A review by ejl2623
Rosewater by Liv Little

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Rosewater brings us Elsie, a queer black Guyanese poet (she/her) who left home at sixteen and moved to London.  Now in her twenties, she works in a failing bar for not enough money to pay the rent and she has fabulous sex with a coworker, Bea, who lives with her boyfriend Karma.  When Elsie's landlord evicts her, she turns to her best friend from childhood, Juliet, who puts her up in her spare bedroom.  Except, Elsie and Juliet had a falling out a few months prior and haven't talked since.  Juliet is a preschool teacher who makes extra money on a video-sex site.  Andrew hangs about hoping for a chance with Juliet.  Elsie doesn't like him or most of Juliet's friends.  Along the way, Rosewater explores a whole variety of individuals with pronouns that fit them.  Elsie has an opportunity to showcase her poetry and starts to explore her options. 

Rosewater is partly about family and trauma.  It is about a loving grandmother.  It is about food and it's emotional importance in our lives.  It is about the kinds of friends who take care of you no matter what.  It is about a parents who do not take care of you.  It is about being gay and living an independent life that is not open to your family.  It is about the array of people one meets over a few months of life in our twenties.  It is both specific to the experience of being a lesbian and it is universal.  It is beautifully written and I read and reread the poems included as they are gorgeous.  Very much enjoyed this book.
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