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coolkid 's review for:
Noteworthy
by Riley Redgate
4.5/5 stars
Let me preface this by saying I had such high expectations for this because Riley's 7 Ways We Lie is easily one of my favorite books. And I adore Riley Redgate as a person so much (not that I know her, but on twitter, she's one of my favorite author/twitter personalities.)
And god, Riley has such a vocabulary, and not like, she pulls out "disestablishmentarianism" to sound cool or she throws a "mercurial" she pulled out of the thesaurus into an otherwise painfully simple sentence. This lady is smart, and it oozes off the page. Every sentence is an adventure. I feel like a wide-eyed kid waiting for her to wow me every paragraph, and she never disappoints. And it's not just the words, it's the phrasing, the way she writes - the metaphors - the casual references, the casual intelligence, she's brilliant, and in a way that never once feels out of place or pretentious through Jordan's snarky eyes.
This story is so interesting. It's Jordan's story, about finding herself, about understanding herself, about understanding all these things around her after she's closed herself off for so long. The way she learns feels so intimate - so entirely real. The way she discovers her bisexuality had me clutching my chest, because it was so exactly my experience. And god, I've never seen it reflected there. I wanted more of it, of course, but I've never seen it treated in this subtle, quiet way - the way it happened for me - that never took center stage but definitely existed. It was so nice to see that was okay.
Jordan herself took a little bit for me to settle into. A lot of Riley's descriptions (especially stage-setting) were longer than I generally like (even though they still oozed that crisp intelligence,) so it distanced me from Jordan. I couldn't quite feel what she was feeling sometimes because it felt like there was so much of it. The book started very slow for me, and I struggled to feel Jordan sometimes. I laughed at her, god, she was so funny - she was hilariously deadpan. And some of the stuff she experienced was so real and close to home, I actually, literally sighed. I related to her in a lot of ways, even beyond what I mentioned above, some of the things she said were so close to home, the neverending focus on the future, the subtle jealousy, etc. And sometimes she'd have these beautiful sentiments that resonated so deep and legitimately that I had to take a second. She was likable, and I can't quite figure out why I never settled into her like I wanted, but she never shone through quite enough for me. Though, towards the end, I very much loved her and pulled for her so hard. I may have just been so enamored with Riley's writing that I couldn't quit loving Riley and start loving Jordan.
But Noteworthy was such a refreshing read because everyone was dynamic, Jordan included. All the characters had facets and they were all explored slowly, some less thoroughly than others, but still quietly and carefully. Nihal was my favorite, a gay Sikh character, which is just already so great, but he's such an integral part of the story. He's described so gently, in a way that leaps off a page and makes you love him so much it hurts. And the way he and Jordan get close is so authentic. Ugh, I loved it. I loved them. I loved all the Sharps, really - a few could have used a little more development, but Trav and Isaac and Nihal were so good. Admittedly, a couple of the "villains" had me rolling my eyes, but for the most part, everyone felt real. And the villainy people weren't that unrealistic - they were just categorical douchebags. And I think the fact that, even if I was wildly annoyed for several moments, the fact that I stood up and screamed YES in the climactic "fuck you" moment for one of the main antagonists says something about the emotion Riley can conjure.
And the romance, squeak, listen, I waited so long for this romance, okay - so long! And it was so subtle and so sweet and so good! I've been reading so much romance lately with these grand declarations of love that never hit home, but Jordan and the guy she ends up with... my hearts flapping in my chest thinking about them. They were just so agonizingly sweet. They didn't get that much screen time because it was such a real, slow-growing relationship, but it didn't matter. It was just enough. They made me physically ache with how much I adored them. I said they got "just enough" but I want so much more of them I could scream. I'm a romantic, okay? This is the stuff I live for.
The story, the plot, everything came together - everything worked out and everything worked seamlessly into the plot the way only an expert author can do. You would think "you can't make a girl pretending to be a guy actually work beyond some elaborate comedy," or I did, but to that Riley Redgate would say, "FALSE." Because she does it. So that you don't question the legitimacy of it a single time. Everything was dealt with in a nuanced, careful way. Things you thought might get dropped came back around and mattered, and that's so important to me. This plot fell perfectly into place without falling too perfectly into place, and Riley worked so hard to address everything - from the plot to the important issues this book touched on. Not to even speak about the diversity, Jordan's ex boyfriend Michael is black, Jordan herself is Chinese, Isaac, my second favorite character, is Japanese, Trav is black, just, ugh, YES. Nihal, of course, is gay and Sikh.
The femininity vs. masculinity conversation was done so well. Another reviewer mentioned how she could easily have made this about how men have nothing to deal with and how being a woman was so much harder, but she considers both sides equally and makes some brilliant statements about gender roles. She makes sure to bring up trans issues in a sensitive, delicate way, because in a story like this, you have to talk about them. But I think this may have been a sticking point for why Jordan never quite clicked with me. She would spin off into tangents that sometimes felt a little too on-the-nose. The trans chapter was important, and it was dealt with very delicately, just like a few other issues that come up - gay-ness, bi-ness, etc. It could have been done a little more subtly, and I might have liked a trans character on the page somewhere, not to okay what Jordan was doing, but to serve as a contrast to what it means to be trans. That being said, I love that it was always addressed, always considered - Jordan considering bisexuality (thank the LORD ABOVE FOR THAT, OTHER AUTHORS, PLEASE TAKE NOTE), considering transness (the intrinsically girl line was so important because, ugh, so important), considering these things that are parts of people's lives, even if they're not part of the story. THANK YOU, RILEY, FOR THIS BOOK.
I'm giving this book a 4.5 because personally, for my tastes, there was overmuch physical description. But that's me personally, not a reflection on Riley, because this is quite honestly brilliant. I love Riley, and I loved Jordan, and I loved this book, and if you don't read it - you're missing out on an author with more talent than 99% of the damn industry. Riley Redgate is an absolute gift to the world of writing.
Let me preface this by saying I had such high expectations for this because Riley's 7 Ways We Lie is easily one of my favorite books. And I adore Riley Redgate as a person so much (not that I know her, but on twitter, she's one of my favorite author/twitter personalities.)
And god, Riley has such a vocabulary, and not like, she pulls out "disestablishmentarianism" to sound cool or she throws a "mercurial" she pulled out of the thesaurus into an otherwise painfully simple sentence. This lady is smart, and it oozes off the page. Every sentence is an adventure. I feel like a wide-eyed kid waiting for her to wow me every paragraph, and she never disappoints. And it's not just the words, it's the phrasing, the way she writes - the metaphors - the casual references, the casual intelligence, she's brilliant, and in a way that never once feels out of place or pretentious through Jordan's snarky eyes.
This story is so interesting. It's Jordan's story, about finding herself, about understanding herself, about understanding all these things around her after she's closed herself off for so long. The way she learns feels so intimate - so entirely real. The way she discovers her
Jordan herself took a little bit for me to settle into. A lot of Riley's descriptions (especially stage-setting) were longer than I generally like (even though they still oozed that crisp intelligence,) so it distanced me from Jordan. I couldn't quite feel what she was feeling sometimes because it felt like there was so much of it. The book started very slow for me, and I struggled to feel Jordan sometimes. I laughed at her, god, she was so funny - she was hilariously deadpan. And some of the stuff she experienced was so real and close to home, I actually, literally sighed. I related to her in a lot of ways, even beyond what I mentioned above, some of the things she said were so close to home, the neverending focus on the future, the subtle jealousy, etc. And sometimes she'd have these beautiful sentiments that resonated so deep and legitimately that I had to take a second. She was likable, and I can't quite figure out why I never settled into her like I wanted, but she never shone through quite enough for me. Though, towards the end, I very much loved her and pulled for her so hard. I may have just been so enamored with Riley's writing that I couldn't quit loving Riley and start loving Jordan.
But Noteworthy was such a refreshing read because everyone was dynamic, Jordan included. All the characters had facets and they were all explored slowly, some less thoroughly than others, but still quietly and carefully. Nihal was my favorite, a gay Sikh character, which is just already so great, but he's such an integral part of the story. He's described so gently, in a way that leaps off a page and makes you love him so much it hurts. And the way he and Jordan get close is so authentic. Ugh, I loved it. I loved them. I loved all the Sharps, really - a few could have used a little more development, but Trav and Isaac and Nihal were so good. Admittedly, a couple of the "villains" had me rolling my eyes, but for the most part, everyone felt real. And the villainy people weren't that unrealistic - they were just categorical douchebags. And I think the fact that, even if I was wildly annoyed for several moments, the fact that I stood up and screamed YES in the climactic "fuck you" moment for one of the main antagonists says something about the emotion Riley can conjure.
And the romance, squeak, listen, I waited so long for this romance, okay - so long! And it was so subtle and so sweet and so good! I've been reading so much romance lately with these grand declarations of love that never hit home, but Jordan and the guy she ends up with... my hearts flapping in my chest thinking about them. They were just so agonizingly sweet. They didn't get that much screen time because it was such a real, slow-growing relationship, but it didn't matter. It was just enough. They made me physically ache with how much I adored them. I said they got "just enough" but I want so much more of them I could scream. I'm a romantic, okay? This is the stuff I live for.
The story, the plot, everything came together - everything worked out and everything worked seamlessly into the plot the way only an expert author can do. You would think "you can't make a girl pretending to be a guy actually work beyond some elaborate comedy," or I did, but to that Riley Redgate would say, "FALSE." Because she does it. So that you don't question the legitimacy of it a single time. Everything was dealt with in a nuanced, careful way. Things you thought might get dropped came back around and mattered, and that's so important to me. This plot fell perfectly into place without falling too perfectly into place, and Riley worked so hard to address everything - from the plot to the important issues this book touched on. Not to even speak about the diversity, Jordan's ex boyfriend Michael is black, Jordan herself is Chinese, Isaac, my second favorite character, is Japanese, Trav is black, just, ugh, YES. Nihal, of course, is gay and Sikh.
The femininity vs. masculinity conversation was done so well. Another reviewer mentioned how she could easily have made this about how men have nothing to deal with and how being a woman was so much harder, but she considers both sides equally and makes some brilliant statements about gender roles. She makes sure to bring up trans issues in a sensitive, delicate way, because in a story like this, you have to talk about them. But I think this may have been a sticking point for why Jordan never quite clicked with me. She would spin off into tangents that sometimes felt a little too on-the-nose. The trans chapter was important, and it was dealt with very delicately, just like a few other issues that come up - gay-ness, bi-ness, etc. It could have been done a little more subtly, and I might have liked a trans character on the page somewhere, not to okay what Jordan was doing, but to serve as a contrast to what it means to be trans. That being said, I love that it was always addressed, always considered - Jordan considering bisexuality (thank the LORD ABOVE FOR THAT, OTHER AUTHORS, PLEASE TAKE NOTE), considering transness (the intrinsically girl line was so important because, ugh, so important), considering these things that are parts of people's lives, even if they're not part of the story. THANK YOU, RILEY, FOR THIS BOOK.
I'm giving this book a 4.5 because personally, for my tastes, there was overmuch physical description. But that's me personally, not a reflection on Riley, because this is quite honestly brilliant. I love Riley, and I loved Jordan, and I loved this book, and if you don't read it - you're missing out on an author with more talent than 99% of the damn industry. Riley Redgate is an absolute gift to the world of writing.