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andymascola's review against another edition
3.0
A woman from Tennessee moves to NYC. Her body is racked with pain. She engages in expensive woo-woo treatment that makes her pain go away. To pay for the treatment, she’s hired to be an emotional girlfriend for an A-list actor. Mostly good, occasionally great.
allymcbeal's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 / 5
ARGH. This book has SO much potential. After reading the first chapter I thought it had the potential to become on of my favorite books of all time. The way the author described chronic pain, and the emotional relief of a diagnosis, of a reason for agony, was beautiful and moving. Then, things go off the rails. This book is just so unfocused. It has interesting things to say about pain, love, identity, celebrity, emotion, and a hundred other topics, but it tries to say all of them at the same time and ends up diluting the best parts of itself.
I won’t get into specifics because the story does unravel in an unexpected way, but I’ll say that it really loses me when the POV changes perspectives in Part 2. There’s all these big, heady, significant ideas being set up, but they’re dropped before the author can really say anything on them. The most frustrating part of the novel is the “twist” at the very end that feels out of a much lesser piece of writing.
All that said, I do still think this book is worth reading because there are moments of real brilliant writing here. Here’s my favorite passage, Mary is in the middle of a street festival, on drugs, watching a couple argue. She imagines their fight
ARGH. This book has SO much potential. After reading the first chapter I thought it had the potential to become on of my favorite books of all time. The way the author described chronic pain, and the emotional relief of a diagnosis, of a reason for agony, was beautiful and moving. Then, things go off the rails. This book is just so unfocused. It has interesting things to say about pain, love, identity, celebrity, emotion, and a hundred other topics, but it tries to say all of them at the same time and ends up diluting the best parts of itself.
I won’t get into specifics because the story does unravel in an unexpected way, but I’ll say that it really loses me when the POV changes perspectives in Part 2. There’s all these big, heady, significant ideas being set up, but they’re dropped before the author can really say anything on them. The most frustrating part of the novel is the “twist” at the very end that feels out of a much lesser piece of writing.
All that said, I do still think this book is worth reading because there are moments of real brilliant writing here. Here’s my favorite passage, Mary is in the middle of a street festival, on drugs, watching a couple argue. She imagines their fight
“Why are you not me? Why are you not doing life like I would do it? I thought being in love meant getting to be two people. How could you do something I wouldn’t do? This is impossible and insane. I cant only be one person. I need to be you, too. Let me be you”.
bethanyreed's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
madelinepuckett's review against another edition
5.0
This may be my favorite book I've read so far this year. I loved its themes exploring the connection of the mind and the body (and the power of the mind over the body) and what constitutes love (scientific vs. emotional, logical vs. inexplicable).
I found it to be funny, gut-wrenching, and beautifully written.
I love the theme that not everything can be explained, and that in fact not everything has an answer. That's life: we will always have questions, and questions are a part of the journey.
I found it to be funny, gut-wrenching, and beautifully written.
I love the theme that not everything can be explained, and that in fact not everything has an answer. That's life: we will always have questions, and questions are a part of the journey.
folklore_nzo's review against another edition
4.0
"[...] E perché aspettavo ancora delle risposte pur sapendo che non sarebbero arrivate? Forse era solo un bisogno viscerale del tipo di certezza che regnava nella mia famiglia, la certezza di disporre di un libretto d'istruzioni per la vita e dell'incrollabile amore di Dio. Ma forse percepivo davvero qualcosa di indefinito e divino negli occhi degli altri, qualcosa di sacro nelle folle, in un autobus pieno di gente che guardava fuori dai finestrini, che osservava la vita. Ci dovrebbe essere una via di mezzo tra il credere nell'esistenza di un certo dio e il credere che tra le persone ci sia una terza sostanza misteriosa. E così anche per le chiese, pensai, ci dovrebbe essere un posto per la gente che non è sicura. Ci dovrebbe essere un posto per quelli che vedono qualcosa ma non osano dargli un nome. Forse c'è qualcosa, qualcosa tra le persone che è più dell'aria e dello spazio vuoto, qualcosa di sacro in quel nulla tra una faccia e l'altra.
A volte mi sembra di non avere che domande, che potrei continuare a pormi gli stessi quesiti per il resto della mia vita. Non sono neanche sicura di volere delle risposte, non credo che mi servirebbero a niente, ma se c'è qualcosa di cui sono certa è che darei qualsiasi cosa pur di essere un'altra persona, chiunque, anche solo per un giorno, per un'ora. C'è qualcosa in quella distanza che farei di tutto per valicare."
A volte mi sembra di non avere che domande, che potrei continuare a pormi gli stessi quesiti per il resto della mia vita. Non sono neanche sicura di volere delle risposte, non credo che mi servirebbero a niente, ma se c'è qualcosa di cui sono certa è che darei qualsiasi cosa pur di essere un'altra persona, chiunque, anche solo per un giorno, per un'ora. C'è qualcosa in quella distanza che farei di tutto per valicare."
cosmicdrip's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
I think we all agree that part one and three are the best and the middle just muddles everything up. Lacey is such a good writer, and there’s a lot I liked about this but ultimately leaves you with too many questions. I enjoyed this more than I did Biography of X and intend to read Pew in the future. I’m waiting for a Catherine Lacey book that will hit the 4 star mark for me.
I think we all agree that part one and three are the best and the middle just muddles everything up. Lacey is such a good writer, and there’s a lot I liked about this but ultimately leaves you with too many questions. I enjoyed this more than I did Biography of X and intend to read Pew in the future. I’m waiting for a Catherine Lacey book that will hit the 4 star mark for me.
gracemacandrew's review against another edition
2.0
I have so many problems with this book. First, that it seems to count as prose these days to just string together long paragraphs of rhetorical questions. This book is all questions, zero "Answers".
Also the scientific "experiment" is laughably unscientific to the point of being inane.
I have a lot of other complaints I won't elaborate on:
-random sexual assaults that are never revisited
-unbelievable actor/social scientist/artist no no NO even James Franco is not this weird
-main character is milquetoast and boring
Also the scientific "experiment" is laughably unscientific to the point of being inane.
I have a lot of other complaints I won't elaborate on:
-random sexual assaults that are never revisited
-unbelievable actor/social scientist/artist no no NO even James Franco is not this weird
-main character is milquetoast and boring
bec54321's review against another edition
2.0
The initial concept that is the foundation for this book was super interesting to me but it spiralled out into so many directions that in the end I feel like I have no idea what it was actually about. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a psychological thriller, a thought experiment re: emotional labour, relationships or patriarchal power dynamics, or a meditation on the messiness of the human experience more broadly. The closest approximation I can come up with as to what was meant to be accomplished here is maybe the literary equivalent to an episode of Black Mirror - or actually several episodes mashed together as it was so bloated with different ideas that didn’t ever really intersect. That being said there were quite a few passages throughout that in isolation were very profound to me.