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A review by sahanac
Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
olivie blake!!!! i have a bone to pick with you!!!! put a plot in one of your stories i beg of you!!!!
i was excited for this book and i think for me it just relied entirely too heavily on tropes i am bored of, and the writing came across as overly flowery and pretentious at parts. i sent my girlfriend a video of me listening to the audiobook, and it was just. so cringey and hard to listen to, and hard to imagine a human saying this and meaning it. or, if a human did say it, it was no one i'd want to be around. maybe i didn't understand. maybe if i had read it instead of listening, i'd feel differently. and i do love a character driven novel. but i need some plot, some substance, other than just an exploration of the most pretentious, unappealing people i've ever heard of.
one of the main characters is mentally ill and not on her meds. that does not make her a bad person. but the way she is portrayed is not a good example of representation, because we have plenty of examples of mentally ill people as violent, anti-social, and manic. personally, i don't need or want anymore and it made the story and the relationship hard to stomach.
and the plot is like. theyre not friends. theyre friends. they're fucking. theyre dating. her family hates him. she doesnt care. his dad thinks she's a bad influence. he cares. her ex bf talks to him and he gets in his head ab their relationship. it's just boring dude.
i was excited for this book and i think for me it just relied entirely too heavily on tropes i am bored of, and the writing came across as overly flowery and pretentious at parts. i sent my girlfriend a video of me listening to the audiobook, and it was just. so cringey and hard to listen to, and hard to imagine a human saying this and meaning it. or, if a human did say it, it was no one i'd want to be around. maybe i didn't understand. maybe if i had read it instead of listening, i'd feel differently. and i do love a character driven novel. but i need some plot, some substance, other than just an exploration of the most pretentious, unappealing people i've ever heard of.
one of the main characters is mentally ill and not on her meds. that does not make her a bad person. but the way she is portrayed is not a good example of representation, because we have plenty of examples of mentally ill people as violent, anti-social, and manic. personally, i don't need or want anymore and it made the story and the relationship hard to stomach.
and the plot is like. theyre not friends. theyre friends. they're fucking. theyre dating. her family hates him. she doesnt care. his dad thinks she's a bad influence. he cares. her ex bf talks to him and he gets in his head ab their relationship. it's just boring dude.