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A review by tiredcath
Anything But Fine by Tobias Madden
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Pretty Good.
There's a whole lot that I liked about Anything But Fine. A ballet dancer suffering from an identity crisis after a career fatal injury that also forces him to lose everything- that premise alone is so intriguing. A huge theme of friendships and acceptance. But there was a lot I wish was different.
I expected the central aspect of it was identity and recovery after discovering Luca couldn't do the thing he wanted to do his entire life. There are moments it's touched on but not enough. I expected this to be about Luca and ballet with a romance b-plot- it very much isn't that. I didn't care for the romance. Luca and Jordan had decent chemistry as friends but they as a couple did not work for me. Their relationship didn't have a natural flow to me.
Too much of the plot relied on the romance aspect, too much on the romance relied on Luca's attraction. I really hate how much Luca was seeing Jordan cry and thinking about how great his arms look. Are you kidding? I wanted to see more of Luca outside of Jordan. Especially with Luca's relationship with his father.
I saw a lot of potential storylines this could've gone. Mostly, I wished for more introspection, more connection to family, and reevaluation. Prepare for more of openly gay character gets into a "relationship" with closeted character- a trope I'm somewhat done it as it always ends the same.
Still, I did love Luca's and Amina's friendship. I really loved Luca's dad, I wish we had more time with him and explored their relationship a lot better. It's a nice read if you want something easy. There are homophobic moments thrown around, and racism against Muslims as well.
About the audio: Matthew Backer has good inflection in his voice and good comedic timing. He gives every character a realistic voice. There are some bits you can tell were rerecorded as they didn't match the same pitch as the previous sentence which was a bit jarring to listen to.
All in all, decent good, could've been spectacular if the author's priorities were different. Or maybe I just expected a different book entirely.
Thank you NetGalley for giving me this audiobook book in exchange for my honest review.
There's a whole lot that I liked about Anything But Fine. A ballet dancer suffering from an identity crisis after a career fatal injury that also forces him to lose everything- that premise alone is so intriguing. A huge theme of friendships and acceptance. But there was a lot I wish was different.
I expected the central aspect of it was identity and recovery after discovering Luca couldn't do the thing he wanted to do his entire life. There are moments it's touched on but not enough. I expected this to be about Luca and ballet with a romance b-plot- it very much isn't that. I didn't care for the romance. Luca and Jordan had decent chemistry as friends but they as a couple did not work for me. Their relationship didn't have a natural flow to me.
Too much of the plot relied on the romance aspect, too much on the romance relied on Luca's attraction.
I saw a lot of potential storylines this could've gone. Mostly, I wished for more introspection, more connection to family, and reevaluation. Prepare for more of openly gay character gets into a "relationship" with closeted character- a trope I'm somewhat done it as it always ends the same.
Still, I did love Luca's and Amina's friendship. I really loved Luca's dad, I wish we had more time with him and explored their relationship a lot better. It's a nice read if you want something easy. There are homophobic moments thrown around, and racism against Muslims as well.
About the audio: Matthew Backer has good inflection in his voice and good comedic timing. He gives every character a realistic voice. There are some bits you can tell were rerecorded as they didn't match the same pitch as the previous sentence which was a bit jarring to listen to.
All in all, decent good, could've been spectacular if the author's priorities were different. Or maybe I just expected a different book entirely.
Thank you NetGalley for giving me this audiobook book in exchange for my honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Islamophobia