A review by alexwx
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is an enjoyable book if you find yourself in a very similar predicament to the protagonist––22, working in a fine dining setting, white––but I can't imagine ever returning to it. Many of the characters were poorly developed (though to be fair I think this was in part intentional), the plot was predictable and for that reason exhausting, and this may be a personal sensitivity but I found the author's use of gay characters throughout slightly offensive (they were almost exclusively used for shock value and portrayed as catty or predatory). It also felt like a very incomplete portrait of the protagonist's life, which was strange as it was a novel so focused on inner monologue and daily life. That being said, I felt very seen by this novel and it's stuck in my head longer than many other books I've read.
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