Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Funny You Should Ask

Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman

38 reviews

sfbookgirl's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

4.0

This book was a delight! Elissa Sussman’s writing style is so fun and electric that I couldn’t help but keep turning pages. While this isn’t one I will be thinking about months later, it is a novel I enjoyed while reading it. A young writer named Chani Horowitz is hired to write a profile on the famous movie star Gabe Parker in Los Angeles. Chan is obsessed with him and is tasked with interviewing Gabe for his new James Bond role. The interview ends up happening over the duration of one unforgettable weekend in which her feelings for Gabe only heighten.

Ten years later and after a terrible divorce, Chani is back in LA and is asked to write a follow-up piece on Gabe. Chani has still got the feelings and she is worried that maybe this follow-up assignment is a recipe for disaster. I loved the back-and-forth narrative that switches between the past and the present day of Chani’s (and Gabe’s) life. The pacing is fabulous and is filled with so much juicy gossip; it makes you second guess that this is fiction.

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rd77's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

This book was amazing. It was interesting, funny, exciting, and more. I loved the format of switching between “then” and “now” and using articles to help piece the story together. The settings and characters were always described perfectly.

I also LOVED how they hyphenated their last names. It was such a sweet touch. There was just one unanswered question - the whole “baby” issue (Gabe’s part was resolved but Chani never learned why he said “baby” and so neither did we).

All in all, it was a very well-done, unique book that made you really love the characters and root for them. I think a sequel could definitely be made, with some spotlight on maybe Ollie or Lauren (especially Lauren- her storyline definitely seemed like a sneak peek at a new book involving her +

Ben Walsh

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kaltenmark24's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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dogbuttsandbooks's review against another edition

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sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

I was so looking forward to this book - celebrity romances are my favorite. But this did not live up to the hype. The two main characters were miserable the entire book and frankly making some very morally questionable decisions the entire time. I hoped we’d get some social commentary about how society judges and shames women, celebrities forced to hide their sexuality, and more. But NOPE, nothing. Instead it was just two people being depressed and refusing to communicate like the adults they are (but really, was so excited to have MCs in their upper thirties and forties but these two acted more immaturely than most teenagers). I cannot recommend this book.

Also I’m deeply uncomfortable with the similarities between this book and the 2011 Chris Evans GQ article by Edith Zimmerman. The comprisons between Sussman's novel & Zimmerman's article are undeniable & uncomfortable. At the very LEAST the author should have mentioned the original GQ journalist in her acknowledgments (she does follow her on social media after all)! At most, she could have mixed up the details to make the dupe less obvious. Everything about this is icky.

You can find the GQ article here: https://www.gq.com/story/chris-evans-gq-july-2011-cover-story

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