Reviews

Love Me Tender by Constance Debré

daicongrrl's review against another edition

sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.0

katlois's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

murphythirteen's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The book is a tough read. I wasn’t a fan of the extremely long sentences , the overuse of slang words like “fag” and the C word or the emotionless narrative. Whilst autobiographical and a tough subject, the narration style doesn't allow a bond between the words and the reader. For those that wanted to like this but struggled; Lost On Me by Veronica Raimo manages to hit the mark better than this one did.

arj's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense fast-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

3.0

inwhichvickyreads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

jameswdeav's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This wasn’t a book I would say I ‘enjoyed’ but I in no way ‘disliked’ it. I felt like it gave me some insight into my own divorced parents in some way. 

maddie137's review against another edition

5.0

Beautiful but hard to read. The narrattor has chosen to distance herself from any emotion, feelings or intimacy as she processes the loss of her child. You can see this through her almost emotionless narration of her daily life, her disgarding of all material possessions and obsession with sex. Over the course of the book you sense her mental state decline and then slowly improve as she processes the loss of her child until at the end she finally let's go of him and allows new love to come into her life again.

lmrising's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

rittisoncco's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

On the one hand, I really appreciated this autobiography of fighting for custody over her son after coming out as gay, dismantling this need for love to be beautiful and unconditional and joyful, looking at the sour love within families. Kinship love is not uncomplicated and we don't always want it. I liked that a lot.

On the other hand: how did this book get past several revisions AND translation and no one picked up on 1) the horrifically ignorant statement that temples in Mexico were built by the Inca; 2) when they go to a Japanese restaurant, what does she MEAN when she says they watched the food be prepared by a (quote) "real Japanese"? Shocking ignorance and exoticisation published in 2023 by a (seemingly) edgy highly educated author. What. Tf. Happened.

I enjoyed what the book was doing a lot. I enjoyed the narrative dismantling love. That was so great. But the above two points give the book a sour taste. 

shelbyrenee's review against another edition

3.0

I think this book was okay. The main character reminded me a lot of my ex, so I think it was hard for me to be objective and decide if I liked it based on that or not. I also am not used to this style of writing where it's all over the place and more like a diary without being an actual diary. I liked it but I didn't love it.