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A review by niknaz
Always Never by Jordi Lafebre
1.0
There are some spoilers ahead. But the book is not worth your time anyway so who cares.
You could say that Giuseppe wasn't the only one cheated on. The beautiful art style and unique narrative structure, a love story told in reverse, initially excited me.
However, the book's glaring issue was its appalling treatment of characters of color. The first of the two black characters we encounter is extremely caricatured. Another character belittles him for his broken English (or French in the original version), calling him "dumb." He was used as comic relief.
The love story was also disappointing. It was obvious from the start that it involved emotional cheating. I kept reading, hoping for a miraculous twist. Yet, when we finally reached their first encounter, a one-night stand, which was apparently so memorable that they pined for each other for decades despite the leading lady marrying and having a child, it was surprisingly brief. Nothing about that interaction convinced me it was worth remembering. It was anticlimactic and nonsensical.
I was so ready to root for the main characters in the first chapter just because of how cute they looked together. But as the story went on I felt no attachment to them or their journey.
Anyway, this book was a major disappointment. Don’t get tricked by the pretty art >.>
You could say that Giuseppe wasn't the only one cheated on. The beautiful art style and unique narrative structure, a love story told in reverse, initially excited me.
However, the book's glaring issue was its appalling treatment of characters of color. The first of the two black characters we encounter is extremely caricatured. Another character belittles him for his broken English (or French in the original version), calling him "dumb." He was used as comic relief.
The love story was also disappointing. It was obvious from the start that it involved emotional cheating. I kept reading, hoping for a miraculous twist. Yet, when we finally reached their first encounter, a one-night stand, which was apparently so memorable that they pined for each other for decades despite the leading lady marrying and having a child, it was surprisingly brief. Nothing about that interaction convinced me it was worth remembering. It was anticlimactic and nonsensical.
I was so ready to root for the main characters in the first chapter just because of how cute they looked together. But as the story went on I felt no attachment to them or their journey.
Anyway, this book was a major disappointment. Don’t get tricked by the pretty art >.>