Review by twiller - Is Love the Answer?

twiller 's review for:

Is Love the Answer? by Uta Isaki

3.25

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is a struggle for me because I really do love it but it’s also just,,, not very well-crafted. There’s a lot of telling and not showing (which may be a matter of time constraints as opposed to authorial quality, which sucks but is pretty common in the manga industry) and a lot of the side characters don’t rly leave that big of an impression. That being said though, the value of this book as a piece of own-voices fiction cannot be overstated and it brings up a lot of things that even rly well-intentioned or well-done queer stories overlook. Just seeing a piece of fiction acknowledge these experiences at all is rly nice. I think it takes a lot of self-reflection on the author’s part to explain so succinctly what can be such a complicated and personal experience, which I admire. I also rly like how much this book emphasizes the importance of queer community and having queer friends bc as a queer person myself I relate to that a lot (and also seeing fictional LGBT characters interact in any capacity always sparks joy for me lololol). Yeah idk this book has some pretty major flaws but it means a lot to me so I don’t care 🤪

Content Warnings