Scan barcode
A review by owls_rainbow
All the Invisible Things by Orlagh Collins
2.0
Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.
I honestly found this book disappointing. We follow Helvetica, known as Vetty, named for her late mother's obsession with fonts. We open with her hanging out with friends feeling awkward about something we only find out about at the very end of the book. We start to get to know this group (sort of) and then hey presto we're moving home, somehow to the exact same house/flat as before. Three years later. In London. I'm not a Londoner and even I know that wouldn't happen. Also sidenote but Somerset is way too vague, It's a massive county, I live in a Northern bit of it, it would be nice to have a point of reference: Taunton, Cheddar, Minehead, Bridgewater? Give me something!
I didn't really understand why Vetty cut Pez off, surely even a distant friend can help you grieve? The way his friends were introduced was a little hard to follow. Some scenes throughout the book were rushed and I'd have to re-read passages to work out who was saying what.
The themes and what the book wanted to say were also unclear for me. It talked candidly about porn, masturbation and hair removal but Vetty got weird about telling er sister about periods and refused to consider even the existence of the word "bisexual" until the end of the book despite it being obvious to me at the beginning. i'm sad that things with the girl (avoiding spoilers) didn't work out. Instead we get the implied beginning of a straight-passing relationship. Overall pacing and plot were messy and I found the book disappointing.
I honestly found this book disappointing. We follow Helvetica, known as Vetty, named for her late mother's obsession with fonts. We open with her hanging out with friends feeling awkward about something we only find out about at the very end of the book. We start to get to know this group (sort of) and then hey presto we're moving home, somehow to the exact same house/flat as before. Three years later. In London. I'm not a Londoner and even I know that wouldn't happen. Also sidenote but Somerset is way too vague, It's a massive county, I live in a Northern bit of it, it would be nice to have a point of reference: Taunton, Cheddar, Minehead, Bridgewater? Give me something!
I didn't really understand why Vetty cut Pez off, surely even a distant friend can help you grieve? The way his friends were introduced was a little hard to follow. Some scenes throughout the book were rushed and I'd have to re-read passages to work out who was saying what.
The themes and what the book wanted to say were also unclear for me. It talked candidly about porn, masturbation and hair removal but Vetty got weird about telling er sister about periods and refused to consider even the existence of the word "bisexual" until the end of the book despite it being obvious to me at the beginning. i'm sad that things with the girl (avoiding spoilers) didn't work out. Instead we get the implied beginning of a straight-passing relationship. Overall pacing and plot were messy and I found the book disappointing.