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A review by chelseacounsell
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
4.0
Whip smart and funny, with a real feeling of what it’s like to be close with other people (Alex with his sister, with Nora, and with Henry.) Maybe it lagged a bit toward the middle (there was a tedious amount of sex), but I am still really impressed with the depth of interiority, and the dialogue, and just how many cultural and historical references there are. Like, how do normies like this book? Do they just gloss over all the smart bits? Maybe everyone likes a smart book as long as it’s fun.
But on the subject of sex, the sex scenes (which are plentiful) seemed oddly… not-erotic. Like, I wondered if the author was attempting to do a thing like “the sex is for these two young men and not for a voyeur audience!” Kind of a different vibe to get than what I get from other romance books.
PS. I guess I didn’t love all the politics work the characters were doing, but that’s just because it seems exhausting (and not escapist or fun).
PPS. The movie version is a shallow husk in comparison. Literally what made this book shine was the friendships and the interiority and the movie scraped off most of that.
But on the subject of sex, the sex scenes (which are plentiful) seemed oddly… not-erotic. Like, I wondered if the author was attempting to do a thing like “the sex is for these two young men and not for a voyeur audience!” Kind of a different vibe to get than what I get from other romance books.
PS. I guess I didn’t love all the politics work the characters were doing, but that’s just because it seems exhausting (and not escapist or fun).
PPS. The movie version is a shallow husk in comparison. Literally what made this book shine was the friendships and the interiority and the movie scraped off most of that.