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A review by gracieoneill
Something About Her by Clementine Taylor
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thank you to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for sending me a digital arc of Something About Her in exchange for an honest review!
Something About Her is beautiful novel about self-discovery, love, and trying to work through your own trauma as you come of age. It's a lot to cover but Clementine Taylor does it a great job covering these topics.
The novel splits between the two main characters — Maya and Aisling. I normally am hesitant about split perspectives because sometimes authors don't write them well. While flipping back and forth, I could hear the distinct difference in tones between Aisling and Maya. The difference in writing between the two characters was interesting .
There were times when flipping back, Taylor would start the chapter back from an event that was just covered in the last chapters. While I understand her wanting to make sure we saw the others point of view, it felt unnecessary at times. I wanted the characters' actions to stand on their own, the reader be able to interpret them as we continued to get to know them.
There were also times where the writing was a bit clunky and choppy — but other times where the writing was absolutely beautiful. I'm glad it didn't have the happiest of endings either. It felt real, very raw, and I appreciated it. Given the way her characters' handled certain events/happens, it wouldn't have been authentic if everything just worked out.
I rounded up to 4 stars, but I'd saw the actual review is 3.5. It was a very solid book, I liked the characters and think that Taylor did a great job understanding and translating the Aisling and Maya's history into the characters we read. But, because of the repetitiveness between chapters and the occasional clunky writing, I brought it back down to that 3.5 stars. But again, I really enjoyed this book and am glad this story exists.
Something About Her is beautiful novel about self-discovery, love, and trying to work through your own trauma as you come of age. It's a lot to cover but Clementine Taylor does it a great job covering these topics.
The novel splits between the two main characters — Maya and Aisling. I normally am hesitant about split perspectives because sometimes authors don't write them well. While flipping back and forth, I could hear the distinct difference in tones between Aisling and Maya. The difference in writing between the two characters was interesting .
There were times when flipping back, Taylor would start the chapter back from an event that was just covered in the last chapters. While I understand her wanting to make sure we saw the others point of view, it felt unnecessary at times. I wanted the characters' actions to stand on their own, the reader be able to interpret them as we continued to get to know them.
There were also times where the writing was a bit clunky and choppy — but other times where the writing was absolutely beautiful. I'm glad it didn't have the happiest of endings either. It felt real, very raw, and I appreciated it. Given the way her characters' handled certain events/happens, it wouldn't have been authentic if everything just worked out.
I rounded up to 4 stars, but I'd saw the actual review is 3.5. It was a very solid book, I liked the characters and think that Taylor did a great job understanding and translating the Aisling and Maya's history into the characters we read. But, because of the repetitiveness between chapters and the occasional clunky writing, I brought it back down to that 3.5 stars. But again, I really enjoyed this book and am glad this story exists.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, and Physical abuse