A review by booksonmain
Glitterland by Alexis Hall

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I have, thankfully, never struggled with severe mental illness. Alexis was able to write a character that was real enough for me to build an emotional connection with despite not being able to fully relate. Ash clearly had a lot of flaws, and a lot of emotional baggage that he had to deal with during the course of the novel. It was amazing to watch Darien's influence on his self-esteem. I loved watching their relationship grow and
although it eventually hit a rough patch, they were able to work through it with the mutual understanding that no one is perfect.
I enjoyed that all of the characters had real and genuine feeling flaws while also being redeemable enough that I felt good rooting for them. This was definitely a character focused book, and the plot line was secondary to the emotions the character's experienced. Overall, it was an incredibly challenging book to read due to the serious nature of the topics, mental health specifically, that are discussed but I felt it was incredibly well done and the author was able to convey a great story without exploiting mental illness as a trope.

I did have to deduct one quarter of a point for the Essex characters speech. It was a bit hard to read his dialogue and it pulled me out of the story a little every time I had to read his words. I wish it had either just been made clear that he had an Essex dialect without adding it to his dialogue or had ben cleaned up a little more.
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