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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
as a kid i always loved sleeping beauty until i developed a chronic illness called me/cfs as a teenager. since then ive always have a rather… weird feeling about any discussions around sleep
i related heavily to the feeling of someone’s love and desperation for you to “get better” as being somewhat burdensome and did feel like it was a good representation of the loneliness and isolation you feel when you’re chronically ill
the ending felt a little disappointing, i’m not entirely sure what i was looking for but it wasn’t there hence the .5 reduction!
still super enjoyable to me and i will always read anything alix harrow comes out with <3
i related heavily to the feeling of someone’s love and desperation for you to “get better” as being somewhat burdensome and did feel like it was a good representation of the loneliness and isolation you feel when you’re chronically ill
the ending felt a little disappointing, i’m not entirely sure what i was looking for but it wasn’t there hence the .5 reduction!
still super enjoyable to me and i will always read anything alix harrow comes out with <3
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Grief
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Terminal illness, Medical content
Moderate: Death, Violence
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Abortion, Pregnancy
fast-paced
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
See now THIS is my kind of short story. I feel like other more serious short stories that I’ve read were, while objectively good I suppose, just not my style because I always wanted more out of them. This was absolutely perfect for what it was—a very limited concept that wouldn’t work outside of the context of a very short story, that was both touching and incredibly unserious. To be honest all the quotes emphasizing this as being “feminist” or whatever are doing it a disservice. Not every book has to be deep and this certainly isn’t, even if it does touch on “feminist” themes with some of its twists on the original Sleeping Beauty.
There was a bit of millennial narrator syndrome but I think it actually somewhat worked here, to the point where I found myself almost laughing out loud several times (a lot of the jokes are so stupid they’re funny, at least to me). I think that it being a novella (and thus not having time to fully explain anything that was happening) really added to the experience here--it created a very surreal quality to the book that made the humour work more than it otherwise would have. This is why I don't think it would have worked as well in a longer format. As a novella, though, I think that spending less time world-building and instead creating a loosely-defined, familiar (by virtue of the concept of fairy tales) world, and spending more time writing relatable, emotional character beats was exactly the right approach. It's challenging to balance what could have been genuinely dark and emotional subject matter with humour like this, but the author did an excellent job.
There’s just so much about this book that worked so incredibly well, it felt like a fever dream in the best possible way while also having enough emotional, human moments to ground it. It’s unserious, and this is important to know going in, but not to the point of trying to be pure comedy, and that’s what makes it work. This is honestly the first time I've ever been fully satisfied after reading a novella simply because I feel like this accomplished exactly what it set out to do and answers any question I could reasonably expect it to answer.
There was a bit of millennial narrator syndrome but I think it actually somewhat worked here, to the point where I found myself almost laughing out loud several times (a lot of the jokes are so stupid they’re funny, at least to me). I think that it being a novella (and thus not having time to fully explain anything that was happening) really added to the experience here--it created a very surreal quality to the book that made the humour work more than it otherwise would have. This is why I don't think it would have worked as well in a longer format. As a novella, though, I think that spending less time world-building and instead creating a loosely-defined, familiar (by virtue of the concept of fairy tales) world, and spending more time writing relatable, emotional character beats was exactly the right approach. It's challenging to balance what could have been genuinely dark and emotional subject matter with humour like this, but the author did an excellent job.
There’s just so much about this book that worked so incredibly well, it felt like a fever dream in the best possible way while also having enough emotional, human moments to ground it. It’s unserious, and this is important to know going in, but not to the point of trying to be pure comedy, and that’s what makes it work. This is honestly the first time I've ever been fully satisfied after reading a novella simply because I feel like this accomplished exactly what it set out to do and answers any question I could reasonably expect it to answer.
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was very middle of the pack. It took a bit of deciding if I liked it or not. I would definitely read more from this author
I guess this has some interesting things to say about chronic illness and feminism or whatever, but I really just could not get past the writing style. Too quirky and too many pop culture references for me (including an honest to god quote of a tumblr post).
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
hopeful
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:
No
A snappy and fun read. The author seemed to have a lot of fun with the premise! Zinnia had decent characterization and I really liked the relationship between her and Charm. I don't think the book did anything particularly subversive or interesting, but it ate up a couple hours and made me chuckle. The book teetered right on the edge of having too many references to our current modern world, but ultimately managed to make it work. I think keeping it novella-length really helped with that. I'll be reading the next installment!
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes