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A review by seskuh
In Any Lifetime by Marc Guggenheim
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I did not enjoy this, but I was too far in to just DNF it. A part of me wishes I did, though.
My biggest issue with this book is that the women were written as ideas that serve to motivate Jonas rather than their own characters with their own personalities, their own flaws. Amanda, from the moment she was introduced felt, to me as a reader, as nothing more than an idea to serve Jonas. Then the author describes her breasts...and I just about lost it.
I'm sorry but can a male author just stop writing about how breasts do "breastly" things they do and how breast-y they look when describing a female love interest? He doesn't do it a ton but once is enough to make my eyes roll to the back of my head and threaten to never return.
Amanda is written like a manic pixie dream girl. She's just an idea in the same way that Clementine and Summer (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and 500 Days of Summer, respectively) are written. Aside from her seemingly carefree attitude, her paintings, and her apparent love to sing Sinatra, who really is Amanda? Without her "quirkiness", who is she?
As readers, we don't even find out. Because that's all she is as a character. What are her flaws, her insecurities, what makes her personality so amazing that makes Jonas fall so head over heels for her? What characteristics of Jonas makes Amanda fall in love with this man?
I still don't know any of that despite the story tell me that they absolutely love each other.
Every aspect of the characters feels so surface-level, that any emotional scene fell flat.I would often shrug off a death -Amanda's , Eva's, and Jonas'.
Don't get me started on Eva and how terribly she was treated.
She deserved better, but instead she was used as a tool by our protagonist to get the plot moving forward.
I'm so angry about the character's shallowness, that I don't even want to address what is the science-y aspect of the story. So I'll leave it at that.
Maybe in another universe, I would have given this book 5-stars, provided it was written better. But who knows, the universe favors certain outcomes after all.
My biggest issue with this book is that the women were written as ideas that serve to motivate Jonas rather than their own characters with their own personalities, their own flaws. Amanda, from the moment she was introduced felt, to me as a reader, as nothing more than an idea to serve Jonas. Then the author describes her breasts...and I just about lost it.
I'm sorry but can a male author just stop writing about how breasts do "breastly" things they do and how breast-y they look when describing a female love interest? He doesn't do it a ton but once is enough to make my eyes roll to the back of my head and threaten to never return.
Amanda is written like a manic pixie dream girl. She's just an idea in the same way that Clementine and Summer (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and 500 Days of Summer, respectively) are written. Aside from her seemingly carefree attitude, her paintings, and her apparent love to sing Sinatra, who really is Amanda? Without her "quirkiness", who is she?
As readers, we don't even find out. Because that's all she is as a character. What are her flaws, her insecurities, what makes her personality so amazing that makes Jonas fall so head over heels for her? What characteristics of Jonas makes Amanda fall in love with this man?
I still don't know any of that despite the story tell me that they absolutely love each other.
Every aspect of the characters feels so surface-level, that any emotional scene fell flat.
Don't get me started on Eva and how terribly she was treated.
She deserved better, but instead she was used as a tool by our protagonist to get the plot moving forward.
I'm so angry about the character's shallowness, that I don't even want to address what is the science-y aspect of the story. So I'll leave it at that.
Maybe in another universe, I would have given this book 5-stars, provided it was written better. But who knows, the universe favors certain outcomes after all.