really learn enough about their relationship before they go their separate ways for college. And because of that and really that alone I stopped where I was. Absolutely nothing kept me wanting to read about them, especially when I've read elsewhere that their relationship is more of platform for LGBT issues that the author wants to talk about. It also didn't help that I couldn't get myself to like either of the characters.
And don't even get me started on the absolutely horrid representation of what it means to be genderqueer. If it was not for that I'd like give it a similar rating to [b:Beauty Queens|9464733|Beauty Queens|Libba Bray|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1289410187s/9464733.jpg|10808145], or in other words a whole other star.
Simply put though, this book isn't worth the read.
The story itself was really just flat and boring. The main relationship between Toni and Gretchen is insta-love and you don't really learn enough about their relationship before they go their separate ways for college. And because of that and really that alone I stopped where I was. Absolutely nothing kept me wanting to read about them, especially when I've read elsewhere that their relationship is more of platform for LGBT issues that the author wants to talk about. It also didn't help that I couldn't get myself to like either of the characters.
And don't even get me started on the absolutely horrid representation of what it means to be genderqueer. If it was not for that I'd like give it a similar rating to [b:Beauty Queens|9464733|Beauty Queens|Libba Bray|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1289410187s/9464733.jpg|10808145], or in other words a whole other star.
Simply put though, this book isn't worth the read.
A really poignant novel about how sometimes, people grow apart and relationships end and it's no one's fault....but the novel as a whole is weakened by an ending that fails to commit to that idea.
Sigh. I loved it all the way through. Wish it didn't end the way it did.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes