Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Finna by Nino Cipri

17 reviews

royalraspberry's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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pastelkerstin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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purplatypus's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a weird little book. It’s very short – almost into novella range – very creative, and very bizarre. 
Ava works at not-Ikea (it has a different name in the book but if you’ve ever been to Ikea you’ll know it’s Ikea) and it’s a sucky retail job. Then a customer falls through a portal to a parallel universe, and Ava and her recent ex Jules, due to budget cuts and being the lowest seniority, have to be the ones to get her back. Armed only with a piece of weird tech that is supposed to guide them through the multiverse, they have to travel through parallel universes’ not-Ikeas to try and find the missing customer. 

Ava and Jules are both stunningly accurate representatives of the weird limbo generation between young Millennial and old GenZ. They know capitalism is the problem but still work crappy jobs to live. Ava is a highly relatable ball of anxiety. Jules lives in a personal chaos field but is more capable than anyone believes. Jules also uses they/them pronouns, which customers can’t seem to figure out and their manager refuses to use. 

The breakup between Ava and Jules was rough, and the adventure through the multiverse seemed to be an opportunity for them to work out their issues and see if they could still be friends more than an opportunity for the reader to explore parallel universes. They spend a noteworthy amount of time in only three universes (I think they may have briefly passed through a couple more on the way but they were barely mentioned), and in all three the book is more about their reactions and interactions in the face of the weird and dangerous than the actual weird and dangerous stuff. 

Finna could have easily been expanded to twice its length or more – they could have spent more time in other universes, or the ambiguous ending could have been a halfway point to launch them into new adventures in the multiverse. But it also worked the way it is. There is a second book, but it focuses on a different employee from the not-Ikea, and I don’t know that we’ll see Ava and Jules again. But that’s okay. This story is open-ended and leaves lots of opportunities, and I like to imagine Ava and Jules both end up happy. 

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sourryebread's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Love the IKEA setting. Just love it. 
I appreciate the navigating a post-breakup relationship theme. Even though I was a bit annoyed at the constant arguing of Ava and Jules, it was ok. 
I really enjoyed Jules - they were spunky, adventurous and had dreams — unlike Ava who still had to figure that out. Also — non-binary rep!! I read very few books with enby rep so it was very heartwarming to feel represented. 
I enjoyed the anti-capitalist themes but sometimes I felt like it was literally spelled out to the reader.
Anyway I also felt that this book could’ve been longer!! I gladly would read about two or three more parallel world encounters
and made sure that Jules was okay!!

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spiritedfaraway's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective fast-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

Every world has its monsters.

Okay, that? That was super fun. I’m going to be diving into the second book as soon as I get my grubby little hands on it.

Finna follows two recently broken-up exes as they have to travel through the multiverse to find an elderly grandmother, who slipped through a wormhole while exploring an IKEA-like store. I feel like giving any more away would be spoiling, but I found this short novella about personal growth, retail hell, and monsters very entertaining and thought-provoking. Plus, it's queer.

LitenVärld accepts no responsibility or liability for any losses or injuries that wormholes incur, since they fall under the Act of God clauses on our employee insurance.

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

3.5

3.5 ⭐s. A whimsical little romp through a wormhole inside an Ikea-like chain store that manages to be both amazingly anti-capitalist and incredibly diverse while also feeling super homey and comforting. I'll definitely be picking up more from this author.

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