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A review by lizzy_elaineee
Just by Looking at Him by Ryan O'Connell
3.0
disclaimer i’m a 21 year old woman with moderate to severe cerebral palsy & am not ambulatory i use mobility aids to get around in my daily life. i decided to read this book for disability pride month & here are my honest thoughts.
i really disliked the first half of this novel. spoilers btw. Elliott had so much resentment & internalized ableism which he used towards Gus & hated Gus taking care of him so he continued to not communicate his feelings & cheat on Gus with multiple sex workers (which is SUPER emotionally unhealthy) among millions of other things that pissed me off in the first half. but once Elliott acknowledged that he had internalized ableism, alcoholism, cheating as an excuse to avoid how he was feeling with Gus & broke it off i started to LOVE Elliott’s self growth journey. him making friends with other people who have CP, getting help with his alcoholism, leaving his job because it was no longer fulfilling & deciding to love himself and his body. and him getting into a relationship with another man with CP i started loving his character development & process.
i wish the first half of the book was cut in half i didn’t need to read about Elliott justifying his shitty behavior by using his disabilities as a excuse for 100 pages. if this book was just Elliott’s self growth journey & what happened after chapter 74 i would’ve loved it but alas it gets a ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.
i really disliked the first half of this novel. spoilers btw. Elliott had so much resentment & internalized ableism which he used towards Gus & hated Gus taking care of him so he continued to not communicate his feelings & cheat on Gus with multiple sex workers (which is SUPER emotionally unhealthy) among millions of other things that pissed me off in the first half. but once Elliott acknowledged that he had internalized ableism, alcoholism, cheating as an excuse to avoid how he was feeling with Gus & broke it off i started to LOVE Elliott’s self growth journey. him making friends with other people who have CP, getting help with his alcoholism, leaving his job because it was no longer fulfilling & deciding to love himself and his body. and him getting into a relationship with another man with CP i started loving his character development & process.
i wish the first half of the book was cut in half i didn’t need to read about Elliott justifying his shitty behavior by using his disabilities as a excuse for 100 pages. if this book was just Elliott’s self growth journey & what happened after chapter 74 i would’ve loved it but alas it gets a ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.