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camilaschapters's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
3.75
kalbooks's review
5.0
Really enjoyed the writing style and the commentary on parasocial relationships
quinnbroussard's review
5.0
new favorite just dropped a must if you love unhinged womanhood, the implicit critiques of white hippies were *chefs kiss* the suffocation and isolation and obsession from repressed queerness, I cannot say enough good things
tiredtannah's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-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
4.0
This is a novel about a woman who is trapped in her own isolation, grappling to preserve a sense of identity and desires as an individual whilst being a mother and a wife. She begins writing a book about an idealised version of herself, where she gets to live out a life she couldn’t have or wouldn’t do - letting her character says things she would never be brave enough to and wear clothes that she could not afford herself. She begins to craft this character off a “model”, a social media influencer who she quickly becomes obsessed with. As the parasocial relationship turns from vicariously living through the woman’s posts to a psychological attachment that results in her stalking the woman, her character, who she has named ‘Celeste’. The novel debates questions of loneliness, of sacrifice, of the confines within and of our relationships and our identity as people to them, and the emotions of a woman trapped inside her own psychosis.
I really enjoyed this, but it was a mind fuck for sure. What I loved is that she debated taking the writing job because of her morals, and in the end we do not get confirmation from her, but rather we read the story that she has written. The novel also ends in a similar way that it began, with her returning to her family after attempting to leave, becoming cyclical of patterns of psychosis. This was really well written, with apt and honest characterisation of emotions and feelings that are oftentimes hard to admit to. However, some aspects of this may be unmemorable. I probably won’t remember much about this novel, other than that it was good.
I really enjoyed this, but it was a mind fuck for sure. What I loved is that she debated taking the writing job because of her morals, and in the end we do not get confirmation from her, but rather we read the story that she has written. The novel also ends in a similar way that it began, with her returning to her family after attempting to leave, becoming cyclical of patterns of psychosis. This was really well written, with apt and honest characterisation of emotions and feelings that are oftentimes hard to admit to. However, some aspects of this may be unmemorable. I probably won’t remember much about this novel, other than that it was good.
raijoy's review against another edition
5.0
Other lives imagined and not lived. Imaginative, playful, funny, sad, lush. A lush novel of the consequences of normal choices, of taking a moral path. A beautiful and unfulfilling moral life escapable only via fantasy. The lush and tedious rhythms of a moral life on and of the land. A special gem of a book—puzzling, gorgeous, intricate.
thevillainschronicles's review
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
"The weight of motherhood is a backpack full of stones."
It's hard to relate to a literary fiction book with which you have nothing in common, but somehow Makenna made Alma so full of shame (instead of life) which we all carry within us relatable. Makenna exploits that fear that we're never doing enough with our lives, that we made the wrong choice and extrapolates that anxiety tastefully.
It's hard to relate to a literary fiction book with which you have nothing in common, but somehow Makenna made Alma so full of shame (instead of life) which we all carry within us relatable. Makenna exploits that fear that we're never doing enough with our lives, that we made the wrong choice and extrapolates that anxiety tastefully.
suburbrat's review
1.0
I think i need to take a break from this type of book - and by that I mean "explorations of quarter life crises by wives and mothers who need better help and better friends". And after typing that, that feels incredibly harsh because I believe everyone has the right to tell their story. With this particular book, so short it only took me an hour to read, my biggest gripe was the writing style. I just don't think this particular narrative benefited from the stream of consciousness, contemplative, ToTaLLy RanDom~! style. Again, this was so short but it felt like the biggest waste of time. I need to choose my books more carefully.
pineconek's review
3.0
An ode to an ode to women writing stream of consciousness while feeling stuck in a life that they may as well be watching from the outside while actually watching a different life from the outside.
Perhaps something Virginia Woolf would have written if she'd known about social media and homesteading and lived in Vermont. I say that based on what I remember of reading Mrs Dalloway back in highschool. In other words: this is a book where nothing happens and the main character is despondent. We live in her head with her, and it's not always a great place. She wants to bake pies and be the perfect mother to her children and a good wife to her academic husband and all that other new england glory. And she sees others, one woman in particular, being so much better at it than she is.
Recommended if you enjoy reading 100+ pages of angst about routine and motherhood and don't mind if absolutely nothing happens.
Perhaps something Virginia Woolf would have written if she'd known about social media and homesteading and lived in Vermont. I say that based on what I remember of reading Mrs Dalloway back in highschool. In other words: this is a book where nothing happens and the main character is despondent. We live in her head with her, and it's not always a great place. She wants to bake pies and be the perfect mother to her children and a good wife to her academic husband and all that other new england glory. And she sees others, one woman in particular, being so much better at it than she is.
Recommended if you enjoy reading 100+ pages of angst about routine and motherhood and don't mind if absolutely nothing happens.