Scan barcode
A review by mariakureads
Daphne by Will Boast
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Daphne took me for some twists and turns and even now, to be honest, not sure what to think about the evolution that the MC went through.
The book went through some twists and turns as Daphne, told in the first perfective of the MC, as we meet her and learn of her rare and sometimes life-threatening condition in which she suffers varying degrees of paralysis when faced with intense emotions, which makes for a small set of people who are aware of it.
Upon a chance with charming Ollie, she takes a chance to let someone new in which seemed like a positive change for her but as the book progressed, Daphne's true colors also started to showcase and she's a lot darker than she first seemed.
As the book is from her perspective, we get a lot of her inner turmoil in which her condition is front and center and she uses it as an excuse for different moments throughout the book the further I listened. I realized her inner turmoil was shaping her decisions and how she saw herself within her friendships and had a lightbulb moment as to how many times people do this similar thing on the daily.
By the halfway mark, as Daphne started to let her darker thoughts get the better of her, it felt like whatever progression for her betterment was for nothing, and she hid back into how she might have been before. Daphne regressed and almost gladly, let go of the pretense of intimacy.
Maybe falling in love isn't for all and Boast explored that in this debut book.
The book went through some twists and turns as Daphne, told in the first perfective of the MC, as we meet her and learn of her rare and sometimes life-threatening condition in which she suffers varying degrees of paralysis when faced with intense emotions, which makes for a small set of people who are aware of it.
Upon a chance with charming Ollie, she takes a chance to let someone new in which seemed like a positive change for her but as the book progressed, Daphne's true colors also started to showcase and she's a lot darker than she first seemed.
As the book is from her perspective, we get a lot of her inner turmoil in which her condition is front and center and she uses it as an excuse for different moments throughout the book the further I listened. I realized her inner turmoil was shaping her decisions and how she saw herself within her friendships and had a lightbulb moment as to how many times people do this similar thing on the daily.
By the halfway mark, as Daphne started to let her darker thoughts get the better of her, it felt like whatever progression for her betterment was for nothing, and she hid back into how she might have been before. Daphne regressed and almost gladly, let go of the pretense of intimacy.
Maybe falling in love isn't for all and Boast explored that in this debut book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma
Minor: Toxic friendship, Drug use, and Alcoholism