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A review by paulineleonor
Guapa by Saleem Haddad
1.0
This is my first ever review on Goodreads and I wish it could be a positive one. Unfortunately, there is too much that is wrong about this book to give it more than one star.
The synopsis sells you a riveting story set over a 24-hour period, but even that is misleading. Rasa never looks for his friend Maj (he is actually told quite early one where Maj is and does very little about it) and the absence of tension, action and progress in the story is beyond frustrating.
All the characters are 1D cartoons — the closeted society man, the flamboyant queer, the romantic and passive gay man — and not one of them sees an ounce of character development. The writer doesn't even talk about the first time Rasa had sex with a man, which seems like an even that would have had some impact on Rasa. The whole middle section of the book (around 150 pages) is packed with memories, which not only affect the 24-hour rush the book promised, but also take us far from the actual situation and into stories about Rasa's mother and grandmother that add absolutely nothing to the story.
It's all unbelievably boring, slow, and pointless. There's no real resolution and you finish the last page having gained nothing and lost a whole lot of time. Also I can't believe how badly written this book is. I felt it the entire way but it was hard to ignore when I came across the words "I did a sad little vomit". Not sure why editors allowed that to be kept in.
All in all, a book I wish I hadn't read and one I certainly don't recommend.
The synopsis sells you a riveting story set over a 24-hour period, but even that is misleading. Rasa never looks for his friend Maj (he is actually told quite early one where Maj is and does very little about it) and the absence of tension, action and progress in the story is beyond frustrating.
All the characters are 1D cartoons — the closeted society man, the flamboyant queer, the romantic and passive gay man — and not one of them sees an ounce of character development. The writer doesn't even talk about the first time Rasa had sex with a man, which seems like an even that would have had some impact on Rasa. The whole middle section of the book (around 150 pages) is packed with memories, which not only affect the 24-hour rush the book promised, but also take us far from the actual situation and into stories about Rasa's mother and grandmother that add absolutely nothing to the story.
It's all unbelievably boring, slow, and pointless. There's no real resolution and you finish the last page having gained nothing and lost a whole lot of time. Also I can't believe how badly written this book is. I felt it the entire way but it was hard to ignore when I came across the words "I did a sad little vomit". Not sure why editors allowed that to be kept in.
All in all, a book I wish I hadn't read and one I certainly don't recommend.