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emcp's review
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Homophobia
Moderate: Self harm, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Forced institutionalization
aexileigh's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Racism, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Medical trauma
reeno's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Self harm
Moderate: Sexual content, Racism, and Abandonment
Minor: Homophobia
sarah984's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
I can see why other people like this book and I do think some of the commentary on race and perfectionism is worthwhile, but I just did not like this book at all.
The writing style is very florid and full of repetition (yes she smells like sea salt I KNOW) and annoying fanfic tropes (they keep calling each other by their full names??). The main character is an astronomer but does no astronomy in the book, barely thinks about it despite apparently loving it, and doesn't seem to know why she liked it in the first place. The one piece of "astronomy" in the book (aside from some poetic "you are made of star stuff" nonsense) is a paraphrase of an annoying Tumblr post about a mars rover. I think this felt so glaring to me because I read "The Disordered Cosmos" so recently and it's by an author who is theoretically so similar to this character - a Black lgbtq+ astrophysicist - but had such a strong enthusiasm for the subject matter.
The characters are mostly meant to be pushing thirty but all read very young and immature. There's a character who is a candy striper or something who reveals someone’s private medical details without their consent and no one cares. The love interest is essentially a manic pixie dream girl (also she's Japanese and this is handled very weirdly) and loves the main character even though she treats her badly. The whole thing kind of feels like a fantasy where everyone else puts aside their problems to hold your hand - no other characters’ issues that are brought up are resolved. It also feels like every character just sort of parrots the author’s political opinions despite their actual situation - the main character living off her parents’ money (she's 29 and her dad is paying her rent!) is required to make the plot work but she's joking around about how she's a broke millennial who will never be able to retire and ragging on people with "generational wealth".
The writing style is very florid and full of repetition (yes she smells like sea salt I KNOW) and annoying fanfic tropes (they keep calling each other by their full names??). The main character is an astronomer but does no astronomy in the book, barely thinks about it despite apparently loving it, and doesn't seem to know why she liked it in the first place. The one piece of "astronomy" in the book (aside from some poetic "you are made of star stuff" nonsense) is a paraphrase of an annoying Tumblr post about a mars rover. I think this felt so glaring to me because I read "The Disordered Cosmos" so recently and it's by an author who is theoretically so similar to this character - a Black lgbtq+ astrophysicist - but had such a strong enthusiasm for the subject matter.
The characters are mostly meant to be pushing thirty but all read very young and immature. There's a character who is a candy striper or something who reveals someone’s private medical details without their consent and no one cares. The love interest is essentially a manic pixie dream girl (also she's Japanese and this is handled very weirdly) and loves the main character even though she treats her badly. The whole thing kind of feels like a fantasy where everyone else puts aside their problems to hold your hand - no other characters’ issues that are brought up are resolved. It also feels like every character just sort of parrots the author’s political opinions despite their actual situation - the main character living off her parents’ money (she's 29 and her dad is paying her rent!) is required to make the plot work but she's joking around about how she's a broke millennial who will never be able to retire and ragging on people with "generational wealth".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, and Medical content
Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness
Moderate: Medical content, Abandonment, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Racism
Minor: Grief, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt
thereadingnurse2021's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book, I felt, was billed as a romantic comedy based on the premise on the back of the book. What is within these pages is more of an exploration into self acceptance and working through the parts of ourselves that we would rather leave in the dark, with a side plot of romance kinda squeezed off to the side. Once my head had the right expectations, my reading experience got better, but the beginning, admittedly was difficult for me to get through because of the palate difference.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Self harm
Moderate: Racism, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
The mental health struggles and self harm stem from deeply rooted parental issues that the main character has. If you are triggered by content that highlights feelings of parental disapproval, then you should probably skip this read.friend_of_sappho's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? Yes
5.0
I went into this book expecting a sweet, romantic, gay drunken marriage story but got so much more than that. I feel seen like the author looked into my very soul and wrote a whole story to reflect it. It was messy and challenging to read bc it’s hard seeing all my mistakes and flaws reflected on page but it feels so good to know I’m just another lonely creature in this big, wide, wonderful world. To all the black, burnt out lesbians out there like me, please read this so you can discover, like me, that you don’t have to be perfect anymore.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Racism and Homophobia
shybi93's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm and Racism
Moderate: Homophobia
kellyurban's review
funny
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, and Grief
Minor: Homophobia
nerdinthelibrary's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
God, this book really hit me. I understand why it doesn't work for some people, why the constant profound things these characters are saying wouldn't resonant and would even annoy people. But Jesus, there were so many times as I was reading this that I felt a physical ache in my chest. Then they mentioned the Opportunity and its last words and I started fucking crying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Minor: Homophobia and Racism