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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Incredible roil and churn to the plot. Profound meditation on aging and death (a cringey sentence as I read it back, but fuq it, it’s true). A Bible for the Byronics; I like to read some ironic undercutting of the Ariza POV by GGM, especially since he’s careful to embed those first-person plural easter eggs that make clear a detached distance between the earnest Ariza character and the narrator, who’s doing the work of framing and undercutting Ariza — who, after all, is pretty explicitly a pervert.
The indelible bar towards the end that can even make the cynics swoon: “They were together like an old married couple wary of life beyond the pitfalls of passion, beyond the brutal mockery of hope and the phantoms of disillusion: beyond love. For they had lived together long enough to know that love was always love, anytime and anyplace, but it was more solid the closer it came to death.”
I mean that last sentence is just an A Bomb
The indelible bar towards the end that can even make the cynics swoon: “They were together like an old married couple wary of life beyond the pitfalls of passion, beyond the brutal mockery of hope and the phantoms of disillusion: beyond love. For they had lived together long enough to know that love was always love, anytime and anyplace, but it was more solid the closer it came to death.”
I mean that last sentence is just an A Bomb
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
a beautiful, frank, + often times bitter rumination on love as a condition, love as a choice, love as an innate part of being, + love as a disease. juxtaposed against cholera, war + class it's an interesting story of love in all its variations intertwined with compelling narratives on death and aging. love isn't all just flowery writing (even though it's written as such). it's a slow, meandering read but a worthwhile one that approaches its themes with a certain mix of a kind of frankness and admiration i grew to like quite a bit
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
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
Written by a man.