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bridie's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Loved this portrait of 20-something friends and lovers. Zoë’s earlier books feel a bit like stepping in a Time Machine. I spent most of my 20s in a different big Canadian city, but so much of it this and of Bottle Rocket Hearts feels familiar to me regardless.
anaiira's review against another edition
3.0
It's like a less strident version of Hanya Yanigihara's "A Little Life". I love the abundance of queer fiction, and I appreciate how it balances the daily exasperation of just living with the exasperation of handling queer issues.
alexture's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I love Zoe Whittall and her messy queers. This goes up in my favourites from this author, alongside The Spectacular.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Car accident, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Suicide, Blood, Vomit, and Death
Minor: Transphobia and Homophobia
trippalli's review
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-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? No
4.5
A moving story of young folks in the mid 20s funding their way in life and love with stressful jobs. Including paramedics, so lots of references and philosophy, and reflection on death. Dying and life's meaning.. Existence, finding lovev and friendships. I especially like the transgender paramedic in this book.
misssusan's review against another edition
3.0
you've heard about people going to and fro on the idea of the category of new adult? i don't know if zoe whittall would classify it this way but holding still for as long as possible is the kind of book i want to see published under that genre. twenty-somethings wandering about! reading this felt like reading ya did when i was a preteen, like my life wasn't entirely like the characters but i could recognize them, they were somewhere i would be soon. it'd be nice to have a genre that could do that for me now
i liked this alot better than i did bottle rocket hearts. i think the emphasis on work just made it work a lot better for me? bottle rocket hearts was so focused on eve and della's relationship and there was just no entry point for me there. like i could accept eve was into della but i really couldn't see why? all i could do was chalk it down to naivete crashing into cool girl lust. and this book has alot of relationship focus but i could understand them better. also i have some strange affinity for breakup narratives, i don't understand but accept this about myself
but as i was saying, work! yes please! i feel like a ton of the stuff published under new adult right now are romances and just. man there's an entire romance category for that, i want to read something that feels relevant to my life. trying to graduate from minimum wage jobs into 'real jobs'! figuring out what exactly your 'career' is going to be! trying to make friends at work and figure out how to interact with your boss! learning how to pay bills and sort out money things! heck, even learning to cook guys, like don't get me wrong i understand relationships being important but there's all this other stuff you handle post school and it would be nice to get to read a book with people like me dealing with it.
so basically all that stuff about josh's job as a paramedic made this book work way better for me. keep it up whittall! 3.5 stars
i liked this alot better than i did bottle rocket hearts. i think the emphasis on work just made it work a lot better for me? bottle rocket hearts was so focused on eve and della's relationship and there was just no entry point for me there. like i could accept eve was into della but i really couldn't see why? all i could do was chalk it down to naivete crashing into cool girl lust. and this book has alot of relationship focus but i could understand them better. also i have some strange affinity for breakup narratives, i don't understand but accept this about myself
but as i was saying, work! yes please! i feel like a ton of the stuff published under new adult right now are romances and just. man there's an entire romance category for that, i want to read something that feels relevant to my life. trying to graduate from minimum wage jobs into 'real jobs'! figuring out what exactly your 'career' is going to be! trying to make friends at work and figure out how to interact with your boss! learning how to pay bills and sort out money things! heck, even learning to cook guys, like don't get me wrong i understand relationships being important but there's all this other stuff you handle post school and it would be nice to get to read a book with people like me dealing with it.
so basically all that stuff about josh's job as a paramedic made this book work way better for me. keep it up whittall! 3.5 stars
themostlovely's review against another edition
3.0
Meh, just something about this book didn't hit my Zoe Whittall average rating. It lacked interest but off to write the next book review!
thunderbolt_kid's review against another edition
3.0
I am so very sick of the "centre of the universe", and although I found it trying that this book seems to demand a familiarity with Toronto geography, the rest of the book was all right (if you happen to know a little about Toronto's layout, it will likely increase your enjoyment of the book). There's a nicely-written trans* character whose experience isn't all about being trans* per se. One of the characters is treated terribly by the author (and depression/anxiety seem somewhat trivialized as a result). Still, an okay read.
mrsthrift's review against another edition
5.0
So you feel like you should like Michelle Tea because her characters are like, young and working class and queer so you feel like you have so much in common you just have to like her books, but in reality she irritates you and makes you feel alienated and her writing style feels simultaneously drug-addled and pretentious? (I FUCKING SAID IT. FINALLY. THAT FEELS GREAT) Then you should read Zoe Whittall.
Zoe's characters are queer people in their mid-twenties, floating around between parties, shitty jobs with shitty bosses and relationships that sputter, start and die. There's a trans character but the whole book doesn't circle around the vortex of how awful the trans experience is. The characters ride bikes, go to bars and date ex-girlfriend's roommates. Pretty much only one of them has a real job (paramedic).
The setting and characters felt very familiar to me, and there was comfort in that. I felt validated, like yes, this generation of queers did happen and experience life in this way. I never feel that way. This book was entertaining and authentic and I would recommend to anyone interested in contemporary queer lit that doesn't suck.
Zoe's characters are queer people in their mid-twenties, floating around between parties, shitty jobs with shitty bosses and relationships that sputter, start and die. There's a trans character but the whole book doesn't circle around the vortex of how awful the trans experience is. The characters ride bikes, go to bars and date ex-girlfriend's roommates. Pretty much only one of them has a real job (paramedic).
The setting and characters felt very familiar to me, and there was comfort in that. I felt validated, like yes, this generation of queers did happen and experience life in this way. I never feel that way. This book was entertaining and authentic and I would recommend to anyone interested in contemporary queer lit that doesn't suck.
ftjulez's review against another edition
emotional
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
i think i wouldve liked this more if i hadnt read bottle rocket hearts first because i didnt end up liking it as much as i liked bottle rocket hearts but it was also very nice to read a book about a group of queer people with a trans character where the book was very character-driven but the character was just trans and it wasnt a massive plot point way better than other books ive read that have trans characters