Scan barcode
A review by nuraitheodora
Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
“Whenever I’m on the subway or walking in the street alone, there’s a constant feeling of being on display. It’s a feeling I’ve never felt so strongly anywhere else. It’s so tiring, and sometimes I lie in bed not wanting to leave the house because of it. Simply appearing in public means that at any moment someone is free to come up to me, call out to me, graze me.”
Happy Hour follows Isa and her best friend Gala, two twenty-one-year-old girls who have moved to New York City with very little money, no visa, and a suitcase full of clothes. They try to find work - that pays in cash - where they can, and make the most of being twenty one and in the city that never sleeps. The story is narrated in a close third perspective from Isa’s point of view, and I found her tone difficult to get used to - I thought the tone (especially in the beginning) was inconsistent: it would be purposefully ironic one sentence and then weirdly sincere and sentimental in the next, which felt confusing and made me question what i was supposed to feel as a reader. Maybe Isa’s supposed to read as sincere and apathetic at the same time, and I did get used to this after a while but still felt the writing wasn’t always very strong because of that.
I think Marlowe Granados is really good at describing specific situations and personality traits, and this is one of the things that makes Isa a fun and enjoyable and sympathetic character.
The vibes of the book were very Melancholic, which I really liked: “I once read that “one does not mourn in public,” and maybe that is why I prefer to be outside. I do not like coming home because it is the only place I am unsure of myself. Outside, I know the way to walk across a thoroughfare, feeling practised in my stride. Being alone with myself is being alone with my memories.”
Ultimately, I enjoyed the story and the characters, and most of the writing - and I really look forward to reading what Marlowe Granados writes next.
Happy Hour follows Isa and her best friend Gala, two twenty-one-year-old girls who have moved to New York City with very little money, no visa, and a suitcase full of clothes. They try to find work - that pays in cash - where they can, and make the most of being twenty one and in the city that never sleeps. The story is narrated in a close third perspective from Isa’s point of view, and I found her tone difficult to get used to - I thought the tone (especially in the beginning) was inconsistent: it would be purposefully ironic one sentence and then weirdly sincere and sentimental in the next, which felt confusing and made me question what i was supposed to feel as a reader. Maybe Isa’s supposed to read as sincere and apathetic at the same time, and I did get used to this after a while but still felt the writing wasn’t always very strong because of that.
I think Marlowe Granados is really good at describing specific situations and personality traits, and this is one of the things that makes Isa a fun and enjoyable and sympathetic character.
The vibes of the book were very Melancholic, which I really liked: “I once read that “one does not mourn in public,” and maybe that is why I prefer to be outside. I do not like coming home because it is the only place I am unsure of myself. Outside, I know the way to walk across a thoroughfare, feeling practised in my stride. Being alone with myself is being alone with my memories.”
Ultimately, I enjoyed the story and the characters, and most of the writing - and I really look forward to reading what Marlowe Granados writes next.