A review by stateofgrace
Pretending by Holly Bourne

3.25

 While I was initially really excited about where I thought the plot was going, I was disappointed with what this book turned out to be. I came in expecting a story about an unhinged man-hating woman doing unhinged things in order to feel empowered (and I was here for that premise). I wanted the author to go full “Gone Girl” with the plot, and for a while, it looked like that was going to happen. I really enjoyed the middle of the book because April was giving completely unhinged vibes. I liked the character of Gretel and all that she represented. I liked how it slowly dawned on April that Gretel wasn’t her idea of a perfect woman, Gretel was her idea of herself if nothing traumatic had happened to her. 

 

I was really disappointed by the ending. As soon as April fell in love with Joshua the story stopped feeling empowering and started feeling depressing. The fact that April hated men was such a central part of her personality, and it made sense because it was directly informed by her past trauma. To have her decide to just ignore that part of her trauma response so that she could date a mediocre man felt underwhelming. The plot went from “all men are bad and women shouldn’t have to put up with their bad behavior” to “all men are bad but some men aren’t that bad so we should just settle for the least-bad ones and stop complaining” which isn’t really a feminist take. 

 

Also, reminder to myself to stop reading books set in England, because I inevitably get annoyed by the Bristish-ness of the writing.